My mission is to incorporate vegetable gardening into modern, busy lives. What better family to start with than with the busiest of families: new parents? After their family grew last year, Heather and Cory realized that their current garden setup wasn’t working for them.
Heather and Cory’s prior vegetable gardening attempts were severely undermined because of the location of their vegetable garden. The garden was in the lowest spot in their yard, and actually, the lowest spot in most of their neighbors’ yards too. When it rained, the water running off at least four yards flooded the garden with up to two feet of water, drowning most of their veggies and herbs. All that water run off probably carried fertilizer and pesticides from their neighbor’s lawns too.
The arrival of their little one changed their willingness to put up with the floods and pesticides.
Higher, Safer Ground
We moved their garden to much higher ground on the opposite side of their yard. Where the old garden was far from the house and behind a tree, making it easy for Heather and Cory to forget about it, the new garden is easily accessible and visible from their patio.
Visibility and location are key for vegetable gardens. Not only will you be better able to spot pest, disease, and watering issues as they come up, but let’s not lie, you won’t be tromping to the furthest corner of your yard to harvest a vegetable you need to make a meal. You’ll be much more likely to use the veggies and herbs you are growing if you only have to take a few steps out your patio door to harvest them.
Growing Space
Cory is an accomplished woodworker and made the raised bed himself. How incredible does the bed look!? I couldn’t get over the care and quality Cory put into building the raised bed and how beautifully the raised bed framed the space. As it’s cedar, it will last for many years and age gracefully.
Another key element of this garden’s success is the custom irrigation system. Heather and Cory won’t have to worry about regular watering , watering when they’re on vacation, or watering when they want to spend time with their new little one instead of watering the garden (and who can blame them?!)
Plants Galore
We created themed pockets for plants – a tomato and pepper area, a salad area, and an herb area. Vining plants like cucumbers, zucchini, and squash (their baby’s favorite!) will drape over the edges of the bed, making the most of the growing space. By mid-summer, the raised bed will literally be overflowing with gorgeous veggies. We added some mulch to the top of the garden to allow the soil to better retain moisture in the coming hot months, labeled each of the plants, and sat down for a wonderful lunch (courtesy of Heather and Cory) to celebrate the new garden.
Water problems? Solved.
Organic Garden? Of course.
The perfect amount of growing space for a new family of 3? Absolutely.
