Potager (Kitchen Garden)

This post is the second in a series of time lines about the making of my garden. The first being the Bird & Butterfly Garden.

The potager, kitchen/vegetable garden, was the second area of my garden I began making in the spring of 2009. Our lot is an L-shape with a view straight back from the kitchen window, then branching off to the left behind our garage/work shop.

The view (above) from the kitchen window straight back to our property line in early spring of 2008.

The view (above) behind our garage / workshop also in spring of 2008. This is the spot I chose for the potager. Although not ideal – close to the kitchen – this is the best spot in the yard for growing vegetables. It receives the most sun. The plan was to build compost bins in the far back corner from lattice that was left by the previous owners when we moved in.

The compost bins in summer of 2008. We (meaning myself and my favorite brute force aka husband), simply made three open bins. I use the center for mixing, and the two on the ends to store green and brown material. Although above it is filled with sod from the making of the bird & butterfly garden. In the opposite corner my husband built me a shed – true romance. Since we use our garage for work I needed storage for my garden tools, and for the necessary evil lawnmower (until I get rid of the lawn, heh heh). The plan is for the potager to be sandwiched between the shed and compost.

 The view from the kitchen window in the fall of 2008 with the shed completed (above).

In the spring of 2009 we made three simple raised bed frames (above). I want to eventually construct these from stone so they are not built to last forever. I used the sod from the previous year as a base to fill them in, then topped with purchased potting, top soils and compost. I added a couple of flat beds to the left of the raised. I also made a thin bed along the back edge of the property line that backs up with the neighbors bed. She has lilies planted on the other side so I added a couple on my side. Existing wild grape vines grow up and along the fence. (Click here to read my post on wild grapes in my garden.)

The potager towards harvest time in the summer of 2009 (above). We harvested quite a few tomatoes in spite of a bad year, some beans, lettuce and cabbage. In the fall I planted some garlic for the first time. I had not been a vegetable gardener until now, in spite of growing up with a large vegetable garden in WI as a little girl.

In the spring of 2010 we lopped off a large box elder that was leaning precariously over the back of our house. I kept the wood chips and added paths to the potager, expanding the bed along the back fence as well as adding more flat beds. (Click here to read my post on how I created these paths.) The bed along the back fence now includes two dwarf alberta spruce for winter interest as well as a mix of herbs and flowers that are pollinator-friendly. I did add an edible green grape vine along the fence but I'm sure it will take several more years to become established. I figure I will be able to distinguish green grapes from the wild grapes.

Spring 2010 expansion (above). My husband built the trellis attached to the bed the previous season, and I tried to make some tee-pees but have since disassembled these. Also added, a tomato cage built from old tiki torches that my brother-in-law gave me (below).

The goal is to add some structure to the potager and let it withstand the winter.

The potager in summer of 2010 (above) looking down the pathways toward the compost and toward the shed, and viewed from around the corner of the garage / workshop. I am amazed at the amount of insect and bird activity in this section of my garden from butterflies, moths, spiders, bees to beetles and assassin bugs! One afternoon during a sprinkling I watched a hummingbird fly through the water spray repeatedly and perch on one of the tee-pees. Chickadees hid sunflower seeds among my brussel sprouts.

We are really beginning to harvest a lot of food now: radishes, garlic, tomatoes, swiss chard, beets. Each year I plan to add more variety and try new things. Also, we will begin canning and preserving more of our food.

The last thing I made (with my husband's help) by fall of 2010 was this rustic arbor entryway to the potager. This summer I hope it will be draped in scarlet runner beans! Tasty as well as attractive – especially to humming birds. (Click here to see how this arbor was built in my previous post.) This adds some permanence to the potager which my newer garden needs.

The potager in late summer / fall 2010, winter 2011. I hope to keep this post updated as my garden continues to grow. Thank you for joining me in my garden in the making.

Picture a Potager

"What I want is a potager!," I explained to my husband, "not just a vegetable garden." It will have to look as good as the food it grows. That is what I set out to do this past Spring - start my "potager." A trip through the Ontario province of Canada helped illustrate my vision. The country side was dotted by proud farms - rightly so - with geometrical rows of crops, arrangements of flowers, and shrubs all surrounding stately, brick homes. I had never seen such beautiful farms. I found more inspiration in two books, "Designing the New Kitchen Garden" and "Four-Season Harvest." (I love books.)

I confess I haven't grown a vegetable since I was a little girl growing up in Wisconsin. I couldn't eat green beans for years for all the beans we picked! (And then froze so we could eat them all winter long, too.) Fortunately for me then, my old labrador loved all food - including green beans. Fortunately for me now, my taste for them has grown back. I guess I just didn't get around to starting that vegetable garden before we moved again, and then again. Now, I'm not sure how I ever got along without one!

So, I am a beginner really when it comes to gardening vegetables. But I sure do have a taste for it so it can only get better from here. The idea of a potager intrigued me because it could be ornamental and beautiful - a focus of the garden, and also grow a good amount of food (and flowers) in a small space.

First, I decided where I was going to begin. And that was in the back, back yard. Ideally, a kitchen garden should be right outside the kitchen but that just wasn't going to work for me. Not the best sun, not the best site with a deck that we plan to turn into a four-season room - future construction. So I decided between the tool shed and the compost - easy access to both to tend the garden. I love "making the journey" back to my little potager before dinner. It is a "passage" to great food. A ritual. Here's the spot before ...

Here's the frame work I started with ...

I really want the raised beds to be made from stacked stone but I don't have the budget for that right now with all the other garden projects I've got going on so we just framed the beds with wood temporarily. I love stone. I want to see it age and grow with the garden, to feel permanent. I have allowed for the thickness of the future stone walls in my layout. Here the "framed" beds are waiting to be filled up (viewed from inside the shed).

I placed a thick layer of newspaper in the bottom and started filling. I had a nice pile of old sod that broke down over the winter to start with as a base. Then mixed in some compost, potting soil, peat moss and top soil.

 

I will add more "flat" beds to either side of the raised. This year I only made two. Eventually I will add an edger of brick or pavers, maybe some hardscaped paths in between, some evergreens for winter structure. I used temporary posts and string to get the straight lines. Some fencing left here by the previous owners became makeshift tomato cages and some old curtain rods became support posts - whimsy.

Things got off to a good start and then just kept on growing!

Many people had terrible tomatoes here in the Northeast this past season. But we planted heirloom tomatoes we bought from Cross Island Farms (a local organic farm). They did very well and tasted divine ...

My husband wanted to plant red cabbage to make sauerkraut. Note, never plant red cabbage as a "divider" in your raised bed. I thought it would be pretty with that purple color and all. Well, next year it will have a nice "flat" bed all to itself. Positive outcome - the sauerkraut is delicious and I will never be able to eat canned again - oh, and I can't say I was a big sauerkraut fan to begin with, but I am now - that's how good it is!

The other advantage to these raised and flat beds is that I can keep track of what I plant in them and then rotate the plant families each year, i.e. Apiaceae or carrot family (carrots, celery, parsley, etc.) , Solanaceae or nightshade family (eggplant, pepper, tomato, etc.), to reduce the chance of disease and pests.

I planted flowers in the flat beds this year because I had the seeds already and I wasn't sure of everything I wanted to plant just yet. More veggies will be in these beds next year but flowers will still be a mainstay to attract the bees, beneficial insects and birds. Most of the beds are edged in marigolds (rabbit deterrent) and nasturiums. Above are cosmos, sunflowers, and zinnias.

 

So, this first year we had a truck load of tomatoes - cherry and slicing, herbs, green beans (yes, green beans), cucumbers, cabbage, lettuces (still going!), and peas. Next year we'll add more. Maybe brussel sprouts, some squash, swiss chard and kale, beets ... I can't wait to experiment growing vertically. I can envision an arbor and blue berry bushes. I see a cold frame over one of the beds, or a row cover. Rhubarb will be planted next to the compost. We'll tuck some strawberries in there, too. And let's not forget cover crops! I'll be busy planning and sketching all this winter.