Over the weekend, I used wooden stakes and string to mark where the new beds will be in the vegetable garden. I measured, staked, and strung, then stepped back to view the layout.
It was then that I realized I had unwittingly laid out the vegetable garden to look like a giant cathedral with an aisle up the center and three rows of pews.
I swear this was not intentional.
But it is going to come in handy to silence anyone who sees the garden and says, “Really, Carol, three long rows with a walkway up the center? Couldn’t you come up with a more creative layout?”
To which I will reply, “What is more creative than patterning your garden after the great cathedrals of Europe?”
The center aisle will have a gate at the entrance and some kind of focal point at the other end.
I’m still thinking about what that focal point should be. Perhaps a statue of some kind, maybe a statue of a rabbit?
The big boulder is still in the garden. I’ve decided the best way to deal with it is to ignore it.
It will lie half in a garden bed and half in a walkway.
It reminds me of people who sit on the aisle in church and politely refuse to slide over if someone wants to sit in that same pew or won’t stand up and step aside for a minute so you can get past them. You end up sort of ungracefully climbing over them to get to your seat. That’s what I will think of every time I have to get around this boulder.
My little vegetable garden church with its three long rows, each four feet wide, will give me about 600 square feet of planting space if you account for the walkways around each row.
PLUS, along the front or altar of my vegetable garden there is a bed that is three feet wide running the length of the garden, giving me another 150 square feet to plant mostly flowers, I think.
My previous raised bed layout gave me only 492 square feet for planting, so this new layout, with 750 square feet, is an increase of a little over 250 square feet, which is over 50% more planting area.
If we don’t get any rain for a day or two more, I think the garden will be dry enough to mound up those beds a bit and perhaps bring in some top soil or other amendments to “juice ’em up a little” for those heavy feeders, the vegetables. Really, vegetables are pigs when it comes to soil fertility. They want more, especially the corn.
But that’s a topic for another day.
For now, I’ll just keep repeating (close your ears and eyes, dear Texans), “Please no more rain on my vegetable garden until I have a chance to finish prepping it for planting.”
If it can be rolled at all, I think your giant boulder would make a wonderful focal point! (Though I also like it where it is; we change so much of the landscape when gardening, so some times it's nice to say "well, there is a boulder, and it has chosen to live in my vegetable patch!"…
Great layout! I just added new beds and have a similar set up. It didn't cross my mind that it resembles a church but you are correct! I think that is really cool! I like your bolder. It will look nice with vegetables or herbs growing around it. Hope the rain holds off for you.
A lovely thought, Carol. You will feel spiritual everytime you are out there.
Of course you are right with the layout. Great minds do think alike and what better place to say a prayer than in a garden? I think you need some Angel's trumpets in your garden, in pots. Let the music begin.
Nice layout. The focal point will be wonderful no matter what you decide it shall be. It will be something that will tie both sides of the garden together. I can't wait to see it.
Gardening is certainly a spiritual experience for most of us, so your layout is totally appropriate! As for your focal point statue… the classic claw foot bathtub on-end with a famous religious character inside!
Love the cathedral analogy – but then I love cathedrals AND gardens. The boulder ads and element of interest and you can take a rest there as you meditate about your melons. Lalalalalallalalala…I did not hear the anti-rain comments – I put my hands over my ears!
If the veggie garden is a cathedral, you're its High Priestess!
Oh, the awful inequity of the weather … I'm going outside to water my garden with my tears. 😉
I say amen!
It is so exciting to see more of the remodel evolving. Being a great cathedral might help you remember to wear a hat when you are there.
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Sorry, I deleted because my haste to publish made the comment rather confusing. Let's try again.
Carol, I'll be repeating along with you… "No more rain and snow" And I'll add to that freezing temps. I need to get those veggies a growing! My gardens were covered with six inches of snow last week.
It's so nice that you have so much room for vegetables. I like the Bunny Altar idea, but I'd want a place to sit at the altar so I'd have to have a bench. Can't wait to see what you plant and how it all grows in.
I love it! How about a dove plaque for your focal point? It would be really cool if you could find a replica of the window behind the altar at St. Peter's in the Vatican, which is the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. It wouldn't be obviously religious, would look gardeny, yet would have a meaning.
Maybe the patron saint of gardening…St Fiacre. Eager to see what strikes your fancy.
Too bad you couldn't move that stone to where it could be a focal point instead of a nusiance. I have always wanted a stone like this in the garden. It is a pickle to move though. Can't wait to see what your focal point will be. Maybe a new bench?? You will need a place to sit and watch all these veggies grow. Or a little bistro table where you could sit and write about the veggies and have a snack straight from the garden. What fun having a new veggie garden to play, I mean work in. The farmers around here are saying the same thing about the water in their fields. I hope you get some dry days ahead. I too am not able to plant anything due to wet soil. I hate to say that out loud because we know it will be the opposite at some point this summer.
I kind of like the stone. It looks like a nice place to sit down and contemplate the garden.
I've enjoyed your blog
I thought I was the only one with a big rock in the garden. I just set potted plants on mine.