This year we did a major overhaul to our kitchen garden by putting down a big cardboard weed barrier and then started fresh with some stainless steel raised beds. It was a slow start, and at times I was discouraged, but recently we have had an explosion of growth. Here are three things I have learned from our garden renovation.

1. More Flowers, More Fun: Every year I plant sunflowers but this year I was inspired to try more flowers after seeing how pretty it can be in many of the gardening Instagram accounts I follow. I tried zinnias from seed and planted a few small marigolds from a local nursery. I even planted some nasturtium seeds which flowered early, and I was able to use some of these edible flowers in salads. Overall, adding more flowers created a beautiful effect, brought in a lot of gorgeous butterflies (so magical!), and helped to repel pests.

2. Better Soil Drainage: Our old wooden beds had started to decay, so we pulled them out, covered the whole area with cardboard we had been saving all winter, and applied a thick layer of mulch to prevent the weeds from growing around the beds. Our new beds are stainless steel and were pretty easy to assemble. However, we placed them on TOP of the cardboard and mulch without thinking much about drainage. For the first several weeks after planting our seeds and seedlings, we had a lot of rain and very little growth. I noticed the soil was very soggy, probably because of the cardboard barrier. I’m hoping next year some of that cardboard under the beds will decompose and we can add compost and other amendments to the soil to help with drainage in the spring. This might let our plants thrive earlier in the season.

3. Harvest Herbs Frequently: This year I made more effort to harvest herbs which helped them to grow all summer long. I made a lot of salad dressings and marinades with herbs and even made several batches of pesto which I enjoyed on pasta and also froze for later. Frequent harvesting helps herbs stay healthy and encourages more growth.

Check out the rest of our garden posts to get started on a kitchen garden!