A few years ago I reclaimed part of a disused, stumpy area on the north side of our yard for a veggie patch. Digging the ground was impossible because of the old stumps, so I built a box. The rest of this area I planted with various anchor shrubs which are doing nicely. I recently added a second box for veggies, and isolated the whole veggie growing area with a gravel pad, surrounded by old chunks of firewood.

Our backyard has quite a few mature trees, so it doesn’t have the sustained hot sun needed for peppers and tomatoes to thrive. Herbs, lettuce, spinach, chard and lots of other things do just fine though. This year I’m trying snow peas and we’ll see how they do. I’ve staggered the lettuce plantings so I should have some fresh salad greens for some time. Some of the lettuce is getting big enough I can start picking it soon.

Our veggie patch is not large but our needs are modest, and I like picking fresh greens for dinner.