Our BHG Feature + Garden FAQ

THE FARMHOUSE

Our Better Homes and Garden shoot from last summer is out! Eek! It’s in the June 2022 issue and has 8 full pages of garden (and kitchen and pantry) goodness. I’m so thrilled with how it turned out!

via BHG, photo: Lisa Romerein, food stylist: Rebecca Farr, pro stylist: Liz Strong

That’s the first two pages and all that I’m allowed to share on here right now, so stop by a newsstand to see the rest of the June 2022 issue of Better Homes & Gardens (available through 6/24/22 wherever magazines are sold)! It’s full of recipes and tips and lovely photos.

A little behind the scenes… our shoot took place last August, over 3 crazy, fun, intense days with the BEST team of editors, photographers, food stylists, prop stylists, and assistants (these shoots really do take a village). There was a pandemic, wild fire smoke, thunder storms, and bee stings to contend with and yet it all went down without a hiccup. It was a great experience from start to finish and I have to say, we have the best cover!

Okay, let’s talk garden! BTW all of the photos I’m sharing today are from previous years…we’ve had unseasonably cold weather this year and haven’t even gotten our garden planted yet.

Garden sources

Garden FAQ

Wanted to share the answers to some frequently asked garden questions today and point you to any resources or sources you need.

Layout

Our garden is 36’x50’ and surrounded by a deer fence (covered in grapes). Our farmhouse actually sits on 3 acres, but this small section is where we spend the majority of our outdoor time. And we’ve found it’s plenty of space for us in terms of garden, entertaining, and outdoor living. Here’s the layout…

What do we grow in the garden?

We have six 4’x8’ raised beds, two 2’x2’ raised planters, which we plant every year with annual flowers and veggies. Garrett welded me a garden bed cover and we have that over our greens beds.

These are the easy-to-grow flower varieties I recommend. And yes, we LOVE using compost in our beds. Here’s how Nana’s makes her amazing compost (it’s the best!) and we also buy organic compost and steer manure when we run out of her’s.

In addition to the raised beds, we have a few perennials in and around the garden: grapes on the perimeter fence, a hedgerow of raspberries (everyone’s favorite!), a pear tree, cherry tree, and herbs.

And just outside the gate we planted a row of lilacs, which should help protect the garden from wind as they grow.

The rocks

The rocks are just pea gravel, bought from our local rock and soil yard. But below the pea gravel is 5/8minus, which we compacted with a rented plate compactor, and below that is landscape fabric/weed barrier. We don’t get many weeds in here because of that last step. (Saved the construction stories to our IG highlights if you want to see more.)

How do we keep the rocks clean? We blow them off after the fall leaf drop and occasionally rake them. The pavers, however, need a good sweep to get the pea gravel off of them after every time our kids play in here.

Do the rocks move under foot? Yes, the pea gravel definitely gives when you walk, but the compacted base helps with that.

Would we use rocks in here again? Yes, I think so. I like the look of them - it feels very European courtyard to me - and they are low maintenance. My main complaint is that they get hot in the summer and the kids don’t leave them be. An alternative to gravel would be grass, but of course that needs mowed and bark chips just don’t have the same look IMO.

DIY Raised beds

We built the raised beds out of scrap 4x4s and topped them with cedar 2x6s to create seating/kneeling space. We walked through the process on IG a couple summer’s ago and saved it to highlights. We ran water underground to each bed and have the entire garden on an automatic timer, which is the only reason I get any results at all ;)

The fence

The fence is covered in grapes (planted by a previous owner) on three of the sides, and it basically turns into a living wall of green every summer. We live in an area with deer, and without this fence the garden would be impossible to keep. The fence is about 6’ tall and constructed out of rolled metal field fencing and 4x4 pressure treated posts. Garrett constructed the new gate and arbor when we redid the space.

String lights

We have these LED string lights and absolutely love their golden glow in the evening. They’re strung 36’ across so to kept them taut we ran a metal chord and zip tied the lights to that. We also raised the lights up higher above the fence posts using Garrett’s DIY Shepards hooks.

The table

So many requests for a DIY on our table. Funny enough, it’s one of the oldest DIY projects Garrett and I ever - it has to be at least 12 years old. We built it for the backyard of our first house in Seattle out of beams bought at our local salvage shop and we rented a planer from HD to level and smooth everything. We’ll have to make another one some day and share the DIY.

The sink

The sink was a new addition last year and was styled so lovely by Liz Strong for our BHG article that I might have to recreate that this summer. Anywho, we found this sink on Craigslist in Seattle about a decade ago and hauled it from house to house with us ever since. I almost used it in one of our kitchen remodels so many times, but it never fit quite right until now. Garrett plumbed it with potable water and we use a bucket for the drain.