How to Create a Relaxed Kitchen Garden Retreat

Your veggie garden can become a favorite summer hangout

Our kitchen garden has evolved over the years into a homegrown three - room space with a vegetable garden , two dining areas , and a firepit . coiffure aside from the theatre , it feel like its own picayune public and is a favorite smudge for informal summer gatherings .

Because we wanted to keep thing healthy , raised veg beds were the only way to go , along with some serious fencing to keep critters away . We kept the bed narrow — no more than 4 feet panoptic — to make weeding and harvest home easier . An irrigation system is another must - have , and ours also supply water to a secondhand sump that ’s ready to hand for washing vegetables and hands . The sump double as an methamphetamine hydrochloride cooler for party .

A pergola brood with ‘ Cooke ’s Purple ’ wisteria divide the dining and firepit areas and allow for a shadowed lunch topographic point . Christmas light purchased on sale after the vacation make for cheap and atmospheric light . The surrounding plant “ walls ” that circle the firepit area are gargantuan miscanthus , ‘ Annabelle ’ hydrangea , and ‘ Royal Purple ’ smoke bush . These plants provide big swath of dramatic and ever - changing aspect through the year . We cut the miscanthus to the primer every March , and by other summer it has mature enough to enclose the firepit with a tropical look .

There is something peculiar about walking through a vegetable garden to dine outdoors , picking a advanced tomato plant off the vine to quicken the appetite . Can you recollect of a way of life to impart this “ farm to table ” notion to one of your outdoor animation country ? Even a potted Lycopersicon esculentum plant or some herbs near a dining area can aid make this connection .

Strolling through the vegetable garden just induce more inviting . With a dining mesa overlook abundant edible , the connectedness between garden and mesa is a natural root for gatherings set here .

A sheltered corner that feels spacious and relaxed will thread guests in . This vine - cover pergola provides shade from the sun as well as a bit to cling lightness for eve entertaining . Two dining board cater tidy sum of room for invitee . Pea gravel is an easygoing airfoil that gives the dining and firepit areas a composed and unified facial expression .

The details that make it work:

Key plants:

( Miscanthus‘Giganteus ’ , Zones 4–9 )

( Hydrangea arborescens‘Annabelle ’ , Zones 4–9 )

( Wisteria sinensis*‘Cooke ’s Purple ’ , Zones 5–9 )

*Invasive Alert:Wisteria sinensis‘Cooke’s Purple’

This plant is take invading in AL , FL , GA , IL , IN , MD , NC , NJ , PA , SC , TN , VA , WI , and WV .

Please visitinvasiveplantatlas.orgfor more information .

primal plants photos : Carol Collins ( miscanthus and hydrangea ) , Courtesy of Catharine Cooke ( wisteria )

To learn how to design even more garden rooms, view the entire collection:

Create Garden Rooms That Draw You In

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Photo: Carol Collins

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