The courtyard/kitchen garden conundrum

So the reason I’ve been thinking and talking about kitchen gardens in the context of the courtyard planning (and reflecting on my former CA and FL potagers) is that there are basically only two things I can do here vegetable-wise, and both have courtyard implications. Over the course of the last few weeks, I have weighed lots of my original thoughts about adding structure and shade to the courtyard area — from overhead ‘rafters’ to an arbor of some sort over the future seating area — all of them now discarded for a variety of reasons. But there are still a couple of key courtyard decisions I can’t really make until I first make up my mind about the vegetable garden. 

My Two Options

1) I can stick with my driveway potager approach: a containerized kitchen garden of one sort or another, located at the end of the driveway, in front of the garage door. This keeps it directly adjacent to the would-be courtyard area.

2) I can (eventually/someday) put a nice big raised bed for vegetables in our narrow little front-side yard instead, basically at the opposite corner of the house. 

Pros and Cons

1) is more conveniently located than having it out front, but I would always be limited by the necessity of the potager being containerized and sitting on asphalt. And it would also have to be reasonably moveable, in case of an urgent need to put a car in the garage or something. (Note to self: Is this strictly true?) So this is the logistically superior but otherwise limiting option.

2) would allow me to make a big, beautiful, raised-bed vegetable garden like I’ve had and loved before, and to be able to really grow full-size tomatoes, etc. It would be less convenient to me and more convenient to the neighborhood deer and other critters — more in need of some kind of screening. Although really that’s true of either location. 

The Courtyard Implications

1) I am still considering ideas about potential structural elements that would physically and/or literally divide the driveway from the courtyard, be that an archway or implied gateway of some sort (I love this), or raised beds between the two, with an opening to pass through. With the vegetables adjacent to that boundary, though, I would be loath to do anything tall there that would cast afternoon shade on the vegetables. So option one is also somewhat limiting in that regard.

2) The front-side strip is just grass — very full sun, I’ve thought of it as future tiny meadow — that I’ve stuck a couple of baby trees into in the past couple of years: a dogwood and a gray birch. Apart from ease of access, that spot is ideal for growing vegetables. And if I decide I want to claim it for a vegetable bed, whether this year or in the future, I would incorporate those two fledgling trees into the courtyard planting scheme now.

This is honestly a case where I can make an argument either way, because neither option is perfect. But since it’s food growing that’s got the firmest hold on my attention at the moment, I cracked open my favorite book about the making of vegetable gardens, hoping it might somehow clarify my path. And I think it has. I’ve got some sketching and research to do, but feel good about the direction. And meanwhile I’ll tell you about this gem of a book on Friday.