There’s a lot of potential to unearth in this garden. Same as inside, the idea is to gradually add layers for different uses. The key area’s for us to focus on are: outside lounge and dining areas, play zones for Esme and growing our kitchen garden. You’ll see on our instagram we like to tackle more than one project at a time, so a lot of these are already underway…
A veggie patch of some kind was always on the wish list and I’ve always gone weak at the knees when wandering around National Trust kitchen gardens so it boiled down to timing. Anyway, one morning in 2019 I came down to see a big ole tree had landed just shy of our new open-plan kitchen design (yikes it was scary!) but from then it kick started plans to reclaim this unused space. Last year became the perfect time to immerse ourselves in the outdoors and get our kitchen garden up and running.
About the garden.
But first I’d like to share why we garden and why it’s important we continue growing it. We garden because it’s a creative outlet for hubby and I. It’s exercise and a place our minds and bodies can be free, including Milly! We garden because we love seeing the wildlife and want to support and watch our eco-systems thrive. We garden so that Esme can appreciate and understand where food comes from and learn how to grow things herself. That’s why we treat our garden like an extension of This Home, giving its design as much thought as we’re giving the inside.
And it appears we’re not alone. According to a recent ONS Survey, more than 40% noticed that nature, wildlife, and visiting local and green natural spaces have been even more important to their wellbeing since the coronavirus restrictions began.
We also know that when the garden was first designed, the owner took great pleasure in selecting the plants and planning its layout. We’re learning how this home’s grown with each owner from access to some of its history and it means the imprints left behind take on a whole new meaning. Now it’s down to us to take pride in its future and enjoy all it has to offer. It might sound strange, but I hope they approve of our choices so far.
A kitchen garden to grow your own
We’d already earmarked this spot as the potential vegetable growing area. You step outside from our kitchen into this space, so it’s the perfect location to nip out and pick something for dinner.
The garden is south-facing with its perimeter surrounded by trees. A small hedge separates the main lawn from the kitchen garden so the area already feels like a different layer whilst being close enough to the indoor cooking hub. It gets full sun and shelter, so a good place for our sun-bathing veggies. Oh and it’s close to a water supply that’s extremely useful! A water container is on the list!
Both of us saw an opportunity to make this area one of the focal points in our garden. With the right design it would make a central gathering place for family and friends. A relatively small area made attractive and productive at the same time. The great thing about kitchen gardens is that you can create it at a scale that suits you and maximize growing crops from even the smallest of spaces.
A kitchen garden seemed like the best option for us as we wanted to grow our own whilst wanting a seamless transition from inside to outside. We hoped our kitchen garden would look decorative and connect beautifully with the design and architecture of This Home.
Why we decided on raised beds?
- They provide an organised way of growing vegetables.
- Add another layer to our garden in decorative style.
- Create a healthy pathway between the crops, so the veggies have their own space.
- Prevents soil compaction.
- Raised beds offer better drainage being above ground.
- They can slow down the pests!
How do you create a kitchen garden?
Number one, watch the sun and make sure the area gets at least eight hours of sunlight. Next, give any surrounding trees a good health check. The fallen wood we put to good use for logs and chipping. As our checks continued we’ve unearthed other inhabitants like this baby tawny owl. It’s such a privilege that local wildlife has chosen This Home to rear its young 🙂 Don’t worry, in this case the baby and tree were left undisturbed.
Next, with no ground rules to get us from lawn to dinner fork, we started digging and leveling out the area. Hubby worked on a layout that gave us room to grow. We decided on six raised beds laid out in a symmetrical pattern that looked aesthetically pleasing from our open-plan kitchen. It’s important that the kitchen garden is a natural extension to the outside into raised bed goodness.
We decided to construct the beds at two sleepers high from 2.4m softwood. The double sleepers create an accessible level for working and picking. We used landscaping screws to fix the raised beds together and flat timber boards to create the outer edges. Finally, we laid landscaping weed membrane between the beds before covering with cotswold stone chippings.
Areas around the beds still need further work and there’s options to test out but for now the focus is on a second year of growing. In the meantime, we’ve planted potatoes and pumpkins here instead of using precious bed space. Thankfully we also designated a plot for a future greenhouse in front to make the most of the sun. We’re currently working on this! It’s a project all on its own, so stay tuned.
The hard job was filling the beds once we’d made them using our own compost. My dad wheelbarrowed countless amounts of soil up and down the garden and my mum sieved it! They’re quite the team. My mum wouldn’t speak to me if I shared it but I have a great picture of her completely covered in mud whilst sieving soil in a bikini top ha!
Lining the walkways with chipping stones keeps the kitchen garden looking clean. In my personal opinion they also enhance the beauty of the beds and what’s growing in them! A lot of our planting last year was trial and error and getting to know the soil. We did refer a lot to the Step By Step Veg Patch book for advice and tips. I’d highly recommend if you’re starting out like us and need some guidance.
What’s next?
You learn so much by just watching your garden. It tells you what it needs and the biggest influence is Mother Nature! There’s a lot of tidying and refining still to do but it’s certainly functioning and producing us with crops! With our greenhouse going up the landscaping of this space will start to take shape and look different again in a few months time…
This year, with the manual labour side of the beds complete, we feel better equipped to focus on our planting. We’ve top dressed them with manure and added cardboard from Pasta Evangelists boxes as a natural way to kill the weeds. Pasta Evangelists was a very kind birthday subscription from sister-in-law to her bro and one that keeps on giving. The inside packaging goes on the compost too, so it’s going full circle into the This Home Grows ecosystem.
There’s been time to think about how certain plants work better alongside others and use the beds to better effect. First, large plants in the centre with some using wood stick trellis for them to grow up. Then, medium sized plants to the side and smaller plants like herbs, greens around the edge of the beds.
Growing you
The kitchen garden is also about the experience as much as it’s about the produce! It’s the fun of learning and seeing seeds become food and having things to harvest and enjoy in the kitchen. Although, I must admit the taste of our first homegrown radishes was enough to pick up the trowel and keep growing with enthusiasm. Make a list of what you buy from the supermarket and love eating. Keep it simple and give it a try, it’s both sustainable and economical.
We’re having so much fun as a family (grandparents and auntie included) investing time in growing This Home. Caring for the plants, growing food and enjoying them together makes the garden one of our happy places. One of your first birthday pressies is a gardening set Esme, so get digging early girl!
Creating a kitchen garden to grow your own is incredibly rewarding and wholesome. The process, or ours, is definitely organic but it definitely belongs here. In fact, I can’t remember this space without its raised beds. We’ve made mistakes and not everything delivers. Yet even growing a small portion of your own food creates a better connection with what’s on your plate whilst being kinder to our planet. We’re all in it together right?
Thanks for growing with us!
Hols x