Audrey Hepburn said, “To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.”

Blaine and I have decided to start a small garden this year. We’re planning to do raised beds instead of a traditional in-ground garden.

Grandma used to have a large in-ground garden here on the property, but we decided to try raised beds near the house instead. For the beds, I got inspiration from Joan from for the love of a house. We purchased some corten steel planters, which will rust to patina but then never rust completely through. I would have liked to shopped local for beds/planters, but nevertheless Wayfair was the cheapest place I saw for corten weathering steel… 

Since the biggest size offering was 4ft x 4ft, we purchased 8 and will butt them up to make 4 raised beds – each sized 4ft x 8ft. (Another idea from Joan!)

Below is what they’re supposed to look like once rusted to patina.

Corten steel is typically seen in modern design, but I think it’ll look good with our traditional country home too.

The Square Foot Gardening book has been a great resource for us as we decide what to plant. I’m thinking we’ll want two beds of culinary herbs, a salad garden (which we probably need to plant asap before it gets too hot!), and maybe a salsa garden. It would be neat to grow some interesting varieties of corn too.

I’ll share more about our layout and what we’re planting soon!

Lately, I’ve had a bit of fun virtually shopping/getting ideas for a few garden structures. I think Blaine could make some of these, or perhaps I could find something similar locally. 

My sources for garden structure inspiration are from:

Detroit Garden Works

Terrain

Thompson + Hansen (cute shop in Houston!)

Another favorite source for tools:

Garrett Wade

 

 

What are some of your favorite garden shops? Are you planting a garden this year?

~Mir