My veggie garden and orchard-in-progress is functional but not remotely pretty.
How do you do it? I see these BHG-worthy veggie plots, yet mine looks like an abandoned lot someone threw some corn, tomatoes, and a peach tree in 
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Good landscaping takes more effort than good gardening. lol
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Sometimes a single idea is a game changer in appearance. My orchards and gardens are not that easy on the eyes to look at all the time. Sometimes people think I live on a slice of heaven. Add a functional pond because no matter the size water is beautiful and the key to everything else being beautiful. Stone is a nice touch I don’t personally use but I see many others use. Wood chips or landscape fabric or both when used as a weed barrier/ mulch give you more time to get everything else beautiful. All that said and sometimes my mower breaks and it’s a month during the rainy season before the mechanic shows up. Worse case scenario people throw money at the problem because statues and fountains etc. Look nice! There are people on here who mold there own garden art and to me that’s impressive because it’s a huge amount of work. Old timer here once told me “Clark don’t plant this 2 acres until you first figure out how to take care of 20 feet”. He was saying start small and make a 20 foot square area gorgeous before planting acres. I have a tendency to think in acres since I started out as a dirt farmer. No one can keep up with everything all the time because after all it all takes a lot of time.
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Functional is pretty, it just depends on who is looking, and their perspective.
To me , most gardens/ orchards / landscapes ,that many would find aesthetically pleasing are environmental disasters.
Over use of chemicals, fossil fuels , destruction of pollinators / beneficial habitat. Lack of respect for the other things we share the planet with.
A well mowed lawn is example , what is the point of that.?
Yes we could see a big snake befor we stepped on it or a lion waiting to eat us. … So we feel more confortable …The only time I see people in their yard these days is when they are mowing it…
I mow, but I want those wild flowers to bloom , so it is often tall, and looks unkept. Looks good to me. To me mowing is about maintaining access to an area.
The ideal permaculture planting would be the opposite extreme of a yard.
Ideally it would look like untended , wild nature,but with every plant serving a purpose. So to most people it would not be a “pretty garden” unless they knew what they were looking at. But could be very functional.
In suburbia USA ,it seems that many people are more worried about how it looks, not how functional it is.
I have seen some temperate zone, permaculture type plantings , that are productive and pretty.,this is kind of a new movement, and people are trying to find the pieces to the puzzle, and how they fit together .
In Central America , and other more tropical areas this is( And has been ) a way of life for a long time. To a ignorant outsider (ME ! Until I learned the plants) the agricultural systems looked like untamed tropical plants.
Then I learned how useful each plant was, how they fit together. And that these were long term engineered plant community’s , highly productive , but looked like nature.
Point being… It does not have to look like an English garden to be functional.
Don’t worry about what the neighbors think… But explaining that the reason it looks the way it does is intentional, and for a purpose, may spark a interest. And give " them " something to talk about… (Think new recruits )
Also maybe we don’t post pics of our less photogenic areas on line.
We all have that skeleton in the closet .
Just don’t post many pics of it.
If it’s functional , don’t try to " fix" it.
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Edges. Focus on the edges and transitions. In my opinion, clean edges are the key.
Whatever sits behind a clean edge always looks a little better and leaves the appearance of intent. I had a prairie restoration that would look like a devastation various times of the year, but focusing upon the edges and transitional areas allowed it to seem less chaotic.
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My tomato and pepper gardens look great for the first month or so. Then when I have to do yard work and other chores, that pretty patch of garden gets taken over by weeds. My wife tends to the other gardens, and she puts in the work to keep them looking good.
When it comes to my fruit trees, plants and veggie gardens, I’m all gung ho about planting stuff, but don’t put in the work I should to maintain them to my shame.
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I maintain “well enough” to get a decent harvest, but yeah - I have a wife, job (she works too), 2 young kids, and a 2600 square foot home to maintain too!
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put functionality and productivity over looks but i did plant in 5’ wide rows and the whole row is covered in strait lines w/ wood chips with 10ft wide strips of lawn in between. makes for easy mowing. even tho. the plants are different types in a row, i try to keep the same species together and some of the more ornamental near the road and driveway. i don’t put a lot of thought into it. to me it looks good and so far my neighbors agree!
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