A New Garden Bed

When we bought our house it had a hot tub on the back patio which was in turn surrounded by a white privacy fence.  We got rid of the hot tub in the summer of 2013, but left the fence.  Come summer 2014 we decided to open up the patio to the yard by ripping down that fence, leaving the main posts as a sort of archway.  And then this year Matt elected to take those out, too.  We're very happy about this progression as an open patio overlooking the garden with picnic table and firepit where we can dine and entertain  is really more up our alley than that closed patio with hot tub ever was.

This spring we also created a small garden bed along the patio, in the former shadows of the archway.  There was a small strip of soil there already which we expanded and edged with some brick edging we had laying around.

We put a large pot on each of the cement footings which formerly served as the foundation for the fence.  We're going to make it our flower and herb garden.  Currently our herbs are out front while this bed is right out the kitchen door.  We think that makes it an ideal placement for our herb garden for ease of access to them while cooking.  We put thyme and rosemary in a couple of the pots in the hopes we can make them indoor plants in the winter, as we've seen a friend do at her house.  Fresh herbs in the winter would be a treat.  Dried will do, but fresh would be lovely.  I planted a mixed blend of flower seeds in two parts of the new bed and just a few days ago added a few marigolds.

It is also where we planted the sunchokes (or Jeruselam artichokes) which we transplanted from the garden of friends in Missoula last year.  They seem pleased that their bed has been expanded and are nearly as tall as me now and spreading out to fill the new space.  I've never eaten a sunchoke, but from what I've been told about them I look forward to it.  I also really dig a perennial vegetable.  Those are few and far between.

Before.  We've marked off the space with the brick edging, but haven't torn up the sod.  We've placed the pots, but they've not been filled with soil or planted.  5/20/2015

Immediately after.  Matt cut out the sod and we turned up and loosened the soil.

A view from the patio looking out over the new bed to the garden. 

Ginger approves.  She likes to nap on the patio and nibble the grass along the edge.  She's even tried the sunchokes and wild flowers, but fortunately seems to prefer the grass.  5/31/2015

It really has made the patio more inviting and the space flows naturally from yard to patio.  Here we've planted the pots with basil, rosemary, and thyme (and they join the pot with Matt's cabbage and chard seed saving experiment in it on the right.)   We also planted two parsley, at the recommendation of one of my aunts and a seeded a huge patch of basil in the earth as well.  6/18/2015

One of the best things about homeownership has to be the ability to tweak things just to your liking--tear down fences, build up beds, plant trees, etc.