Cottage Vegetable Garden Tour with Vintage Junk Style

Tour a charming cottage style vegetable garden infused with upcycled vintage junk garden decor ideas.

Gardens are personal spaces. They reflect the personality and taste of the gardener. This is the third summer for our “new” picket fence vegetable garden; it’s starting to reflect my style. I hope you enjoy this Cottage Vegetable Garden Tour with Vintage Junk Style!

Cottage Vegetable Garden Tour with Vintage Junk Style

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Repurposed Junk Garden Ideas

Whenever I can, I try to use repurposed junk I’ve found to grow my plants on. I not only love the combination of rusty junk and plants, but it gives my garden the junky style I love.

Our garden is laid out with five Vego garden raised beds in the front (zone1). You can see how we built the fence and the raised beds in “Making a Raised Bed Garden with Cottage Style”. We left narrow rows between each so we can harvest produce.

To add vertical interest and support climbing plants, I repurposed curbside junk finds. 6 old crib springs are zip tied in A shapes for cucumber plants to be trained up. Reebar U shapes anchor them into the dirt so they won’t blow down.

I plant the cucumber plants at the bottom of the springs and tuck the plants into the squares as they grow. The little cucumbers hang down to make it easy to harvest them. You can see how they filled in as the season progressed here. Happy nasturtiums grown from seeds provide season long color at the base.

The junk A frame idea also worked for the snap peas. We had two metal mesh cage squares we zip tied together so the plants could grow up the sides. Self seeded morning glories added to the pretty.

Upcycled Old Garden Tools

I’ve got a huge stash of old garden tools I’ve found in curbside piles. I decided to join three of them together with zip ties to make a trellis the pole beans could grow up. I simply stuck the ends firmly into the soil and used several zip ties to anchor the tops together. The old rakes and tools looked cute as the bean plants made their way up and over the tops.

I love the vertical interest in the garden. They created a literal wall of green. I planted yellow and purple bush beans in the front of the raised bed so we could harvest for many weeks. A couple sunflower plants will add a punch of cute in the late summer days, too.

Vintage Garden Decor with Junk Style

Throughout the picket fence cottage garden I’ve tucked in vintage junk style garden decor pieces. I just love the look of galvanized and rust with garden green.

Old tractor sprinklers sit here and there. A vintage gas can with great graphics is topped with a salvaged cement birdbath top. Galvanized laundry tubs are filled with lettuces and herbs.

Cottage Vegetable Garden

I plant most of my vegetables directly in the soil in Spring, which means we have just started to enjoy the summer harvest. My 30 tomato plants have loved all the rain we’ve had this year, the cukes are going crazy, and the carrots are looking great!

Mr. Fix-it got a bagger for his lawn tractor and spread a nice layer of grass clippings around the veggie plants. Definitely a great way to cut down on weeds and retain the soil’s moisure!

Tending Flowers for the Wedding

Happy Girl’s wedding is August 31st and she wanted a garden party theme (which I was totally great with). I planted 14 containers with plants we’ll be using for centerpieces and also planted hundreds of cutting flowers all around the picket fence (also for cut flower vases).

The planters have come along nicely, fed constantly with THIS. I use 1/2 scoop in my watering cans almost every time I hand water them. I’ve also been feeding the cutting flowers around the fence, too.

But the zinnias have been struggling. We’ve had such a rainy, gloomy summer. And we have quite a shady yard with many mature trees. I think they’re finally going to bloom just in time for the wedding; thank goodness!

I love the crazy jumble of flowers and plants that fill the late summer garden. It’s my happy place:) I transplanted several morning glory plants around the fence. They’re climbing nicely along with a couple clematis plants I put in awhile ago. Cottage gardens look so happy with climbing plants!

And vintage junk is so perfect, covered with pretty flowers:) Yes, the Japanese beetles have been munching the leaves:( We didn’t do well controlling them this year.

And a Few Succulents

Of course I had to add a few succulents for their great textural beauty. I popped some cheap Trader Joe’s plants in the screen porch window boxes because they don’t get rain. They’re filling in nicely and the kalanchoe’s have been blooming, too! I’ll have to bring these in for the winter to enjoy inside.

Think that’s it for the junk garden ideas in the vegetable garden. If you love adding your vintage finds to your outdoor garden and yard areas, enjoy these posts:

“25+ Creative Vintage Garden Decor Ideas (you can thrift and DIY)”

“10 Easy Ways to Decorate with Vintage Garden Tools”

“16 Vintage Repurposed Junk Projects with Garden Style”

“13+ Vintage Junk Container Gardening Ideas with Repurposed Style”

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