Sometimes, I can spend hours in our garden. Ok, it’s not huge, really. It’s mere meters by meters, not acres by acres. However, it seems like the hours just go by when I’m out there. There are many, many plants and garden structures in my garden, and it’s a postage stamp.
I garden in layers, and that is how we can fit so much into the garden. What does this look like? Well, if you were to step into my garden this morning, you’d see a fence made out of old metal headboards. I like my funky decorations. On this fence grow many different plants like raspberries and salmonberries. Currently, it also props up my potatoes. A meter and a half away you would see another fence, a wooden fence which separates our yard from the neighbors’ yard. On this fence grows beans, two apple trees, and two pear trees, both espaliered. In the middle is a raised bed with potatoes, peas, herbs, beans, and various type of green. Sticking out of the raised bed is our foldable laundry pole, often strewn with a lot of laundry.
Beside that at the back of the garden is my daughter’s garden. It is surrounded by planted boxes on various tiered structures so that I can add cat-inaccessible growing room. It is also surrounded by berry bushes that are placed against the raised bed so that the cats can’t get into the garden. So much of my gardening is focused on keeping cats out. My daughter has a little bench covered by an arbor – of course, peas are growing on the arbor too. She also has a space to garden.
We have a tree on the other side, covered in decorations like bird houses and hanging planters and bird seed. There is a small wetland garden with a couple of old metal plant stands sticking up, and these act as places for our vines to grow. We have two kiwi plants at the edge of the wetland garden.
Next is my daughter’s playhouse, which is of course surrounded by plants. Plants grow up the sides, and we use the sides and back for tool storage as well. At some point this summer, I’m going to add a green roof to her playhouse.
Beside the playhouse is the rain barrel and another wetland garden, since the kids tend to use the rain barrel and it drips after they use it.
Surprisingly, all of these items look fairly neat and organized.
Do you garden in layers? How does it work for you?
Image courtesy of meaikoh at stock exchange