This past fall, we worked with our client Gabby to design and build a fully fenced-in veggie garden at her beautiful country estate in Westport, CT. In this article, we go through our planning, process, and progress from start to finish of a custom, all-wood garden build.
Gabby is an experienced vegetable gardener who had a functional but aging garden plot with four raised beds that she kept well tended. Having developed a passion for vegetable gardening, she was excited to upgrade to an aesthetically pleasing structure that would give her more space to grow and become her ‘dream garden’.
Assessing the property is an important first step in setting up a successful garden. We use a specialized instrument to calculate the amount of sunlight per day an area will receive throughout the growing season. We also need to consider air movement, drainage, contours of the land, and underground utilities in proposing the right location. Gabby already had a successful small garden plot in her desired location so we were able to quickly confirm that the area was suitable and ideal for the project.
At Gardenfolk, we have a portfolio of standard raised bed gardens, but we also specialize in working with our clients to envision and design a garden around their landscape and home. Gabby approached us with a vision in mind and we were happy to work with her to bring that vision to life.
Taking measurements of the desired location, we mapped out an 8×32′ fully enclosed raised bed garden that would lie adjacent to the driveway, tennis court, and in close proximity to Gabby’s front door. Gabby had indicated potential issues with wildlife, so we proposed a system that would provide full protection both from overhead and underground critters. The beds were designed to be a double-high, 24″ bed; this would serve to strengthen the base of our structure, provide for increased root growth, and allow for easier planting and harvesting. This also gave us an opportunity to use a hugelkultur method of building up the soil bed. More detail can be found below.2
When plans are finalized, we start laying out our rough plot by clearing the site and checking for underground obstacles such as irrigation or bedrock. When our layout is confirmed we begin the build.
Setting the posts is one of the more labor intensive and delicate tasks in the build. Often we are working around underground irrigation lines, utilities and dense-packed gravel and stone. To create a uniform and symmetrical structure, it’s important that each post is set a consistent length from the next. We set the rot-resistant cedar posts in concrete for a structurally sound foundation.
For Gabby’s garden, we used taller posts to accommodate the full overhead structure that would be constructed.
In crafting an aesthetically-pleasing outdoor structure, we hand select each piece of lumber from a local lumberyard.
While our posts are Cedar, we use Douglas Fir for our raised garden beds. At some point, we do expect that boards will need to be replaced so we use speciality brackets that will allow for ease of replacement.
In Gabby’s garden we’ve installed subsurface fencing under both the beds and the pathway. While this is not a standard feature on a new build, it will prevent any underground intrusion from moles, rabbits, and groundhogs. The double-high beds will allow crops (especially root vegetables) to grow unimpeded by the subsurface.
At Gardenfolk, we strive for all-organic gardening methods which starts with the materials we use to build our gardens. We are careful to choose products in our garden builds that will not leach harmful chemicals into the soil. And, we exclusively use an organic soil mix from a locally based, all-organic garden supplier.
In Gabby’s garden, having the advantage of the double-high beds, we are able to utilize an Eastern European gardening method called hugelkultur. Amending the base of the beds with organic materials found on site – e.g. sticks and mulch from a recently downed tree – will help the garden develop many of the nutrients the veggies will use to thrive as well as improve water retention.
We then bring in our organic soil mix, and top off with a bed of straw to prevent weeds from migrating and sprouting in the new beds. Finally we lay down cedar mulch around the garden and in the pathway.
Gardenfolk architect and construction leader Travis Tietjen custom builds the gate in his workshop and finalizes the installation.
A successful project is complete and a happy gardener is ready to plant.
Get in touch with us to build your dream garden.