Late Spring 2020 Garden Tour

Could you go from plain lawn to bountiful garden, too? In the very first Imagined Garden tour, Christine shows you the berry bushes she dropped into her lawn, followed by raised beds, which even provided through a Midwestern winter thanks to mini-greenhouses. She's also started adding less-common bushes like Aronia Berry and Black Currant. And, she shares a glimpse of her young orchard.

Welcome to the very first Imagined Garden Tour.

As we walk into the garden, the first thing you’ll see are some berry bushes, blueberries and raspberries. On the tour, we see the blueberries are just about ready. In fact, the first blue one is just starting to turn.

There was previously just lawn. Christine knew she wanted four-foot raised beds, so she measured things off. And, she plopped her berry bushes down in the middle of the yard where she knew she wanted the garden to be.

See the raised bed system centered around an herb garden.

Then, the raised bed system followed, with the herb garden front and center. This most-used space in the garden contains English Thyme and Lemon Thyme. There are two mint varieties, Chocolate Mint and Mojito Mint. There’s lemon Balm and French tarragon, along with marjoram, rosemary, sage, and oregano. And, a pineapple sage is just starting to come back as its perennial self.

Next door to the herb garden, a strawberry patch also has a permanent location. Christine had been enjoying fresh strawberries for several weeks, and at the time of the tour there were still a few red berries hanging out for their photo-op.

The rest of the beds will be rotated through with different crop varieties.

There is a patch of fresh lettuce with so many more varieties than you can find at the grocery store. The home-picked leaves are thick, juicy, and flavorful. Fresh lettuce just can’t be beat.

On the other side of the garden is the chicory family. Members include Radicchio and Frisee. There’s also Italian Dandelion. The chicory family of greens is a favorite at the Imagined Garden, and more details are sure to be shared in the future.

Catch a first glimpse of the mini-greenhouses.

Next on the tour, Christine shares a first glimpse of her mini-greenhouses. The previous fall she was trying to figure out how she might get cold frames on top of her raised beds. Then, she realized she could get greenhouses put up really fast and really inexpensively. (More details will follow in a future post.)

The greenhouses allowed Christine to have fresh greens all winter long. Kale, lettuce, spinach and cabbage graced the table.

On the tour, cabbages could still be seen growing. A purple kohlrabi was just about ready for harvest. There were Giant Red mustard greens, Swiss Chard, and beautiful red beets. Turnips, purple carrots, and Lacinato kale joined the show, as well.

Edible landscaping with berry bushes and an orchard round out the tour.

Walking behind the raised beds revealed a section of taller berry bushes. A trio of black currant bushes, which had arrived as bare-root stock, had just been freshly planted. Aronia berry bushes had also been freshly added. Aronia is a wilder type of berry, high in antioxidants.

The tour ended with a peek at the three-year-old orchard, growing beautifully, with fruit production expected in the near-future.