Friday, November 11, 2011

Vegetable Garden Completed

The first time that I saw our house, I was really excited about the fact that there was a separate vegetable garden. At the same time, I knew that it would take a TON of work to get it into plant-able condition.



I don't actually have a before picture which shows the complete disaster that the garden was before we started working on it. The previous owners of our house had installed raised beds along the outside border of the garden, but they were only 12 inches wide. The fenced in area is 15 x 15 and less than a quarter of the space was used for planting beds. They had planted mint and blackberries directly into the planting beds- both of which are really invasive. If you want either in your garden, most experts recommend that you plant them in pots, not directly in the garden.

Last year, we attempted to work with what was already there since by the time we had a chance to get started on the garden it was already a little late in the spring. However, this year, I was determined to completely overhaul the garden.

We started by pulling out all of the beds that the previous owner had installed. Then we leveled out the ground and covered everything with landscape fabric. Next we installed three 4 x 4 cedar raised beds that I purchased from Home Depot for $29 each on sale. I filled the beds with a mix of garden soil, compost and peet moss.


Then I purchased 6 resin whiskey barrels to place around the garden with Tarragon, Oregano, Chives, Thyme, Sage and Mint. I filled these with the same mix of soil, compost and peet moss.

Next, we addressed the fence, which was in particularly rough shape. Just like everything else at our house, the previous owners had not done the necessary basic maintenance to keep the fence in peak shape. We decided that since we had stained the deck railings white, it might be nice to have the vegetable garden fence coordinate by staining it a solid white. First we needed to clean off years of dirt and mildew. We used Olympic Deck Cleaner that we purchased at Lowe's. It was super easy. All we did was spray it on and rinse it off with the hose. We used Behr Premium Solid Exterior Stain in Ultra Pure White on the fence since we still had some left over from the deck project.



We're really happy with how crisp the fence looks and how well it coordinates with the back deck. The back yard is really starting to look almost finished. 


After we finished with staining the fence, we filled the garden with 1 1/2 yards of pea gravel which we ordered from a local stone yard, Cason Building Supply. It ran us $180 including delivery charges, but it really completes the look of the garden. 


It's so nice to have another item checked off of the To  Do List.!! Luckily, the weather in South Carolina is so mild that we are able to grow veggie and herbs for most of the year. I've just planted seeds of mesclun lettuce, spinach, arugula and beets. 

I still have lots of room in my beds for winter veggies, so I'd love to hear your ideas for winter crops.  

2 comments:

  1. I came looking for the maps of your old neighborhood all framed>>> did you finish them?

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  2. We did! I'm writing up the post on our NYC Maps now and will post it and pics today!

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