Old Stone Patio Becomes New Organic Garden

David and Natalie Secrest’s home in Eastover has been a busy place in the past year. Teams of craftsmen added a second storey and modern amenities to their bungalow’s historic charm.  The entire landscape was recreated, and artistic blends of turf, pathways and ornamentals seamlessly wrap around the home and the outdoor living area adjacent to the guesthouse in the back.

“ We’ve really been looking forward to having an organic garden mixed into our new landscape,  and I made sure the architect saved the really sunny area behind the garage for you guys”, smiles David.

Indeed the area behind the Secrests’ Garage/Guesthouse beams with sunlight from mid morning through late afternoon, and was a perfect site for an edible garden. After reviewing some initial designs incorporating cedar raised beds, David and Natalie had a question :

Could we build the beds with the stacks and stacks of stone pieces that had been salvaged from the old patio that had been taken up?

No problem.

There were more than enough 12”x12” stone pieces to work with, and because a foot is a little wide for the side of a garden bed, we carefully broke the stone pieces in half to get a wall thickness of closer to 6”.

After a little site prep, we began setting stones in the footprint of the two long L shaped beds separated by a 4’ space where their cedar potting bench would later be placed.  This layout allowed for plenty of room to navigate between the closet storage at the back of the garage and the garden beds, which were situated right alongside the chain link fence at the back of the property.

Since a central irrigation system had just been installed for the rest of the landscape, it was fairly simple to install drip irrigation in the garden, and connect it to the main system on a new zone.

We also installed an 80 gallon rain barrel at the back of the garage so that they’ll have the ability to give their plants rainwater during dry periods.

With the help of a chisel in some places, the two L shaped beds took shape, and topped out at about 12”. They were filled with our soil blend of pine bark fines, mushroom compost and PermaTill, and planted with cool season varieties including Brussels Sprouts, Broccoli, beets, carrots, kale, and sugar snap peas.

Last but not least, the potting bench that we crafted from locally cut and milled eastern red cedar timber fit in between the beds perfectly.

“We love it,” Natalie says, leaning against the bench, surveying their completed garden.

“The wildlife here is pretty persistent, though”, continues David, looking over the new seedlings a little concerned. “The neighbors’ entire vegetable garden was annihilated by rabbits and squirrels.”

“Can you guys install one of those electric fences designed to keep wildlife and pets out of the garden?”

No problem.

Comments

[esther and larry]

Awesome, Matt!
thanks for sharing your talents...
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[Esther]

We love our freshly planted garden and herb bench Matt created for us.
Thank you, Matt.
Esther and Larry