I love my garden, but sometimes I really get sick of looking at it. So I decided I wanted to see yours! When I asked you guys to send in your photographs and stories of your garden, I had no idea the cool responses I would get. Your gardens blow me away. Here are some of the coolest ones I’ve seen:
One of the coolest backyard gardens I’ve ever seen. So much diversity in one garden. Of course, I would expect nothing less from the owners of Botanical Interests Seed Company!
Square Inch Gardening” in New York
Harlem, New Yorker, Holly, proves space isn’t an excuse when it comes to gardening. They have a tiny back porch off of their apartment and they put every last square inch to good garden use!
Bob and Sherle From California Share Their Vegetable Garden Photos:
I was so impressed with how Bob and Sherle completely transformed a plot of space loaned to them for gardening. They took it from drab to gardening fab with just a little elbow grease!
Ted gives new meaning to raised bed gardening, uses hay bales and shows us how much produce a garden in frigid Alaska can actually yield. I was shocked.
Amazing Bean Trellis and Garden Box Photos:
I don’t like to pick favorites, but this picture might be my favorite of all your submissions. That bean trellis is simply gorgeous. I totally want one. But even more I love how Heather’s daughter is so content under it, chewing on beans that it produced. Love it!
Lindsey’s unique cinder block garden totally caught my attention. What a great idea for garden bed containers! Plus she has some beautiful chickens and a chicken coop I’m envious of.
Vertical Fence Board Strawberry Tower and Garden:
April invented the coolest vertical gardening tower ever. Using old fence boards she grew a successful strawberry plant vertically. Perfect when you’re short on space.
Check out the rest of the garden tours and pictures on my Garden Tour Pinterest Board.
Maria says
Dear Mavis,
I just came across your site through various online tangents, and it as peaked my interest. Not just because of the gardening and coupon aspect, which I do both of, but because you are located in the Pacific North West. To tell a long story, no shortening: I live in Alexandria, Virginia, and had a chance to do some gardening of my own. However, it was a disaster. We bought a beautiful acre with 26 established fruit trees, rows of established (5+ year old) strawberries, and about 8 or so 30′ long rows of berry bushes, since my husband and I were over zealous in pursuing our own “zombie-apocalypse” house. The property also had its own well and great spaces for gardens. We built some raised beds too. Here is the downfall of my not-to-be garden paradise – that first year our fruit trees became diseased, I got pregnant and was sick half the time in the hot and humid summer, and my husband unknowingly bred mosquitos for the whole city with his water trough & planter bucket experiment. Not surprisingly, we didn’t do very much that year. Back to the Pacific NW, we may be moving there in about two years when my husband is able to work from home – a great perk with his current employment at the PTO. He has a bro in Seattle, and I have cousins on the San Juan islands, so that area is where we are looking into. We are thinking of Bainbridge Island. My questions to you about gardening in Pacific NW weather conditions. These are very different than East coast weather. I don’t know what the weather is like where you live – if it is the rain shadow – but lets assume it is cloudy many days of the year there. Is it difficult to have a garden? Do deer invade your garden, and if so, do you have any deterrents? How about organic pesticides? Do you use cloches to cover your plants in the winter? I would be very happy with any info you seem would help with this. Thank you!!!!
Maria says
(sorry for the typos I can’ fix!)
Mavis Butterfield says
Hi Maria,
Bainbridge Island is lovely. 🙂 As far as gardening goes, I start peas and chard in February and set out cucumbers, tomatoes and zucchini plants in May. Pumpkins in June. We have a tall fence to keep the deer out, but I suppose that would just depend on where you lived on BI and if you had a deer problem around you. It doesn’t rain too much and you’re right, the weather is totally different here, where you are your summers can be super humid, here it’s not.
I’m sure you’ll do fine wherever you end up. 🙂
richele says
Mavis- Did April say how she watered the Strawberry Tower to make sure none of them went thirsty?
richele says
Okay, duh, I just read about it. But still, I would think the bottom third wouldn’t get enough water.
Barbee near Dallas says
M’Honey and I made a strawberry tower today. (It was 60 out there today-awesome).
While there are lot of things to like about that tower, I think the ‘portability’ aspect is my fave.
BTW, Planting that tower is a lot harder than it looks-I hope it all comes out okay. Fingers crossed.
Love your site Mavis. You have quickly become my #2 daily visit. 🙂
Mavis Butterfield says
Fingers crossed Barbee. 🙂
Barbee near Dallas says
We were thinking the same as you. So what we did was stop 2/3 of the way down. (w/ a wooden insert block)
We figure that it will make it lighter, and easier to water-also keep the berries further off the ground.
No guarantees, but it sure is fun trying new ideas.