Theme gardens add instant interest and the opportunity to change your garden areas quickly. They work for making seasonal changes in your yard and are amazing in small space garden areas. Some theme gardens serve a functional purpose like a crafting garden, soap garden or tea garden. Others are more seasonal: Fall Harvest Garden, Patriotic Garden or a Three Sisters Garden. 
photo credit: kretyen

Theme gardens are also influenced by their location. Is it a free flowing garden with shrubs and trees? Or a container garden layered in height and influenced by the pots and containers used for the plants? If you have a sprawling yard you may have several gardens or make a maze garden or Labyrinth garden area. For those areas under trees, a shade garden is the perfect solution

Families can also influence these gardens: their needs and time they can spend in a garden area, pets, or heritage. Zen gardens are beautiful and take more time to set up but less time to maintain. A spiral herb garden is beautiful, practical and relaxing. The spiral garden also offers use of the herbs for health, kitchen use or crafting. And don’t forget the family pet by creating a doggie play garden.
photo credit: Allan Ferguson

Apartment and city gardeners may set up a rooftop garden, patio garden or use the windowsills in their home for growing. A Teacup Windowsill garden is whimsical and will provide herbs for cooking and teas. Or create the perfect mini indoor theme garden: the terrarium.

And last but not least is the use on containers and pots for small instant theme gardens. Container gardening lends itself to mini them gardens easily. Containers can also be added to other gardens to change the look instantly.

To change the look of a theme garden quickly add garden art, different garden furniture or rockery work. Theme garden changes can relate to plants only. This is where container plants, hanging baskets, window planters add instant beauty.  Your ideas for theme gardens are limited only by your imagination

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Perennials are wonderful plants as they give you a garden that can produce color most of the year, depending where you live. By careful selection and laying our your garden properly you can add color, enjoyment and value to your property.
photo credit: cliff1066

I consider myself blessed to have a nice piece of property with rolling hills and streams and creeks. I wanted to do something “green” for the community I live in plus share gardens and ideas with those who wish to stop by, so the idea of a perennial gardens business was born.

There are many steps to take in the business I have planned and I will be adding different gardening aspects to the grounds as time and interest in the project takes off. My gardens will also be organic and will have no use of chemicals or chemical fertilizers.

I have taken the first steps by rounding up a variety of perennial plants and laying out my working gardens. At this time I have two gardens that I am tilling and adding natural compost and nutrients to the garden. This will start the garden soil off rich and healthy.

One garden is in a shape of a boomerang It measures about 35 foot by 20 foot. The other garden, which I am tilling today, is rectangular and will be about 35 foot by 25 foot. This is my retired vegetable garden and has to be tilled under and have compost, leaves and straw added. These will be the working base for my later gardens. During the late fall and spring I will be designing and showing you step by step how the new gardens will be set up.

I hope you join me in this adventure and share ideas and success stories with me. Tomorrow I will show you the rough plots and share a few more ideas on what I hope to accomplish. Happy gardening all! Denise
photo credit: Alyzande

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With the recent scares dealing with lettuce spinach and other green a Salad garden is a great idea plus it has a great look. Another benefit is that you know your green are very fresh and they can be totally chemical free.

Your salad garden can consist of a variety of lettuces, Bok Choy, radishes, peas, onions, cucumbers, beans, carrots, edible flowers and herbs.

To set up a salad garden select a sunny spot for a garden bed or a collection of containers. Lettuces are best when they are young so make sure you will check on the garden regularly. Hint: A salad garden is best by a patio or just outside the kitchen.

Place your salad garden near a water source. Most lettuce or green crops need plenty of water. It’s also best to give the garden an eastern exposure as well.

Graph paper will help you get a better feel for laying the garden out. I always use paper and sketch a rough plan. Its always different when I finally plant but it helps me remember the crops I want and place them in a more useful and pleasing way.

Put the tallest plants on the east side so they don’t cast a shadow all day long on the plants below. You can also use that shadow to keep greens sweet at midsummer. Spinach is one crop that will benefit from this shady spot.

Edge with the garden with edible flowers like nasturtium and dianthus for color and make the planting area inviting. Herbs also make a great border.

To get the most use out of your garden plan a tight planting and a quick-succession harvest. One example is four leaf lettuce plants in 1 square foot, or four spinach, two chard or a dozen green onion sets. Harvest the first leaves of each and later the whole plant.

It’s important to design your garden so it suits you and your family all season. Bush cucumbers will replace early Bibb lettuce. And you can replace tomatoes with fall collards and garlic at season’s end. Lettuce varieties can be panted until hard frost hit. And if determined you can use cold frames to extend the season.

Tips:

• Make use of succession planting (replacing old crops with new crops) to make better use of your garden space
• Dwarf and bush varieties take less space.
• If you trellis some of your vegetables it will make better use of space and will add dimension and interest to the garden. And if you put a trellis along one side it will help shade summer spinach and chives. Peas will also benefit from this.
• Container gardens make for an interesting salad garden and can be moved indoors for a longer growing season

Tags: theme gardens, salad gardens, miniature gardens, succession planting for small areas