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Everyone who has a dacha or a personal plot tries to make it beautiful. But few people manage to have land and not plant cucumbers, tomatoes, parsley: they want not only to admire the flowers, but also to enjoy their own harvest. Yours is tastier. So they shyly hide the garden somewhere behind the garden, on the edge of the plot. But in vain. A properly made and planned garden can be an ornament. There is even such a thing as garden landscaping, and maybe it is French or English. Like this. What is interesting is that it is easy to make beautiful beds with your own hands. Only for self-design you only need to know a couple of secrets and rules.
Ornamental garden
You have probably noticed that vegetable and aromatic crops are beautiful both during flowering and during fruiting. Even potatoes bloom with cute flowers, and some flowers can envy the rich color of its tops. Beautiful multi-colored shiny peppers on a bush, red-green tomatoes, even a cucumber bed, with plants climbing along the arch, look good. There are also colorful salads, different types of cabbage, all sorts of dill parsley and other useful and fragrant herbs. The aesthetes noticed this and began to decorate the beds beautifully. There are even two different types of ornamental vegetable gardens.
French garden
In the classic version, these are symmetrical beds, in the center of which there is a sculptural group, a fountain, another recreation area is organized. Such gardens were made near castles, and they were also a place of rest. The strict geometry of the planned site further emphasized the magnificence of the castle. He was always the priority.
In the modern version, the beds can be square, rectangular, in the form of a sector of a circle. All of them are separated by clear paths, border plants are planted along the edge of the beds. It is clear that you cannot stick a French garden in its pure form on your 6-10 acres, but it is very possible to do something similar.
In general, there are two types of beds – on the same level with the soil and raised. It is easier to organize a garden in one level, but raised beds are more convenient in processing. For their fencing, you can use boards, you can cut slate into strips, if desired, the fence can also be made of stone, weaved from a vine. This is someone who can or wants to aim at something. See the photo for a few examples of how to make a fence for beautiful beds.
Read more about organizing high beds here, and the general rules for planning a site are described in this article.
For beds flush with the ground, plants can be used instead of borders. For example, parsley, regular or curly, lettuce of different colors. It is clear that the plants will gradually be cut off, but you can first plant them densely, gradually thinning out the planting. If the area allows, marigolds or calendula can be planted along the edge of the beds, only a low border, other plants that give dense greenery and grow small in height.
The main focus of the French garden is in the layout and evenly planted rows. The second is in the alternation of colors. The third is in beautifully made paths that set off the greenery.
To make everything look beautiful, it is necessary to alternate the shades of plants, and in order to imagine how everything will look, it is better to draw in color. They draw as best they can: on a computer in a program for designers or on a landscape sheet. There you can also develop the layout of the beds yourself, if you draw everything on a scale. Then the ideas will need to be transferred to the site. Several options for the layout of the beds are in the photo.
And so that you do not think that in our conditions it is impossible to create anything like this, below are a few amateur photos from real summer cottages and household plots where French garden beds have been living for more than one year.
We hope that the examples of the design of the beds inspired you, and we will tell you how to make fences for them below.
English vegetable garden
It is not as symmetrical as the French one and is dominated not by a castle or a house, but by a lawn. Vegetables are interspersed with flowers and all plantings emphasize the attractiveness of the lawn. The house itself is also rather a vertical bed: ivy often winds along the wall, pots and flowerpots stand, hang. All well-groomed and “savagery” does not smell.
Actually, the English garden is difficult to separate from the garden or flower garden. Here the principle of “all together” applies. But somehow they manage to combine everything, and very harmoniously.
How to make drip irrigation of beds and flower beds, read here It is not very difficult, besides, there are ready-made kits (we read about manufacturers here).
We make beautiful beds with our own hands
How to plan a garden, you probably understand. It remains to learn how to make raised or high beds. A fence for them can be made from boards, slate, the remains of roofing iron, and other similar materials.
A little about the size. You can raise the bed to a height of 20 cm, and no one will do it above 1 meter – it is difficult and inconvenient. The width of the ridge depends on whether it can be approached from one side or from two. Estimate at what distance from the edge it will be convenient for you to process plants. Sit down and try to reach out with your hands, given that in this position you will have to linger for a while. This will be the optimal width for you. The length of the beds often depends on the site or on the area that you plan to allocate for this crop.
Having decided on the dimensions, you can calculate how much material is needed. When deciding how to fence the garden, conduct an inspection in the barn. Perhaps some materials remained from the construction, and you can make a fence out of them. If materials of one type are not enough, you can make a few from one, a few from another. To make everything look beautiful (we are making a beautiful garden), make different fences through one. It will also add zest to your garden.
In the article about high beds, you can find techniques for making some fences.
slate fence
If there is slate, the work on arranging the beds will be easy. It is cut into strips of the desired width, taking into account the fact that 10 centimeters will need to be buried. To save material, there is a second option: drive the pegs into the ground, and fasten slate to the pegs with screws (nail with nails), the lower edge of which is simply sunk a little into the fertile layer.
By the way, the fence can be grown or woven. A hedge is a great backdrop for beautiful French-style beds, and a wattle fence is a great backdrop for a country-style vegetable garden.
From the boards
There are many options for borders and fences for beds from boards. From the simplest – four boards hammered together into a square or rectangle, to complex structures.
In the simplest version, take two long boards, two short boards (according to the width of the beds). Nail a bar with a section of 50 * 50 mm to the short edges. Its length is 15-20 cm longer than the height of the boards. Then nail long boards to the free side of the bars, assembling a rectangle.
If desired, you can complicate the design. From the boards you can make a non-standard or even longline bed. And it’s not at all as difficult as it seems. See photos for ideas.
You can read more about making a pond here. And in this article – how to turn it into a fountain.
Non-standard approach: unusual shape and / or materials
People make beautiful beds with their own hands in unexpected places and from unexpected materials. Many people know that the curbs are made of stone, but concrete is used to fasten them. And this is long and tedious. But if you make a fence out of a metal mesh, and pour stones inside, you get an original fence. It is called “gabion” and has recently become quite popular. To prevent the earth from spilling out, the inner part of the mesh (from the side of the bulk soil) is covered with geotextile.
You can make a beautiful garden bed from branches. Ordinary, rough. The main thing is not to forget to treat them with bioprotection so that they do not become a source of diseases for plants.
Even from plastic pipes you can make a vertical bed. The rack is also assembled, by the way, from PVC pipes, but of a smaller diameter. Holes were made in the pipes into which plants were planted. Only a couple of meters of space is occupied, and the garden is decent.
You won’t believe it, but a garden can be planted …. on the wall of the house. Just long narrow boxes are mounted on the wall one under the other. There is enough illumination for everyone, it is convenient to take care of, it takes almost no space at all.
A sloping site is always a little more difficult than a flat one. But how many non-standard ideas can be implemented. For example, such a bed for greenery or aromatic herbs.
Are you thinking about what to make paths between the beds? Do you have old carpeting? Cut into strips and put in the garden. When watering, the water passes, then does not evaporate, weeds do not grow. Beauty in the garden at no cost – it’s possible …
And some more interesting beds for aromatic herbs or greens.