Front Yard Garden - Update

We wrote a while ago about a beautiful front yard vegetable garden we built; here are new photos showing the garden about a month later - in very early May.  We've built some climbing frames for peas and beans, transplanted strawberries, garlic and rhubarb, and (with the owners) have helped plant bok choi, pak choi, turnips, carrots, beets, lettuce, potatoes, and some herbs.  The orange thyme between the flagstones is growing well, and will eventually form one continuous seam of aromatic beauty amongst the stones!

There's still room for the heat-loving plants to go in - tomatoes, squashes, peppers, more herbs, and so on.   And of course, the greens and peas can be resewn in successive "flights" - every three or four weeks - to keep a steady supply coming for much of the summer.  

In the fall, while the last tomatoes are still ripening on the vine, the garden can be converted into a winter garden - broccoli, cabbages, cauliflower and brussels sprouts interspersed with beds of kale, garlic, onions and so on.  We can also cover one or more of the beds, and grow lettuce for year-round harvesting!

Comments

[Emna]

I have 2 long, narrow planters down 1 side of my patio. I plant tomatoes, cabbage, broccoli, peppers things like that it them. They're made of landscape timbers & are held together with long nails or spikes. I also have large black rectangle plastic containers that I'm going to plant cucumbers, beans, watermelon & cantaloupe in. They are too shallow for tomatoes. I had to drill a lot of holes in the bottom for drainage. I also have some big round plant pots I grow stuff in like lettuce, cabbage, tomatoes. I use to have a couple of whiskey barrels. The plastic containers were something just quick & easy to use plus I put them on plant dollies with wheels I can roll them inside when it freezes, etc.

[Kiss]

I had mine built with 2x6 but I had them made 4ft x 6ft. I have used them now for 5 years and love gardening this way. I have more control over the weeds and I don't seem to get as many pests. But my favorite part about these beds is the fact that I can actually plant at least one month before everyone else does because if I watch the weather report I know if I need to go out and cover the beds with plastic over night. These beds protect your seedlings from the wind too. I keep sheets of plastic like a paint drop cloth rolled up at the end of each bed if I need to cover I just pull the plastic over the bed and secure it with dirt or rocks. I doubt I will ever garden any other way again.Hope this helps. Enjoy

[Darach Seaton]

Emna - The beds and planters you describe demonstrate a variety of good solutions for patio and small-space gardening. Some people prefer a more formal, uniform look where all the containers are purpose-built for the space, while for others, mixing all kinds of containers and boxes in one space gives a pleasantly relaxed feel. Putting containers on wheels is also a great idea - and is something we do increasingly often on the custom containers we make for our clients. It makes it so easy to move them around the patio if you want to rearrange the design or to clean the patio surface. Your garden sounds great!

[Darach Seaton]

Kiss - You describe some good solutions in designing a vegetable garden - the benefits of raised beds and of covered beds. Using 2x6" material to build the raised beds works fine for many plants - especially lettuces and all kinds of greens. For tomatoes, squashes and other plants, a somewhat deeper bed is helpful - our standard beds are 9-10" deep - while root crops, potatoes and asparagus need plenty of depth (18" or so). These days, we often the deeper 18" beds for older gardeners, or for anyone else on foot or in a wheelchair, who find that it makes it easier to work in the garden if they don't have to bend down so low.