Before + After: Garden with a View

On my first visit to Courtney’s home, we got rained out of the garden.

It was the last week of May, and probably the last time we had a good hard rain in Boise. She had contacted me to ask if I knew anyone who wanted to garden in her space. She was so frustrated with the clay soil and roots that she didn’t even want to turn her water on. I didn’t know anyone who needed more garden space, but I offered to coach her through the challenges of her space. She agreed and booked an appointment.

When I arrived, the rain was light, so we started in the backyard. Immediately, I could tell that Courtney was an accomplished gardener. Her yard has expansive terraced steps with mature, colorful pollinators that all have a beautiful view of the foothills. In the moody May rain, it felt like a sanctuary.

At the top of the garden, she had a long rectangular area of soil surrounded by stones, with drip irrigation and good sunlight. I asked about her previous seasons with the garden, and she told me about her issues with bugs, weeds, roots and water. I began handling the soil, as I always do. It was shallow, despite her years of adding compost to it. I tried to sink my hori-hori knife’s blade into the ground, and it only went in an inch or two before being choked by roots. I dug in a few more places and handled the soil a bit more before the rain really started coming down and we went inside to talk.

Courtney’s in-ground garden on a rainy day in May 2021

With a view of the garden from her kitchen, I told Courtney there were two paths I could advise her down for a more successful growing season. The first, was to cover the garden area in black plastic and cut holes where she wanted to plant. In those holes, we could amend the soil and the rest of the plastic would control the weeds. It wasn’t pretty, but it could work.

The second path, which I told her was the one I believed she’d have the most success with, was to level out the kitchen garden area as much as possible and to install raised beds. She hadn’t considered raised beds before, so I explained to her a few reasons why I prefer them to gardening in ground.

After some discussion, she trusted me to create a kitchen garden for her, which you’ll see below. Here are the top 3 reasons I gave her for going the raised bed route and how they turned out.

Top 3 Reasons for Raised Beds: # 1 Productivity

Building high quality soil good enough for gardening in ground can take years to accomplish. Not to mention, it would take countless loads of compost that would need to be hauled up those stairs to achieve anything close to the soil condition needed for successful vegetable growing. Our native soil is overly sandy in some areas and overly clay-based in others, while the soil we put in raised beds has the exact right composition for a productive vegetable garden right off the bat.

Basil packed into the raised beds in July 2021

Sandy loam soil that’s deep makes for better drainage, and all those elements add up to the best possible place for plants to grow. Instead of sprawling their roots out along the surface of the soil in the ground, plants in a raised bed can burrow deeper, so we can plant more in them. Not to mention, the soil in raised beds warms faster than soil in the ground, meaning we can extend our growing season by several weeks on either end.

Top 3 Reasons for Raised Beds: #2 Enjoyment

Courtney loved spending time in her perennial garden, pruning and fertilizing and replanting. It was my goal to create a kitchen garden that gave her the same enjoyment. The height of the raised beds, the quality of the soil and the automated drip system means that all she has to do now is prune, fertilize and replant in her kitchen garden, too. No more bending down in the hard ground digging around roots or pulling thick weeds. She’s even ordered a bench for the space where she can sit and enjoy the view - a garden task that truly makes this whole installation come full circle!

The garden transformed into a beautiful spot to take in the view of the Boise Foothills

Top 3 Reasons for Raised Beds: #3 Aesthetics

In a garden as gorgeous as the one Courtney had, I hated to recommend the black plastic method of gardening. With raised beds that had an arched trellis in between, she could admire the beautiful garden from her kitchen window for years to come.

The view from Courtney’s kitchen now, with the kitchen garden as the crown jewel

Since we completed the installation, she told me that’s her favorite thing to do. We matched the steel and stone used elsewhere in her landscape, and as the beds age to a rust patina, it’ll match her garden even more. Check out the picture above taken from just outside her kitchen to see for yourself.

If you’re wondering if raised beds are for you, I’ll be teaching a class all about them at North End Organic Nursery on Saturday, August 14 at 1 p.m. I’d love to meet you in person and talk to you about your garden. The class is free but seats are limited, so click the link below to claim a seat.