My little herb and veggie garden

We have had our house for almost three years now. Every year I try something different when it comes to planting herbs and or veggies. I tried planting them in pots...they died. Because I never remembered to water them or because the pots didn't drain well. I have tried starting the seeds in the house...again...I would forget about them.

I have been wanting to plant them in the ground where the sprinklers would regularly water the garden. But the problem I battled with in my head was the fact that I didn't want to rip up the grass to do it. You see, when we bought the house the backyard contained a pool in the middle, a garage on the back side with concrete coming from the driveway straight back to the garage and two little patches of "grassy" area. I mention "grassy" area lightly. The fact is the people who owned the house prior to our purchase rented it out...often to people with large dogs. They said the dogs would ruin the lawn. So - they opted for really expensive (I am serious here) astroturf. They spent $10,000 on astroturf! But - I have to give them credit...because it really did look and feel pretty much like grass.

Of course, the FIRST thing we did when we bought the house was to rip that astroturf up and install a sprinkler system. {You see in California EVERYONE has a sprinkler system....but back in NC- where I am from...YOU water the lawn.} Also - I thought to rip up the concrete in front of the garage as well to cut down on the concrete and make the year a bit more soft and pleasant for our little Yorkies. {and so they could have more of a place to pee}. I love it!!

So because of all that, I hated to rip up any part of the grass. BUT this year - we did it! {a small area}
I wanted to put the garden here {below} for two reasons. 1. the area gets great sunlight and great water. 2. the plants would grow and cover up that heinous vent in the house.

I realize the plants may get too big and overtake some of the others. But I don't expect that all the veggie plants will do well...and also - I may be able to part with a tiny bit more grass to make the garden a tiny bit bigger.

HOW cute is this picture. My husband added the Buddha next to the garden. {It was in the back of the yard more in another flower bed.} And one of our little Yorkies, Gus decided to chill in the sun by Buddha. So cute!

This last picture is of the entire area of the yard in fron of the garage. This is the area that we ripped up concrete. If you look closely enough you can see the pavers we added in the event we decided to drive our cars back there...then the grass wouldn't get ruined. {In the back corner - the large plant is an artichoke...it gets SOOOOO big every year! The rest of the plants are different types of rose bushes.}