Today I have a quick tour of my kitchen garden. One of the first things I did when we moved house is plan the garden. While house hunting, I didn’t even consider anything without a good sized garden so it was wonderful to finally find something within our budget with plenty of space for planting and growing, as well as for the children to play.
I ordered these raised beds from Quickcrop who provided an excellent service. My husband assembled them for me and I laid them straight on the lawn, with weed suppressing membranes for the path areas (tucked just under each raised bed edge to prevent weeds coming through). I then emptied the pea gravel on top and had the raised beds filled with compost (I think I bought a tonne bag and divided it between the four beds). It’s not perfect and we haven’t got round to finishing the edges, but I’m really pleased with the result.
Lettuce Descartes from seed, bought from Sarah Raven. It’s such a pretty, soft lettuce.
I also planted red iceberg which is working well as a cut and come again salad crop. Last year I bought a living salad from Lidl and planted them out individually, which produced lots of beautiful lettuces.
This bed is for tomatoes and aubergine, and there is a swiss chard plant leftover from last autumn which is still producing leaves. The marigold (Calendula ‘Nova’) has self seeded everywhere after I planted it last year.
In other beds we have herbs, cucumber, courgette, spring onions, carrots, radishes, dwarf beans and Swiss chard growing. I decided to plant the vegetables I might need to look after more closely and herbs I need while cooking at home, while the other veg has gone in at the allotment.
How pretty! Like an oasis.