Kitchen Garden is the new Secret Garden
Originally an unexceptional collection of grass and shrubs, The Secret Garden was a fenced area just outside my back door intended to provide quick access to herbs and salad veggies. A year of observation proved my plan needed modification and the space earned a new name, The Kitchen Garden.
January 2021 – Sheet mulching the grass away
Goal number one – grass, the bane of our planet’s existence, had to go. In lieu of renting a tiller or employing a hoe and shovel, I chose another way. Not only are the former extremely hard work, but those methods annihilate the wonderful denizens of dirt that make great soil.
What then? I used the sheet-mulching method. I carpeted the ground with brown cardboard boxes to kill the vegetation beneath and piled wood refuse on top to feed the dirt workers. If your first reaction to worms and bugs is repulsion try to remember these wiggly squiggly creatures in your dirt ARE YOUR BEST FRIENDS. And if you don’t like the looks of cardboard and tree limbs all over your garden, you can top it off with organic mulch. We topped ours with a layer of wheat straw for added nutrition and continued to compost by tucking kitchen scraps into the straw.
February 2021 – Ho hum
From up top, it seemed not too much was happening. A few winter-hardy specimens continued to thrive; the fatsia japonica stays green all year, and my nasturtiums, unviewable from this angle, were still growing, enjoying the cool weather as they do. I continued to slip extra goodies of kitchen scraps into the straw for my hard workers beneath.
March 2021 – Bring on the spiral
In March I began work on my herb spiral. You can see a bit of it at the bottom right of the image below. Eager to begin the gardening season, I started by planting cold weather-hardy specimens: rosemary, parsley, chives, and sage.
We topped the entire southern side with a commercial organic mulch. It looks a bit nicer, plus adds value to the soil.
April 2021 – Awaiting warmer weather
Early April pictured on the left shows little visible change, but by late April and a few warmer days, things had picked up.
May 2021 – Slug fest
No, I don’t mean I spent May on the couch with ice cream and bonbons. I’m referring to an unexpected invasion. I’d planted seeds of various kinds in mid-Winter, arugula, cabbages, lettuce, beets, and broccoli, to gain myself a good head start for Spring. This plan would prove to be in vain. Tiny little slugs, thriving in the cardboard and rotting wood took EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. I considered recommendations for green eradication. But I couldn’t help thinking, “These guys are doing their job, and I invited them.” I chose to hide and watch. Slugs would not be my only setback.
June 2021 – Hurry up!
I continued to top off the hay with commercial topsoil and mulch while the cardboard and wood layers decomposed beneath. We planted several dahlias along the southern side of the garden. They laid quietly underground while the tomatoes thrived with the promise of ample produce evident on each plant and the. sunchokes began to show on the North side.
July 2021 – The big let down
The three or four chocolate stripes that actually made into my mouth were delightful, but critters made off with the lion’s share. The Kitchen Garden is enclosed for safekeeping from my dig-loving dogs. This seemingly well-thought-out plan along with the rock-enabling hiding places of the herb spiral allowed a number of furry little buggers to thrive in the space, free of predators. And what tomatoes we didn’t lose to vermin rotted on the vine or succumbed to fungus due to an extremely wet summer.
August 2021 – Gardening is for the birds… or maybe the birds are for gardening!
I regularly strewed birdseed throughout the garden, not only to encourage the avian visitors to fertilize the place but to act as bug patrol. It would turn out they also helped to manage the overabundance of slugs and by end of April, it was hard to find one!
At left front rhododendrons, caladiums, and comfrey thrive with herb spiral beyond. At right see the late August show of turmeric, sunchokes, and roselle.
September 2021 – Late summer glory
The sunchokes grew to above the rooftop and leaned into the back stoop. I loved stepping out the door to be right there with them. Although I feated they would crowd out the turmeric and ginger tucked in beneath. the two rose to the challenge. The roselle at the bottom of the patch attempted a complete garden take over. I eventually had to chop it back just to be able to enter the space. I had no idea how large it would grow when I placed one in the herb spiral and two just in front of the sunchokes and turmeric.
October 2021 – Roselle and lavender time
The stars of October were definitely roselle and lavender. Who knew the lavender would love this spot as she does. Many sprigs made their way into concoctions and graced gift packages. I learned late in the season that the roselle buds make great teas and jams and the leaves are good for salads and stir-fry dishes. I’ll tuck this info away for next year.
November 2021 – a quiet month
The lavender continued to flourish, and the arugula sprouts I planted late did well. The sunchokes continued to tower above while their yellow flowers leaned over to look at their own roots it seemed. Dahlias flourished as the roselle began to wane.
December 2021 – Late season show
The coriander, nasturtiums, and arugula continued to provide through the year, surviving several freezers. In the end, a spell of 20-degree nights did the nasturtiums in, but the arugula, coriander, and parsley to thrive undeterred by the winter weather.
Take aways
This year has been all about the learning!
The area makes a great herb and flower garden. It does not make a good vegetable garden.
While the herb spiral makes for a lovely and useful display, it also attracts and shelters unwanted guests.
I need better access to certain garden areas, thus, more pathways.
It takes longer than 6 months for big limbs to break down and become dirt. If using large limbs in a layered garden, top the patch with added soil for immediate planting.
Don’t get upset by “garden pests”. Be thoughtful about what you plant and where. Nature brings balance.
Be patient.
Future plans
I’ll deconstruct the chipmunk “Bed and Breakfast” and repurpose my beautiful rocks to create more pathways.
No veggies in the Kitchen Garden.
More cut flowers in the Kitchen Garden.
Add a bird feeder to attract the bug sentries.
The northwestern section of the garden may require some excavation for basement leakage maintenance. I may lose my lovely camellia. I shudder to think of it, but I’ll leave that section be and take advantage of whatever occurs. Much like my soggy backyard we’re hatching up a scheme for, there’s an upside to every garden problem. Big plans are in the works for solving the issue, but that is another story for another day.
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