From Seedling to Sprout: A Tour of My Cottage Garden’s Growth

Hey everyone, welcome back to Cottage on Bunker Hill! Gardening’s been in my blood for over 20 years now. You could say I practically grew up with dirt under my nails, thanks to my Mom who was a total plant whisperer.

This year, the itch to expand my green haven got the best of me, so I added a whole 10 extra feet to my garden – more space for veggie goodness and blooming beauties! This garden season has been a joy to witness, with everything bursting with life from tiny seedlings to the established stars of my perennial beds.

Today, I’d love to invite you on a virtual stroll through my gardens showcasing the progress of my vegetable patch, what I’m growing in my cut flower garden, and what’s blooming in my perennial beds.

Another Garden Expansion!

To help me get through the cold New England winters you can sometimes find me staring out my bedroom window looking at my fenced-in garden that is home to all my veggies, herbs, and cut flower garden.

A couple years back I doubled the size to make room for the cut flower garden. It was 20 x 40 but I still felt like I needed more space. I had run out of places to rotate my tomatoes this year and last year felt cramped.

Imagine, that this garden was just not spacious enough!! What we did this year was to go back another 10 feet.

The process isn’t easy! First, we had to roll back the metal garden fencing at the back and remove the green metal fence stakes.

Then the new section had to be rototilled. After that (the hardest part of the entire project!!) the chunks of grass had to be picked up and carted off. Once that was done and the area was cleared of grass we replaced the green metal garden fencing.

Note: this kind of fencing is a deterrent for critters but definitely not a fool-proof method for keeping them out.

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The finished garden added so much more space! The new section starts behind the 2 6x3ft beds in the photo. To it I added:

• 2 3x3ft beds in the center.
• The left side of the fence has wood trellises for mini pumpkins
• A DIY garden gate that I made out of scrap wood and garden fencing
• Seating
• Potting Bench (back center) w/ wood trellis along fence
• Metal Cucumber Trellis
• Row of tomatoes along right side fence.

The Vegetable Patch

The back section of the garden is dedicated to my vegetable plants. But to make it more attractive I mix in flowers and herbs with the veggies. Try this potager-style gardening idea out! It’s so nice to have flowers blooming next to your vegetables.

For example, in this bed, there are a variety of cooking herbs to the front, a row of onions, and a willow tunnel for snow peas, Then I filled in the bed with zinnias, calendula, small sunflowers, & nasturtium seeds.

For a quick and inexpensive way to create a cottage garden look I’ve added a few willow trellises in various shapes and sizes to the raised beds throughout the garden. This willow tunnel in under $17.

I added two small raised garden beds. They’re 3 feet by 3 feet each, and I found them on Amazon for under $24 apiece! The only thing I didn’t realize when I ordered them was that they’re made of plastic. I wasn’t sure if I’d like that at first, but honestly, you can’t tell the difference from a distance, and they actually match the style of my metal raised beds really well. Assembling them wasn’t difficult, but it was a bit tedious because of all the screws and wingnuts involved.

This raised bed contains 3 pepper plants, Tuscan basil, climbing spinach, borage, zinnias, onions, scallions, and carrots.

My friend Stacy, who runs the gardening website Bricks n Blooms, has a clever trick for her garden stakes. She adds small terracotta pots to the ends. These pots aren’t just decorative – they also serve a practical purpose! By having a pot on the end of the stake, you’re less likely to accidentally poke yourself in the eye.

I learned this the hard way! After putting in bamboo stakes for my pepper plants, I almost scraped my face on one. That’s when I ran inside to find some mini terracotta pots to put on the ends, just like Stacy does.

The right side of the vegetable garden mirrors the left side with the 6x3ft raised bed and the 3x3ft behind it.

Along the fence, I have 7 tomato plants, metal cucumber trellis and a small section in the back corner for a variety of summer squash plants.

My favorite spot in the garden? It could be the shady seating area I set up in the back corner! It’s the perfect place to sip my iced coffee and take a break under the shade of a maple tree.

Cut Flower Garden: Work In Progress

The cut flower garden section of my garden looks sparse now, but just wait until later in the Summer! Everything in this section is started by seed. Some things I start indoors and some of the flowers I directly sow in the Spring.

You may be wondering what the mulch is that looks so fluffy on the ground. It’s salt marsh hay. It is a popular choice in the coastal New England areas for gardens. Just like the name implies, it is collected from the numerous salt marshes that we have. What is nice about it is that it needs salt water to reseed, and it also smells faintly of the ocean after it rains. It did flatten out after a couple of rain storms.

In the cutting garden I planted so many varieties of flowers! Later this season it should fill in with some beautiful varieties of zinnias, celosia, dahlias, cosmos, and strawflowers just to name a few.

Right now, The only real color comes from an ornate vintage-style hanging planter at the entrance. It is filled with a container garden collection that I ordered from White Flower Farm.

Perennial Gardens: Early Blooms

My perennial garden beds wrap around our house. The plants themselves have grown in so quickly this season with the warmer weather we have been having plus adequate rainfall.

At this point of the season the Spring flowering bulbs have already died back.

This week happens to be my favorite one of the gardening season: when all of my peonies bloom!! I think peonies are probably my favorite flower to photograph. The ruffled edges look so pretty.

The sad part is that peonies are so short lived, this year I only got 1 good week with them.

Continuing around the house we come to the pollinator garden that I added to last year. Mixed in this bed are roses, quickfire hydrangea, and Asian lilies plus pollinator plants like coneflower, bee balm, salvia, and shasta daisies to name a few.

The clematis have begun to flower. This Franziska Maria clematis next to the bright red knockout roses makes for the perfect color contrast.

At the end of the perennial bed is a section of classic cottage garden flowers: hollyhock, lamb’s ear, roses, yarrow, and a small butterfly bush.

Well, that’s about it for my garden tour! It’s pretty amazing to see how much everything has grown already, right? Makes all those early mornings working outside totally worth it.

If you’re thinking about starting your own garden, don’t be scared to get your hands dirty! It’s a fun way to relax, be creative, and maybe even score some delicious homegrown veggies and pretty blooms. I’ll be sure to share more updates as the season goes on, so stay tuned and happy gardening!

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Grow With Me Gardening Series

This is part of the Grow With Me Gardening Series here at Cottage On Bunker Hill. I want to teach you ways of starting, maintaining, and enjoying gardening. I will share all the tips & tricks that I have learned over the years growing both vegetable and flower gardens here in the Northeast.

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