Garden Beds

I am often asked about my raised garden beds. How I came up with the design? What I plant for my summer veggie garden? What I plant the rest of the year? How I get my kids involved? For starters, I’ve always been a casual gardener. As a child I would visit my mom’s family every summer for 3 or 4 weeks. There were 3 family farms where I would spend a lot of the time. My grandmother adored her garden. She had a flower garden and a veggie garden. They were always plots of land in the ground, not a raised bed. I recall her sending me out to clip green beans as a child and enjoying it, (but not wanting to actually eat them)! When we had the opportunity to re-do our backyard, veggie beds were a top priority. I wanted to combine the ease and enjoyment of growing fresh fruits and veggies with casual seating, and the crunch of pea gravel. I envisioned the beds to be just the right height for my little ones to help with the gardening. It was important for them to be the right height to act as informal seating when gathering friends and family. The pea gravel is aesthetic only. The gravel path between the beds leads to our outdoor dining table and makes me feel like I’m in the country even when we are in the thick of suburbia. My wonderful friends and landscape designers at Notable Gardens lent their expertise to perfect my vision. Here’s a peak at the installation of the project.

The summer is my favorite time of year for these beds. I plant loads of varieties of tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, strawberries, herbs, lettuces, and green beans. I’ve even had corn, pumpkins and cantaloupes, although never a great harvest, I continue to give them a go occasionally. Here’s what the first summer season looked like when freshly planted.

I don’t recommend planting corn. I’ve never had much success. I do however have the tallest artichoke plant I’ve ever seen!

Nice sneakers in the pic!

This year’s garden is off to a great start. We’ve already had lots of green beans, all the lettuce, some early sungold and sweet 100 cherry tomatoes, parsley, chives, thyme, rosemary, basil, and strawberries.

I tend not to do a lot of planting in the winter months. I do plant lettuce, kale and some herbs. The real treat is in late winter and early spring when the tulips come up.

I am a firm believer that if you put energy and enthusiasm into something, your kids will follow. They love to plant the bulbs in the fall, it’s a post Thanksgiving tradition for our family here in California. They also love to see them sprout and they even like to pull them up when they are spent. This usually means it’s not long until we plant our summer favs which helps! The watering cans are always out waiting for them to water whenever they are moved to and you can be sure the kids are the first to tell me about new growth!