Monday, February 28, 2011

A steep hillside vegetable garden terraced in Marin.

About 10 or 15 years ago Fine Gardening Magazine ran an article on developing a vegetable garden on a steep site.

I had just finished such a garden and was happy to send them the plans and some photo’s of the garden which they published.

The steep downward facing slope was terraced into 3 main tiers.
This project was a collaboration between myself and Matthew Farnsworth Landscape Contractor. http://www.farnsworthlandscaping.com/
We used rough redwood boards to form the raised terraces and also built in a double compost bin, storage for a lawn mower and long handled tools.
We also built in a simple cold frame and a potting bench.
The path that leads to the fenced in vegetable garden is lined with espaliered apple trees and the arbors are planted with Thompson seedless grapes.

Below is the illustration :

From Potager Gardens



1. Double compost bins
2. Lawn mower storage
3. Long handle tool storage
4. Raised vegetable bed
5. Upper raised vegetable bed with built in seat
6. Lower level fruit trees
7. Cold frame - get an early start on veggie seedlings
8. Potting bench with sink and storage
9. Cut flower bed.



A photo of the work bench, raised bed with squash, the cutting garden and the grape covered entry arbor.

From Potager Gardens



This garden is now going into its 16 th year . The property has changed hands but I can still see the garden from the street and it is still pushing out food, flowers and herbs at a steady rate. It’s nice to see that it has been a valued resource over all these years.

2 comments:

Jackie said...

Wow, this is an amazing vegetable garden! I too have a sloped side yard where I built several raised beds. I'm curious what materials you used between raised beds?

I originally used gravel, but soil fell off to ground as we plant/maintain vegetables in raised bed, and weeds started to grow. Now it's covered by weed... ;( If whatever you used kept this garden area nice for 16 years, I would LOVE to know what you used!

Christine said...

It's probably the best compliment that your design has been maintained so lovingly. It looks great!