BEFORE...A MESS!

AFTER...A VEGGIE OASIS

The garden that began with a magazine article (see “A kitchen garden begins”) is finished. Well, only finished in the gardening sense which is the plants are in and the real is work is now beginning.   This has become the destination spot in our yard.  I find myself here first thing in the morning with my coffee to weed, deadhead and water.  When I get home at night I check the progress on my “crops”.  Like most gardening projects this one evolved during the creation.  I am calling this my “building year” for this garden.  We have experimented and will have to see how it works.  In my experience gardening is all about tweaking anyways.

Kitchen gardens, or at least the kind I was trying to emulate, take more thought and planning than other beds I have built.  The idea of a productive and beautiful plot seems slightly contradictory to the rectangular rows of lettuce typically considered a proper vegetable garden.  There is a framework that can be built on to create a kitchen garden that is individually yours and functional too.  These are: bed structures, pathways, fill, plants.

Bed Structures

There are lots of ways to build raised beds.  You can see how I did these in the article “Building Raised Beds cheap!”  but there is more to think about.  What is the size and shape of the area you are using?  I had a rectangular space so I created beds that were symetrical and added a diamond shaped bed in the middle.  The great thing about kitchen gardens is that they can be anywhere! When you mix flowers in, it’s not always obvious that that beautiful ferny plant is actually asparagus gone to seed.  So maybe you have a long strip by a patio or garage, you can build the bed and treat it like a border garden.  This garden is just giving you zinnias and zucchini.  Consider size carefully.  In Spring we all want to plow up 40 acres and grow grow grow, but most of the time we should plant a little less than we think we can handle.  When building these beds, smaller is better.  I love that I can put my foot up on the edge of the bed and reach into the center of it while standing up.  It has been much easier to maintain this way.  I would suggest you get out some graph paper and measuring tape and do some planning.  Measure out the site you want to use then play on paper until you find the bed size and shape you want to use.  Just don’t do this until you also consider…

Pathways

I love my paths! They are another way to add structure  and they have been great.  When designing I had a couple of goals: the paths should be wide enough for a wheelbarrow or for 2 people to walk though together.  Ours are a bit unusual in that this entire garden is built on a concrete pad so it was ugly and hard on the knees!  There are many ways to cover a path: bark, dirt, stone, brick, pavers…but we are on a budget.  Our town provides free compost at the dump so we (that means my husband thanks hon!) got a couple of truckloads and threw it down.  This was the unscreened stuff, so there is lots of texture in it. It is also essentially dirt, so I put the pavers in so it is accesible even if it’s a muddy day.  It looks great, but still considered experimental.  Who knows how many thousands of weeds could grow?!  Next year we may be putting bark on top of it, but for now we are keeping our costs down.

Fill

As mentioned our town offers free compost.  This was a huge cost, time and labor saving factor for us.  Depending on your beds, you could have a LOT of cubic feet to fill.  We went with an (experimental again) layering approach.  On the bottom, which was concrete, we put leaves.  Living in New England we would give leaves as Christmas presents if we could get away with it, so this was great.  It also helps with drainage and gives the soil above it nutrients.  You could also include glass clippings or hay.  On top of this we put the compost.  If using this method, remember the leaves will break down and lower the soil level, so mound the compost up a little higher than you think you should.

Plants

Now comes the fun.  This year we did a lot of our plants from seeds, which allowed me to fill up the beds earlier.  The inner portion of the garden is all herbs.  I really like this not only because I love herbs, but a lot of them are perennial!   They also flower and attract bees, butterflies and other beneficial insects.  A lot of herbs can get out of control but in a raised bed they are restricted, so I spend less time weeding them.  They are also drought tolerant.

This was another way I added some design elements.  There are many plants that like to climb as they grow which gives a vertical element to the garden.  I created very simple teepees with bamboo poles and twine.  They look great and were about $1.00 a piece.  I have peas growing on them now and last week put in the seeds for green beans.  For the other bed I planted cucumbers.

In addition to the herbs which are edging a large part of the garden I have marigold, cosmos, zinnias and sunflowers in the beds.  As I have harvested things like radishes I have sown more marigold seed to cover the blank spots.  Marigold in particular has the added advantage of repelling bugs, especially ants.  Lettuces and other greens are also easy ones to grow from seed and come up quickly.

A lot of times my projects do not turn out as expected.  They run over in cost, or time or just fail to be as great as the picture in my head.  I am very pleased with this kitchen garden (or potager as they say in France) however and can’t believe how well it turned out.  Time will tell the elements that will need to change.  That is the great thing about gardening though, you can try again next year if it doesn’t work out.  For this year, I am going to thoroughly enjoy the intermingling of flower, veggie and herb in my backyard.

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Now to construction.  I use that term loosely as there are no real tools required.  Well, gardening tools, but no hammers or even nails.  I found my cinder blocks at Home Depot and they actually call them building blocks.  Mine are 8X8X16 and were $1.47 each.   It’s a good idea to do some drawing out of the shapes you want to make, (they don’t have to be rectangles!) because these blocks are HEAVY.   Clearing the space you intend to use is the most labor intensive part of this job and if you are clearing sod you really have your work cut out for you!

Basically you want your ground to be flat so your blocks can line up evenly.  You can use a level or string to be sure, but I am using the “that looks good” method.  Once you have lined up your blocks in the design you like fill both the bed you have created and the spaces in the block with soil/compost/mulch. (more on this later).  You are ready to plant!

A couple of things to consider.  When you are designing your beds, make sure you can easily reach inside to weed.  Typically 4 feet is considered the most manageable.  Also be sure to leave paths around the beds.  This not only makes them easier to work, it be a design element.   When you are considering what to use for a path material think about whether or not you want to spend anytime weeding it, mowing it, or replacing it.

Here is a list of possible bed fillers:

Compost is of course the gold standard for plants, however not everyone has access to 8-12 inches per bed of this brown gold.  Our city has compost available free to residents, and yours might too, check with your city hall to find out.  ( it’s a good idea to screen it when you didn’t make it yourself.)

The yellow pages is a great source for soil.  Lots of landscaping companies and some farms sell soil by the truckload.  Beg borrow or steal someone’s pickup and dedicate a Saturday to dirt.

While you are getting your soil ask if you can have/buy some hay or straw, which is also a good filler for your bed and really helps with an area that may not drain as quickly as you’d like.

If you are in an area that has a seasonal dispersal of leaves (called Fall in these parts) you can spread any that are still not broken down in a layer in your bed too.  This is also a great way to get rid of that leaf pile.

So now the best part….plant away!  Make sure you include something close to the edge that will drape over the side.  Also, when you are planting in this close of an area keep in mind that companion planting is important.  Companion planting is the art and science of placing plants that like each other close by.  This can help detur disease as well as pests.  Some sources even claim it makes things taste better.  See www.ghorganics.com/page2.html  for more information.  Happy Gardening!

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