Fencing as Garden Architecture: A Rustic Vegetable Garden

Vi Kono of Redmond, Washington, started her garden design by framing the space with fences, then composing the garden within. "The fence gives structure to the garden and gives me something to look at during the time of year when there's the least to see," she explains. Her rustic fence uses bitter cherry saplings joined with wood screws, while three varieties of espaliered apples form a living fence along the south side. Fence-top birdhouses, an arbor, and gates made of unpeeled logs and twigs lend a whimsical, Hobbit-like feel.

Inside the Fence

Informal, curved beds mix vegetables (carrots, garlic, Swiss chard, lettuce, squash, tomatoes) with flowers (dahlias, delphiniums, lavatera, perennial linaria, cosmos, marigolds). Edible-pod 'Sugar Snap' peas and pole beans climb twiggy trellises, while a hop vine and porcelain berry (Ampelopsis brevipedunculata) grow up opposite sides of an arbor.

Soil Building

At planting, every seedling gets a sprinkling of controlled-release fertilizer. To maintain fertility, Kono digs in vast quantities of compost annually, supplemented with cow manure every third year. The result is a productive, enchanting garden where structure and abundance coexist beautifully.