The Wardings Garden: The Vegetable Garden

My inspiration for the vegetable garden came from watching the Chelsea Flower Show way back in 1999, where I fell in love with the basic idea Terence Conran had presented in conjunction with Laurent Perrier, The Chef's Garden. I just loved the way the kitchen was outside and the seating in the middle of all the vegetable planters.

As much as I would love to have an outdoor kitchen, the weather just isn't reliable enough, even here on the South east coast where we seem to get more good weather than the rest of the country. So I set about working this idea into my own garden.

Originally I had planters made in timber directly outside the kitchen with a table and chairs on the patio looking out over the area. The area between the planters was gravelled to create the paths between. It is a very hot and sunny area with no shade. Too hot really for the vegetables.

Last year, we cleared and opened up an area at the top of the garden, which turned it into a sunny area that does get some shade during the day. Last spring I set about unplanting all the planters and set them out in the new Vegetable Garden. Back breaking work moving the soil and gravel from one end of the garden to another. Its taking shape and looking good, we have also decided to relocate the green house to the left end of the Vegetable Garden for convenience and again to benefit from some shade during the summer months.

Here is the progression in pictures.