The Vegetable House —A Covid Tale
The vegetable house earlier this summer
Well, like most folks, I became nervous about food supplies once the grocery store shelves started looking pretty empty in April 2020. Given that I had grown a few vegetables in pots by the pool over the years, I thought it prudent to expand my annual harvest to a more substantial food supply during this unprecedented Covid catastrophe.
On graph paper, I drafted a new vegetable garden plan. It would be made up of raised beds. And with all the critters around here, I decided these valuable, food-producing planters should be completely fenced in from top to bottom. Therefore, I added to my designs a cedar framework for the sides and top with chicken-wire covering the open areas. I enlisted a local carpenter who took my plans (maybe embellished them a bit) and built me a very protected vegetable “house”.
He constructed most of the house offsite. While he was busy building, I sited the area for the structure near the carpark. Had some trees cut and the area leveled. The carpenter returned and quickly assembled the house on the prepared plot. Then I filled the beds with my custom soil mixture and by mid-May I was planting seeds and seedings.
May 2020 after construction
Honestly, while I did grow some nice lettuces, potatoes and beans, I would have starved if this was my only food source that first season. But I did learn a lot. One thing I discovered was that the extra framing created pockets of shade at times so this framed structure was not the best place for all full-sun vegetables. I also learned that I should start many vegetables indoors so they would be stronger when planted outside. (Slugs love emerging lettuce and bean seedlings.)
I have since expanded my vegetable plantings to an open area next the framed house. Sunnier and larger. Now, the vegetable house primarily houses lettuces, peas, some bush beans, kale and one small crop of potatoes. And the newer garden contains peppers, eggplants, tomatoes, herbs, chard, carrots, pole beans, beets and more lettuces.
A collection of lettuces
I never expect to feed our house fully from the vegetable house or the new adjacent vegetable garden. However, these gardens do provide a wonderful source for fresh produce that doesn’t require a drive to a farm stand or grocery in heavy, Hamptons traffic. That’s the happy ending to this tale.
‘Jade’ bush beans harvested for dinner tonight from the house