Most of the plants are full grown and now the paths are too narrow. We are losing the war on weeds and deer. Plus, even though it's nice to have extra to share, we planted way too much. I'm tired of eating the same thing over and over - squash and beans and tomatoes. If the deer would stick with those, I wouldn't mind them a bit. In fact, I'd feed it to them by hand!
I am more and more convinced that raised beds would solve most of our issues. I posted about them a couple of weeks ago. I also have more good raised bed inspiration photos on my garden page. Still, I keep looking. I think by now I have seen at least a zillion of pictures of raised bed gardens. A number of them give me ideas (like the salad tables). A rare few are extraordinary. Some can be downright unattractive.
What I'm having the most trouble with is how to make raised beds in a pasture look nice in the dead of winter. Our garden location is totally visible as we come down our driveway. It can be seen from our front porch. My parents see it from their back porch and kitchen. It's important that the garden be attractive. Do we really want to look at a few empty wooden structures in the middle of our pasture all winter long?
I guess I'll keep looking at pictures hoping to find the one with something extra. For now, here's some miscellaneous inspiration (with nice, weed-free paths) I came across during today's searching -
source: House to Home
source: Country Living
source: GrowVeg.com -
They have a number of nice examples on their site.
source: The Iowa Gardener
Salad Planter - source Dirt Simple
It's not exactly a raised bed, but isn't it pretty?
A Few Unrelated Things
Take a look at the watermelon in my flowerbed that was only 3 inches long 2 days ago. Now it's 8 inches long. Every time I look at it, it has grown!
Jack, our Mr. Personality, had a little nip and tuck last week. He's pretty much back to normal now - running and playing and giving sad looks for extra attention or food (he likes both equally).
On the other hand, when he sleeps, he's out. I could run machinery around him and he'd keep sleeping.
Rudy put knobs and hardware on our pantry doors that came from my grandmother. He also re-hung both so they'd close a little better. The glass knobs, which also came from my grandmother, were not used with this door. They are very old but have never been used. Rudy said he could clean up the hardware, which was used with these doors, but I wanted it all left as is - I love the character of the chippy paint.
That's all for today. I hope wherever you are, you are cooler than we are in Georgia. The humidity here is just awful. The temperature doesn't even matter when it gets like this. Ugh! It's a good day for inside projects. June was dry as a bone, but now we're getting a bit soggy. On the upside - I love sitting on the porch in the evenings during a breezy downpour. Rain's coming again this evening, so that's probably where I'll be.
I have joined the following parties:
Show and Share Day at Just a Girl
Inspired By... at The Inspired Room
Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home
Update!!!
jemilyea has left comment on this post. She thought I might enjoy reading this blog:http://miaslandliv.blogspot.