I know Covid has thwarted many of the plans we all had last year, and let’s face it this year is still not back to normal yet. For example after a year of almost non-stop travelling in 2019 all those plans for more trips came to a screeching halt last March. And as much as it bothered me back then, looking back at the last 16 months spent at home, there are actually a ton of silver linings and good things that came out of the pandemic. (And I say that full well knowing that I am in an extremely priviledged situation with having access to my own garden, as well as no one in my immediate surroundings having fallen severly ill so far.)
Anywho, one thing that really turned out to be the gift that keeps on giving is my own little “modern cottage garden” that we started building last April. I use the term “cottage garden” very losley because cottage gardens traditionally have a very specific layout that simply didn’t work in my backyard. However with some minor tweaks and changes to the original concept of a cottage garden, I think it turned out wonderfully.
Did you also have that one Covid-project that you started during lockdown? Did you “grow” a green thumb last year? If so, what was your project?
Our cottage garden consists of four raised beds (two high, two low) for veggies, a corner bed for all kinds of perennials and cut flowers and also an old potato pyramid that got reconfigured to a herb and strawberry planter, which additionally works as a lovely corner stone to the garden.
To give it a more compact feel and separate the designated cottage garden area from the rest of the garden we set up a more sturdy version of the traditional pale fencing.
This spring we also added a brand new cold frame for one of the raised beds to also be able to grow salads and root vegetables throughout winter.
Here’s whats: planted so far in all the veggie beds:
Kohlrabi, spinach, radishes, lettuce, carrots and chilli in one bed, strawberries, onions (yellow and red), salad, sage and one bell pepper plant in the other.
Since beginning of May we’ve also planted out tomatoes, one courgette, once cucumber plant and a ton of basil because, let’s face it there can’t be too much basil. Right?
