and you know what that means! It means a new vegetable garden at Casa Crafter!
Last year, this is what my “garden” looked like:
Those two metal tubs were my previous attempt at a veggie garden. It was a flaming, tailspinning, crashing failure. I didn’t have them drained correctly and after the first big rain my small crop of peppers, squash, cucumbers, and cantaloupe was drowned. I was super bummed.
This year I was determined to do better! I REALLY want to use our huge lot (for being in a city anyway, half an acre is pretty good!) for producing some of our own food. We have the chickens, fig trees, and persimmon tree already which are great fun. A successful garden along with the beehive I’m planning will round it out nicely! I bet you didn’t know I was such a hippie, huh? Anyway, since I really want to get serious about making my yard more edible, I decided to get some professionals involved. I worked with an amazing company whose tagline is “Grow Food. We’ll Help.” Perfect. And here is my garden now!
As you can see my ill-fated metal tubs have been put to use again! They have been set up to drain properly, had trellises added, and are now planted with cucumbers and snow peas. Since this area is on a slope we added all this terracing to keep the decomposed granite pathways in place. I’m super happy with the way it looks. The slope also makes it really hard to photograph!
All around the perimeter in those mini stone beds are blackberries. Little Betty will eat every one of them I’m sure.
Do you recognize my metal planter score from my recent shopping trip?
Although I think vegetable gardens are beautiful enough on their own, I didn’t want my garden to be ALL business. I wanted a focal point. And my favorite plants are definitely succulents! They are so beautiful and easy to propagate. I’ve always got new starts going in a few vintage planters somewhere in my house or yard!
There’s also herbs tucked into a few of the corners.
The wood raised beds are pretty awesome. They’re wicking beds, which means there is a reservoir underneath the soil that holds water and provides water to the plants from underneath. Great for our scorching summers! I stick a hose down this PVC pipe and fill it until water comes out of a hole on the other side:
Brilliant, right??
I’m super excited to see how my garden will change over the coming months, hopefully into a lush, Texas style cottage garden with densely packed fruit and vegetables!
Have any of you put in your spring gardens yet, or are planning them out?
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7 COMMENTS
rae - say it ain't so
12 years agoit looks great! i can’t wait to see it later in the summer!
georgiapeachez
12 years agoBravo! Beautiful garden. Love the focal piece with the succulents especially.
Loulou
12 years agoI am keen to watch your fantastic garden unfold throughout the season. It looks really great. Those wicking beds are fantastic. Happy growing!
Eartha Kitsch
12 years agoTotally brilliant. Good luck with your garden! Our yard is about 95% total shade so we don’t even try for one.
Mamaholt
12 years agoGORGEOUS!!! oh my, everything looks just beautiful. Y’all did a great job. Time for yard partay, missy!!!
Rita@thissortaoldlife
12 years agoHi! I’ve seen you all over the internets, and somehow I’ve never stopped by. I think it was something Wabi Sabi Michele wrote that got me to click on through. Can’t believe what I’ve been missing! Looking forward to reading more.
With gardening I’m in the same place now that you were last year–just wanting to start, thinking about getting some tubs, not really knowing anything about what I’m doing. This is inspiring!
Betty
12 years ago AUTHORWelcome Rita! It’s so intimidating, isn’t it?? Try reading the Quarter Acre Farm – there’s a lot of good info there about backyard farming to adapt to a smaller scale. Can’t wait to follow your progress as well!