Spring potager

We're starting to collect the needed supplies and building materials for our outdoor spring projects. This year we intend to build the potager, which is a fancy French work for kitchen garden. Our kitchen garden is on the south side of the house in the former area of the driveway. Last year, we went through the painstaking task of removing 30+ tons of concrete to make available 1800 square feet of dirt!

From The Making of a Craftsman Home

The "dirt" that's underneath the driveway is hard pack clay and rock fill, which isn't exactly perfect for a kitchen garden. On top of that, it doesn't drain at all and tends to hold standing water right next to the foundation of the house. Again, not good. Therefore, we're going to dig out a good portion of the fill dirt and bring in new soil and lay drains. To accomplish this little task, we've got to shore up the creek that runs alongside our property that helps carry away the winter rains. We were lucky enough to find large landscaping blocks for an incredibly reasonable price that we're going to use to shore up the creek.

From The Making of a Craftsman Home

Upon completion of that, we'll then be able to dig out a good portion of the fill dirt/rock where the beds are going to be and haul in dirt. Once all that's complete we plan on laying a brick path and patio for a finished look. Over the paths, we're building craftsman style pergolas to allow for better use of the vertical space with items such as pole beans, hops, etc.

Here's the latest pile of bricks I collected for this little project.

From The Making of a Craftsman Home

Once all that's complete, we should be able to plant an onion and perhaps some lettuce by August. Ha! Who knew something as simple as a garden could turn into so many steps. I guess I wouldn't have it any other way.