Raised garden beds create the form, structure and balance in the garden. With materials like wood, stone or steel, raised beds bring a sense of beauty. They also protect the vulnerable seeds, seedlings and mature plants by providing ideal soil conditions like better aeration, drainage and temperature. Easier weed control and ability to add amendments are other positives. Raised beds also allow you to install a garden almost anywhere since you don’t need to worry about compacted ground or tree roots. Better accessibility for planting, tending and harvesting is another plus. Pests of all sizes are easier to control since beds can be protected with fencing and other techniques like organic pesticide applications. Finally, raised beds extend the growing season by thawing earlier than the ground after the cold season, enabling an earlier spring planting and lasting into the fall with the addition of hoop covers.

Good, nutrient rich soil is the lifeline for healthy plants that enables strong roots. The consistency of soil is a crucial part of gardening success. The best soil is composed of a perfect balance of topsoil, sand, fine pine bark, compost and an added bonus of something such as worm castings. This mixture provides the perfect growing medium with low pH, better porosity and airspace, making plants happy and healthy. And don’t forget to add new compost every fall to keep the soil vibrant and nutritious!

You can’t have a harvest without plants! Choosing your plants and the timing of their planting will determine the success of your harvest. Every plant has a specific growing season like cool, warm or hot season. Bloom Kitchen Garden Company provides a comprehensive planting plan reflective of the appropriate growing season as it relates to individual plants. For example, carrots prefer cooler spring-like temperatures, but peppers thrive in hot summer heat. For gardening success, it is essential to understand the planting seasons and consider your availability to tend and harvest the bounty. Also, do you want to start your plants indoors from seed? That involves a comprehensive understanding of the planting timeline, to ensure that plants are ready for transplantation at the appropriate time. Native pollinator plants are also great to add to your garden. Keeping bees and butterflies happy adds to the ambience.

Trellises and other vertical elements are integral to the structure of the garden. Along with the raised garden beds, these plant supports help create the formality and beauty of the kitchen garden, while enabling vegetables to grow vertically. Cucumbers, beans and eggplants are a few varieties that thrive when given the opportunity to twist and wind their way up an arch or flat panel. Tomatoes love the extra support as it helps ease the weight of the heavy fruit. There are many material options, including steel, wood and string in various shapes determined the needs of plants and your design aesthetics. Trellises also make harvesting the garden’s bounty much easier, while adding a whimsical touch to overall garden layout.

The importance of consistent watering can not be overemphasized. No kitchen garden should be installed without a comprehensive watering plan in place. Are you really going to lug a water hose to the beds and hand water? Are you really going to remember to turn on a sprinkler when it hasn’t rained in days? What about when you travel or become consumed with other family responsibilities? Who is going to water the garden? The answer is automation. A professionally designed irrigation system will warrant the most successful garden, but don’t fret…a simple drip system connected to a timer at the water spigot will suffice. Your garden will consistently need approximately 1 inch of water a week during the growing season. A garden that experiences cycles of drying out, followed by saturated with water, negatively affects the fruit production and increases the opportunities for pests. Please commit to a watering system to ensure a robust harvest and fewer disappointments.

Pathways create a sense of welcome and provide accessibility to the raised garden beds. Pathways act as a guide to you and your visitors, while also maintaining a clean, neat look. Think long and hard about the material of your pathways because some require more upkeep than others. Lawn paths will require trimming, while mulch paths might require extra weeding and can harbor pests. The best material for garden pathways is gravel, which is affordable, attractive, low maintenance and drains well. Adding stone steppers to the gravel creates a bare-foot friendly path. Finally, be cognizant of ample widths for the garden paths. A rule of thumb is to maintain a width of 3-4 feet, providing ample space for most wheelbarrows and allowing enough space to tend the garden. Border gardens can tolerate narrower pathways but should definitely have a clear delineation from the lawn.

Traditional kitchen gardens are enclosed by some form of a structure. Whether you choose a picket fence with a gate, a split rail fence, a boxwood hedge with a rose covered arch, or a perennial border full of native pollinators, the delineation from the existing yard allows the garden to become its own entity. Not only does creating an impenetrable garden border protect it from hungry animals like deer and squirrels, it enables the space to become a centerpiece. This beautiful and thoughtfully designed area is now a focal point of your landscaping.

Of course, the most important lighting for a garden is “sunshine!” But what happens at night? A growing facet in the landscape world is outdoor lighting, and there is no better place than a kitchen garden to illuminate its beauty. Adding fairy lights or café lights along the perimeter highlights the overall garden design. Soft lighting on the pathways allows you to pick veggies for dinner last minute. Spotlights on vertical elements, like arches, draw your eye up and keep the space from looking dark. The best time to think about lighting options is during the design process. Yes, lighting can be added retroactively, but a thoughtful plan early on reduces extra costs and ensures all options are available. Outdoor lighting is not to be underestimated. Installing the right kind of outdoor lights can prove to be useful, practical and simply stunning.