Building the Cutting Garden

Remember back in May when we were hashing out the design of the cutting garden? Because we had a gigantic pile of extra loam in the driveway? Well, we've finally gotten around to building them:

In the foreground of this photo is the blueberry bed. Kirk added a four-foot wide raised bed down the center as well as raised beds along the screened-in porch and the fence. The nice thing about adding a raised bed is that you can just load the dirt in right over the lawn, since they are a foot deep. The grass will die back on its own, saving the trouble of cutting of the turf.  

This bed against the foundation of the screened-in porch was a pain to put in because we had to wedge it under that concrete curb. I bowed out after a corner of this big, heavy thing got dropped on my foot (accidentally). Somehow Kirk shoved it into place, with the help of heavy dose of digging and cursing.

The beds along the fence are terraced, because there is a drop-off as you head towards the gate to the front yard. The only thing planted here are some valerian (heliotrope) and sweet cicely that I picked up at The Herb Farmacy back in the spring when we got a lot of our other perennial herbs. 

This view is from the gate, looking back through the cutting garden and into the rest of the yard. This is a lot of room for flowers, or will be once we haul all the dirt into place. I won't be planting anything this year, except maybe bulbs. I want to save room for annuals, and it's almost too late for perennials. I know lots of people plant perennials in the fall, but I have never had any luck with that. I think our winters come too soon for the root systems to be developed enough for the plant to survive. Of course, if I get a great end-of-season deal on some things, that could persuade me to give the fall planting another go.