Building a Kitchen & Cutting Garden

Person tending to a vegetable garden on a sunny day with a bright blue sky and large green trees in the background.

After a few summers of learning how to grow in raised beds on the weekends, we decided to build a “real” kitchen & cutting garden in Vermont. Here’s what happened!

A person holding a colorful bouquet of various flowers, including white, pink, purple, red, orange, and yellow, against a background of a green garden, blue sky, and some trees.

Planning & Excavating: Spring 2024

First we planned where to place the garden off the kitchen, and then we hired our friend, Rob, to help us excavate. We planned not only where to plant, but what to plant at this stage, so we are only growing what we actually use for herbs, flowers and vegetables at a second home.

Hand-drawn sketch of a garden gate with a frame measuring 2 by 4 feet, labeled as a mock-up with a cup of coffee and a bird on top, illustrating the gate's final appearance.

A construction scene in a backyard with a yellow mini excavator digging up soil, a dump truck filled with dirt parked nearby, and a white house with black shutters and a brick chimney in the background, surrounded by trees and green grass.

A small yellow excavator working on a construction site in a grassy field, with a tractor trailer on the right and trees in the background.

Backyard with a large black tarp on the grass, a pile of gravel in the center, and some landscaping equipment nearby, with trees and a white house in the background.

A backyard scene with a gravel area, a large tree, and a person working in the distance on a cloudy day.

A garden with six empty wooden raised beds on a gravel bed, standing on a well-maintained lawn under a partly cloudy sky. A large tree is nearby, with a forest in the background.

Digging for Poles & Planting

This stage took several weekends. We had the pressure-treated wood delivered. Then Dave began digging the holes, cutting the side boards, and eventually adding the wire. The gate required some loving attention too, as you can see from Dave’s sketch above (wink wink!). We found the sawhorses in the basement of Pine Street while we renovated that mill.

A man with glasses and a beard wearing a gray t-shirt, shorts, and work gloves, stands outdoors on a grassy area with a background of green trees. He is working on a woodworking project, measuring a long wooden beam with a tape measure placed on top of it. There is a saw on a wooden table beside the beam, and various tools and supplies scattered nearby, including a square and a cardboard box.

Stacked bags of QUIKRETE fast-setting concrete mix next to a rectangular wooden garden bed filled with soil, with a gravel ground and a grassy background.

A man working on building a raised garden bed in a backyard with a house and cloudy sky in the background.

A person is working with a cordless drill on a wooden board in a trench, surrounded by dirt, grass, gravel, and a black landscape fabric.

Woman wearing a wide-brimmed straw hat, sunglasses, and a scarf taking a selfie outside near a construction site on a sunny day. In the background, a man is working on a wooden fence, surrounded by green grass, trees, and a trailer in the distance.

A man planting a pole next to a garden bed with green plants, construction of a wooden fence, and a rural landscape with trees and cloudy sky in the background.

Raised garden beds with young plants in a backyard, surrounded by gravel and wooded area.

A backyard vegetable garden with raised wooden beds and a wire fence, adjacent to a white house with black shutters and a chimney, under a partly cloudy sky.

Planting & Enjoying: Summer 2024

For the herbs, vegetables and flowers, we sourced everything locally from farms in: Dorset, Manchester, Poultney & upstate New York. The goal was to create not only an aesthetically pleasing garden, but a delicious one too!

Garden with colorful flowers in raised beds and a gravel pathway, near a white house with a steep roof and brick chimney, lush green trees in the background.

Raised garden beds filled with various green plants, including leafy vegetables and flowering plants, situated on a gravel surface with a wooden fence and green trees in the background under a blue sky.

White barn with open wooden doors, green grass, trees, blue sky, and white clouds.

A backyard garden surrounded by a wooden frame and wire fencing, with raised beds and plants, adjacent to a white house with black shutters under a clear blue sky.

A raised garden bed filled with colorful blooming flowers, surrounded by gravel. In the background, there is a grassy lawn, trees, a house, and an outdoor seating area with a table, umbrella, and a parked truck.

A garden with wooden raised beds filled with various green leafy vegetables and flowering plants, surrounded by a gravel pathway and a wooden fence, with trees and a blue sky in the background.

The Cutting Garden Comes to Life

August 2024, the Zinnias, Cosmos & more show up!

A woman wearing a wide-brimmed straw hat, sunglasses, and a black long-sleeve shirt is holding a large bouquet of colorful flowers and using pruning shears in a garden with pink, white, yellow, and red blossoms.

A colorful bouquet of pink, white, red, and yellow flowers on a marble surface.

Two glass jars filled with colorful mixed flowers, including red, pink, white, purple, and yellow, arranged on a woven placemat on a wooden table.

Bright pink, orange, red, white, and purple flowers arranged in a tall glass vase on a white marble table in a cozy room with framed pictures on the wall.

Why Did We Build the Kitchen Garden?

Because it’s a luxury to slow down in open space, and to dig into the earth.

All summer long, we cook directly from our beds. Flowers make their way back and forth from Vermont to Rhode Island for friends and family.

Freshly harvested onions with roots and green tops, outdoors on a black surface, with a grassy garden and wooden greenhouse in the background.

Close-up of green cherry tomatoes on the vine in a garden.

Colorful garden with various blooming flowers including red, pink, orange, yellow, and white, with greenery and trees in the background under cloudy sky.

A fresh Greek salad on a glass platter with sliced cucumbers, sliced red onions, green beans, crumbled feta cheese, chopped pistachios, and edible flowers.

A white bowl containing various small colorful tomatoes, and two green bell peppers, placed on a black wooden surface.

A close-up of pink and white cosmos flowers growing in a garden, with green foliage and trees in the background.

Close-up of fresh green vegetables growing in a garden, including kale, basil, and other greens.

A bowl containing a green sauce or relish with chopped herbs and oil, placed on a light-colored marble surface.

A white ceramic plate with a small arrangement of red and yellow flowers and black sauce splatters on it, placed on a white marble surface.

Two women standing on a grassy backyard near a swingset, with one woman wearing a white tank top and the other in a black dress and wide-brimmed hat. Behind them, there is an American flag, a white umbrella, and a view of the water with a boat and a dock.

The Cauldron

While finishing the kitchen garden, a surprise! We spotted something like this while out in Newport, RI. Dave said: “That would be cool in Vermont!” Someone was listening! Within 24 hours, a friend got us in touch with her friend who had this cauldron up the road from Alison’s parent’s house in Jamestown, RI. We brought it to Vermont, and the wood-burning, open-fire cooking has begun with the vegetables now growing in our kitchen garden!

A man is unloading a large object from the back of a black pickup truck in a green yard with trees and a house in the background. A dog is lying on the grass in the foreground, watching the man.

A campfire over ash and burnt wood, with a metal tripod and hanging chain, on a grassy outdoor area surrounded by trees, with a dog lying on the grass in the background.