Now that we have a large grassy lawn in our backyard, we decided the best location our our vegetable garden would be the large empty space we have directly in front our patio. The area we mapped out for our garden is 8ft wide and 24ft long, which is gives us plenty of room for one or two 4ft wide by 8ft garden bed sections. I love this spot our our vegetable garden, the space gets lots of sunlight, its super convenient for picking veggies and I'll be able to see our veggies from our kitchen window. This location also allow us to extend our current drip system on the perimeter of our fence line and place emitters directly into our garden beds. This wil cut down on my watering the veggies and be more water savvy, yay!
Hasani and I love the look and ease of raised garden beds, and have decided to build raised garden beds for the space. Not going to lie, the space needs a lot of work before we can get to the planting phase of this project. We have boards, old planters and lots of weeds to clear out of the area before we can bring in raised planters. The entire side area where we keep our trash, recycle and green waste containers also needs some love and concealment, but we'll get to that down the line.
Behind the raised garden beds, we'd love to build a large privacy trellis and grow some pretty flowering vines. Maybe Carolina jasmine, love how pretty they are!
We're using these plans for Sunset.com to build our raised garden beds. Yesterday we brought materials to build one raised garden bed. We want to build one and see how we like the size in our space before we build the second one. I'm tempted to add a little border ledge around the top of the garden frame, like this it just makes it feel 'finished.' I can already picture the raised garden beds in place.
via www.sunset.com
The thought of growing our own food makes me so happy! I'm hoping we grown an abundance of food for our home and also to share with family and friends. Our list of what we plan to grow changes daily, our goal is to grow a salad / salsa garden. We want to grow a few varieties of tomatoes, chili peppers, lettuce, spinach, and a variety of herbs. Each time we stop in Home Depot or Lowes our list of veggies keep changing. Yesterday, I saw mint and peppermint chocolate, I just have to grow both! In addition to grow lots of veggies, I want to grow strawberries in a large pot and maybe blueberries. I plan on doing lots of research and even buy a beginner gardening book before we decided on exactly what to plant for crop, I'll for sure do an update and share what we end up planting.
via www.ehow.com
Wishing I could fast forward thought my 9-5 day and get started building our first raised garden bed. I can't wait until I can spend a little time tending to our little garden and picking fresh tomatoes to enjoy at home. For this garden project we are taking a weekend by weekend approach, so hopefully by the end of the month we'll have our plants planted.
Are you working on garden this year?
We used the sunset.com plan to build our garden bed last year. It was so straightforward and great step by step pictures. I am a visual learner. Sounds like you will have a lot of space to grow all sorts of lovely vegetables and herbs. Here's to this years planting season!
ReplyDeleteDarnetha, I loved how your raised garden bed turned out last year too! I can't wait to build our first one tonight and then decided if we should build an additional one. Cheers to happy planting!
DeleteI wish I'd have room for raised beds. I love them too!
ReplyDeleteRaised beds look so pretty and down the line I could always plant flowers if I get tired of gardening, I'm such a beginner this should be an interesting planting season for sure!
DeleteI'd love to have a vegetable garden! That would be so cool. I love all your ideas, you are so creative!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Morgan! You should totally do a garden!! :)
DeleteI just used a bunch of old deck pilings to make our new veggie garden. Looks like Roman ruins meets graveyard, but hopefully the tomatoes won't care.
ReplyDeleteMy advice is dont plant mint. It takes off like good smelling Bermuda grass and you'll be pulling it for years. Only plant mint in pots surrounded by concrete. It smells lovely but is super invasive.
Jessica
allsquaredup.blogspot.com
Jessica thanks for the tip! I remember reading years ago that one herb was super invasive but couldn't remember if it was basil or mint! So glad you told me...I might hold off on planting mint, lol and just buy it in ice cream form for now! I'm sure your garden looks fantastic, btw loved your dance floor, talk about fun parties!
DeleteKatrina,
DeleteWhen a new post from Chic Little House shows up on my Blogger page, I know I'm in for a nice read. Besides the fact that you have incredible vision and amazing style, it is refreshing to read a blog that is positive and funny without being crass. A swear-free site is nice to find.
Lots of people have bought new houses and furnished them beautifully - with new items. But "doing right" by an older home, finding great discoveries at thrift stores and Craigslist is so much more creative. I wish I had your eye for design, but Oh well, at least I can read about your latest projects!
Jessica
allsquaredup.blogspot.com
LOVE Sunset Magazine! They have the most amazing garden ideas and how-tos! You have to check out their western garden landscapes (You can totally borrow my copy sometime;-) Can't wait to see your beautiful new vegetable garden. I'm in the process of planning a garden, just not sure how to make it dog friendly, and beautiful in such limited space? Your space is definitely ideal and going to be so pretty!
ReplyDeleteThis is such a great plan and the perfect space for it! I've always wanted a garden in our backyard because the idea of eating what you grow is wonderful. Excited to see what you all decide to grow :)
ReplyDeleteKatrina,
ReplyDeleteI hope I caught you before you make a MAJOR gardening mistake. First off -- KUDOS TO YOU -- for starting a garden. Once you have one bed in -- you'll need two. Then three. Then four. Gardening is a disease that spreads. Pretty soon, you'll be gardening up your fences because there's not enough space! But -- I spotted an error that many people make: planting MINT. Do NOT -- I mean DO NOT put mint into a raised bed and "share" it with other plants. Mint is invasive. It grows like a weed. It will take over your entire raised bed in less than a year and the root systems are so invasive that it's impossible to dig out and get rid of. If you've already planted your starter plant -- dig it up -- and put it into a self-enclosed container like a clay pot. Make sure the bottom of that pot isn't open, as the roots will grow right down through it and into the yard itself and then you're screwed. Drainage holes are OK -- but I'm telling you -- mint is NOT something you want to mess with. Now I have to run off and tell Arrington before others get the bright idea to do this, because they will REGRET it later.
http://sacramentogardening.blogspot.com/
Hi Bill! Thanks for sharing your garden knowledge with about what not to plant with me! I'm remember reading something way back that mint or basil was evasive - good to know mint is crazy and acts more like a weed than anything, that's the last thing this newbie gardener wants to deal with lol :)
DeleteAs for our raised garden bed we're building, I'm was thinking it was too big lol - we opted to build a 4x12 raised garden bed instead of one or two smaller ones. Glad you came across my blog! I'm looking forward to reading yours and following along and getting new tips and seeing what your planting! Thanks again :) & Any more tips are welcomed :)
I've put some pictures up on my blog to show you what happens when you allow a small starter plant of mint to grow in a raised bed. Warning to you: These pictures aren't pretty:
ReplyDeletehttp://sacramentogardening.blogspot.com/2014/03/so-you-wanna-grow-mint-do-ya.html
I'm so excited to follow along! I love the look of raised bed and they will totally "go" with your home and yard, too.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kim! i'll be sharing updated pics of our new garden area this week :) Yay for progress!
Delete