Over the past few weeks, I have enjoyed getting our back yard ready for patio dining, entertaining and some Sunday afternoon relaxing. Although the weather hasn’t always been cooperative, I have managed to get most of the planting done for the year, as well as a few other projects I’ll be sharing in the coming weeks.

I am thrilled to be part of the Outdoor Extravaganza and was super impressed with the Plants & Flowers Projects that were linked up last week. Did you take a look yet?

I’m inspired to find some wine boxes for a container garden like this one created by Linsey of LLH Designs.

These French peat pots with succulents by With a Dash of Color make the perfect summer party favor or hostess gift.

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I was hit with the gardening bug at a very young age. Growing up in the country, we planted a huge garden every year, and eating fresh vegetables and freezing or canning the remainder was the norm. When my husband and I bought our first house, we were fortunate to have a large back yard with a good-sized garden. There was something therapeutic about tending it, watching it evolve and creating meals based on what was ready to eat. Fast forward to our current home and our backyard is quite small and sloped, making it difficult to grow much more than a few trees, shrubs and some perennials. Since we moved here 8 years ago, most of my vegetable gardening has been limited. I’ve grown the occasional tomato plant, as well as a few herbs, but most of our produce comes from the grocery store or the occasional farmer’s market.

This year I decided to try something a little different and create a kitchen garden, or potager as referred to in France. Kitchen potagers typically feature patterned beds where herbs, edible flowers and fruits co-exist with carefully selected vegetables to produce fresh food and flowers to the kitchen table throughout the growing season. Given the limited space I’m faced with, I thought I’d create a mini form of this garden in containers.

When planning a potager, color, flavor, fragrance and aesthetics are all important factors. To get it right, I decided to make a list of herbs I like to cook with, the high-yielding vegetable and fruit plants requiring a small amount of space, and some good companion flowers. I found most of these at a few local garden centers.

For containers, I decided to use burlap garden bags that I reinforced with pieces of wood at the top and filled with a mix of potting soil and organic compost.

In one container, I planted a patio tomato with a few varieties of lettuce. I placed an obelisk over the tomato plant for support.

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