Summer Celebration was a lot of fun this year. I think the whole set up was the best I've ever seen it in the four years I've visited this fun event in the garden. There were lots of gardens with plenty of whimsy to go around.
This fun bit of garden art is simply a 4x4 with saw blades attached to it. I really liked this. There were also bicycle sculptures, constatine wire and gears attached to 4 x 4s, and huge bowls filled with sedums and agaves. The theme of the event this year was 'Succulent Sedums'.
The vegetable garden is always a lot of fun. I just look at it and sigh because mine will never look like this no matter how much I wish it would. There is so much room in this garden and the rows are so neat! Not a weed in sight either. Then what will you do with all those vegetables you harvest from this nice vegetable garden?
Why take them to the oven in the garden of course! There was a whole kitchen set up in the garden. Sedums seems to be the order of the day. A blender was mixing them, a Hoosier was storing them and the table was set with them as well. Hey, you just have to have fun in the garden.Each year the University of Tennessee's Agricultural Research Station in Jackson Tennessee puts on this wonderful garden event called Summer Celebration. It is always the second Thursday in July so plan for next year's event now. And each year the theme is different but one thing is always the same, you can expect the unexpected here! I think this element of surprise and whimsy at Summer Celebration is what sets this event apart from many other garden events. You can always expect the unexpected here....
in the garden....
For a fun way to enjoy an old grill in the garden, go check out Darla's blog post found here. I think she's got UT beat for fun! I am thinking I may post the rest of the pics of the kitchen-what will you all come up with next?:)
What fun Tina!! That stove is a riot. I think Ag Research Stations are great to visit! How nice that this one has an open house and a theme each year. Thanks for sharing this year's.
ReplyDeleteI can only imagine what they will come up with next. I must find more Sedum. I keep pinching mine and using it over and over again. Neat kitchen garden~~~
ReplyDeleteVery unique stove garden, nice post to introduce different fun garden ideas.
ReplyDeleteThat "kitchen" garden is so creative! Who knew appliances could look so useful? LOL
ReplyDeleteTours are really a great way to see such fun creations. What are the flowers growing in the sun beneath that crepe myrtle?
Hope all is well with you. Sorry for my absence lately. I have so many project underway. Grumpy was here yesterday, so I had been preparing for that for a week. I am helping my son a archaeology business startup and just booked a trip for France next May to take the other one there for his pharm school graduation present. I have several travel writing assignments that I'm trying to juggle, too.
Have a great weekend.
Sounds like a wonderful place, love to have veggie garden look like that! Cool kitchen!
ReplyDeleteVery interesting garden theme - glad you had so much fun. It looked like it would be a great way to spend a day:0) Cooler weather closing in on us soon -got to get Lil Bundle out for his walk. Ciao
ReplyDeleteI can see right now I need to open my mind more to new possibilities. If you had told me someone stuck a stove in their garden and used it as art I would have thought them crazy, but that's the cutest thing I've ever seen. How ingenious!—Randy
ReplyDeleteJanet, You should've seen the hoosier, table and refrigerator. I did not post them all but it was so fun! A big hit too.
ReplyDeleteDarla, It will be hard to top this year for sure. Sedum is great in the garden-low water needs.
Vuejardin, It is always nice to get new ideas and this garden is full of them.
Cameron, It was a lot of fun for sure. Hey, you take care of business. Everyone is having a great time this summer and blogging in general has been slow. I only post because if I stop I might not begin again. lol. No need to explain at all. Blogging is for fun for us and if we can't do it, then that is fine:) I am not sure what type of flower is beneath the crepe. I think some kind of annual. Sorry I didn't pay too much attention. Only to the plants that I purchased that were already in the ground so I could see their growth habit. That was fun!
Dawn, Your veggie garden can look like this! You have such a big one and it will work for you and mom both. Mine is too small.
Anonymous, I know and I can't wait to get outside in the garden. It is wonderful!!! Have fun!
Jamie and Randy, It is probably not for everyone but isn't this stove fun? The whole kitchen was across the road. They also had a gazebo with a green roof. It was fun!
Hi Tina, I would love to see that. I used to live next door to a gentleman whose garden looked like that. He was out there every single week with his Troybilt pulverizing the soil. He would crank up that Troybilt instead of bending over to pull a weed;) The appliances in the garden are a hoot. All things are possible if you have 50 students doing the labor;)
ReplyDeleteMarnie
This looks like such a fun event to attend, Tina. I love to visit shows like this and get ideas, but I think I would draw the line at putting an old appliance in my garden:) The vegetable garden is amazing, but as Marnie says, when you have lots of manpower it's much easier to keep up with the maintenance. My dad's vegetable garden looks a lot like this, though; one of these days I'm going to have to get some photos of it!
ReplyDeleteInteresting info on harvesting garlic yesterday; that's one plant I don't have in the garden, but it does sound easy to grow.
A garden club member here showed me some of the photos, I laughed when I saw the stove! It's very interesting but just wouldn't fit in my garden. I'd need either the built in or the over the stove microwave to go with it! ;)
ReplyDeleteganz herzliche Grüße aus Bremen !!!
ReplyDeleteHi Tina, what a fun event! You have hit upon the dilemma we all face, not enough ROOM in the veggie patch. Nice wide paths and plenty of room to try so many different things, pretty trellises, that is one beautiful spot. :-)
ReplyDeleteFrances
Tina, I must remember to write this on next years calendar (get a calendar)It sounds/looks like a lot of fun. Love the clever repurposed stove in the garden.Not gonna happen here, tho! That would be the straw for my neighbors! Have a sweet weekend. gail
ReplyDeleteGreat post! It left me wanting to see more of the gardens. Wish I had a group of young students loose in my garden, they'd find plenty to do after the rains we've had. I would allow as much whimsey as they could devise.
ReplyDeleteOh I just love the oven in the garden. It is a masterpiece for sure. What a great place to visit.
ReplyDeleteI'm always impressed by "show" vegetable gardens - all the lettuces seem to be the exact same size and evenly spaced!
ReplyDeleteThe oven was a hoot - fun but also getting the message across about cooking your own produce.
Coming from someone that has an old washing machine in their garden decor, I like the oven in the garden! If that does not put a smile on ones face, nothing will! Things such as this keep one smiling and not so serious about their surroundings. I love my washing machine and so does everyone else which sees it. Or so they say :-) Some have even mentioned adding one to their yard after seeing mine! A sure conversation piece if nothing else. And to think, the Saint has issues with bowling balls in the garden but not washing machines. hee hee…
ReplyDeleteFantastic, Tina. That sure would have been a "cats meow" place to visit. Love the "kitchen" scene.
ReplyDeleteWe put an old washing machine in the garden of my cousins yrs. ago. Love it.
Hi Anonymous, Skeeter, Dawn, Jean & Nina. Sure hope your day is going as you wish. A shower here already. In the 80's.
It's probably just because I'm a clutz (as my perpetually bruised shins will prove), but the saw sculpture scares me. I'm sure I'd find a way to hurt myself around it. What if it fell on you? Aaaagh! Nightmare in the garden! But the other pictures are very lovely. Glad you enjoyed the celebration.
ReplyDeleteTina........it's your fault...I linked to you.....come see why.....
ReplyDeleteI've heard the term kitchen garden, but that takes it to the extreme- love it though! I cold see you making something like that sculpture. The first photo looks like flower fireworks.
ReplyDeleteI love the vegetable garden, I can't imagine having that much space. I've always thought it would be fun to have an outdoor kitchen. If it was right in the garden with me, maybe I'd cook more often!
ReplyDeleteHi Tina --quick question ...will Japanese Beetles eat Crepe Myrtle? A few houses up from me seems to be losing there crepe to them --I am worried they will soon find there way up the street to mine:(
ReplyDeleteHi everyone --have a super day! Lola it's good to see you back:) Hope you are feeling good on this fine day --happy weekend:0)
Well I'm just amazed how they used the oven! I wish I had all that space too and sun as well. I need more full sun in my garden. -Jackie
ReplyDeleteHi Tina, I just had to come over here to see what Darla was talking about. I love that oven in the garden. That is adorable the way they displayed it.
ReplyDeleteWhat fun! And what a great idea to make gardens such a source of laughter. I would love to visit sometime when theSummer Celebration is going on.It looks like the folks in Tennessee really have a great sense of humour!
ReplyDeleteDo you think I could donate some of my broken-down kitchen appliances in exchange for some plants? Sedums would be perfect...;D
I came over to visit because of Darla's post, and she blamed it on you. Enjoyed this post.
ReplyDeleteLeedra’s Photos For Fun
The oven is hilarious and brilliant. Does it have a WARM setting for germinating seedlings during the winter? :)
ReplyDeleteI liked the picture with all the big veggies on - in nice rows!
ReplyDeleteI always say I don't really do gardening, but the past few weeks I've hardly done anything else!
Still I don't have a vegetable garden - only 10000m2s of ecological wilderness! Mind you the birds like it and it definitely is green! everywhere!
thanks for your e-mail, i will answer it, but I've been so terribly busy with renovations...
see you round, love sarah sofia
Now I know what I can do with the old dishwasher sitting under the carport. *chuckle*
ReplyDeleteWow! Summer celebration indeed! That oven! Well, I'll be....! Who'd have thought that an oven could look so good in the garden?! Great post, Tina.
ReplyDeleteHi Everyone, So glad you all liked the post. I just might have to post the refrigerator, sink, hoosier and table pictures too at some point. Darla's grill is a hoot! A very fun thing to do for sure. You all have a good night.
ReplyDeleteThis looks like a lot of fun!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, Tina has been busy so I will jump in here for her and hope she does not mind me doing that... YES, Japanese beetles will eat crepe myrtle! I have had to spray a few of mine in the past but only when I see them on the tree as I dont like to use sprays on the blooms for fear of harming the bees or butterflies. I use Sevin spray and it works well…
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun place to visit for clever ideas! The 'Kitchen Garden' was very whimsical, lol. :)
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