Turn Your Yard into an Edible Garden

Ashley Joyce, founder of Bend Urban Gardens, right, and her client work in the garden. Credit: Bend Urban Gardens

I first found Bend Urban Gardens, also known as BUG, last spring at downtown’s Earth Day Fair. I’ve been gardening for the last six years, but in a very different climate than what we have here in Bend. I was immediately drawn to BUG’s vendor booth because I’m a fish out of water when it comes to growing vegetables in the high desert. I had a lot of questions and didn’t know where to start.

After chatting with Ashley Joyce, founder of BUG, about whether gardeners can plant directly into the ground in Central Oregon (if you’ve wondered that too, keep reading!), I jokingly said, “If only you could come to my house and tell me exactly what to do to ensure my garden is set up for success.” Low and behold, two weeks later, there she was — doing exactly what she’s built her thriving business around: helping me turn my yard into an edible garden space.

BUG has resources for everyone from gardening aficionados to first timers, with on-site consultations, personalized crop plans and veggie garden lessons. If hardware is what you need, no problem: Joyce and her team of hard-working humans build raised beds to suit individual garden needs, with all the necessary pest-protection netting and season extenders for Central Oregon. You can also get grow bags for patios and balconies, microgreen kits for indoor growing and plant starts.

I’ve learned so much from working with BUG, and I’m certain there are plenty of readers who are just like I was a year ago: excited to grow food without any clue where to start. With hopes of empowering new gardeners to break ground, Joyce has shared four considerations to help you lay the foundation to transform your yard into a thriving veggie garden.

ACCESS
First and foremost, your garden must be accessible if you’re going to be working in it daily. “Access can easily become a barrier to gardening, despite all the initial motivation and good intentions you might have when getting started,” Joyce explains. “Is the location already in a spot that is visited or seen in your current daily rhythms or is it hidden away in a side yard that is mostly ignored or a location far away from your kitchen door? If the only sunny location you have is in more of a hidden location, then you’ve got to go with it, but ideally, your garden won’t be in a location that could easily become out of sight, out of mind.”

SUNLIGHT
Next, consider sunlight. Generally speaking, a location with at least six hours of daily sunlight during the peak growing season is best. If that’s not possible, your focus can be more shade-tolerant vegetables. Joyce recommends using the Sun Seeker app, which tells you how much sunlight a location gets throughout the year.

SOIL
Then there’s soil… or, for Central Oregon, a lack thereof. “Our native Central Oregon soil, which we jokingly call moondust, doesn’t tend to be rich in organic matter and is typically sandy, so it doesn’t hold on to water very well,” Joyce says. Fortunately, building raised beds for your annual veggies nips that problem in the bud (pun intended) because you can source soil more suitable for growth. A mixture of 50/50 topsoil and compost will improve the soil’s fertility and water-holding capacity, which is a great option for raised beds and planters.

If you do decide to plant in the ground, however, expect it to take about five growing seasons of conditioning for the soil to be ready for vegetable gardening, Joyce says. Use compost and cover crops to increase the soil fertility. Planting perennials is another way to increase the nutrient density, which aren’t practical options for raised beds. Just be mindful of deer, who eat just about everything under the sun, so that means adding physical barriers like fencing or hoop houses to limit their access.

TIME
Finally, let’s talk about time. What we’re able to grow is shaped by how much time we have to grow it, which we call the growing season. Normally, the growing season can be measured by the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map, which tells us what plants are likely to survive and thrive in an area’s climate based on the average minimum temperatures each year. Central Oregon is technically zone 6b, but our area is unique. As Joyce explains, “This classification system doesn’t take into account that we can get freezing temperatures any day of the year, not just in the winter. So, we advise gardeners to choose perennials that are actually rated for zones 3 to 5, as they will likely be more resilient when temps drop when they are not in dormancy during the growing season!”

The growing season can be manipulated by microclimates, which are physical differences on an individual property that impact temperature, humidity and sunlight. These alterations can make it easier or harder to grow specific vegetables. Microclimates can be created intentionally with greenhouses, hoop houses, cold frames or retaining walls to help extend your season with warmer temperatures and protection from frost. Blacktops, pavers, concrete or gravel pathways retain heat as well. Nearly every part of your yard can be utilized in a resourceful way for your garden to grow, and Joyce gives this example: “Maybe you have a dryer vent that is located near a spot where you could plant a fruit tree! Run your dryer on cold nights when the tree is in bloom to create a warmer microclimate to prevent the blossoms from freezing.”

Speaking of time, when is the right time to start your garden? Now. Or later. When works for you?

“There’s a misconception that new gardens need to be installed in the spring. Succession planting is definitely possible with the use of season extension tools. It’s all about planting the appropriate plants at the appropriate times. You can even harvest through winter in Central Oregon with season extension tools. Fall can be a fabulous time to build and plant a garden in Central Oregon.”

So, what are you waiting for? Get your gardening gloves on, get outside and start seeing your yard for what it really is: a thriving veggie garden waiting to happen!

Bend Urban Gardens
541-728-3105
bendurbangardens.com

Quick Gardening Tips for Central Oregon

3 VEGGIES TO START FROM SEED & WHEN: Radishes, arugula, spinach
Plant them as soon as the soil temperature is consistently 45 degrees in the spring, and then again in mid August to early September for a fall harvest.
PRO TIP: Try direct sowing and transplanting kohlrabi and bok choy on the same day once the soil temp warms up to 45 degrees. Once the direct seeded crops reach microgreen size, thin them out for a bonus harvest. Harvest the rest once they reach full maturity.

3 VEGGIES TO PLANT FROM STARTS & WHEN: Broccoli, cabbage, tomatoes
Plant broccoli and cabbage from May to July when soil temp is consistently 45 degrees. Plant tomatoes in June, though the exact date will be determined by the season.
PRO TIP: If you aren’t growing your own starts, get them from a source that has short-season varieties that have been hardened off, or acclimated to the outdoors, locally.

3 PLANTS TO BE SAVED FOR THE MASTER GARDENERS: Melons, winter squash, cauliflower
PRO TIP: These plants need long seasons, which make them hard for our climate. Use season extenders to increase your chances for success for these plants.

3 COMMON GARDENING MISTAKES

PLANTING TOO EARLY: Planting cold-sensitive plants too early in the spring can put them at risk of dying off in unexpected (or, in this climate, quite common) frosts. If you’re unsure when to plant, ask the experts where you got your seeds or starts.
BAD IRRIGATION: When soaker hoses clog, or when the system is not distributing water evenly throughout a garden bed, the irrigation is ineffective. This can be hard to troubleshoot as a variable impacting your plants because the system is built in, so be sure your irrigation system is working well before planting.
OVERWATERING: The roots of your plants are where the soil needs to be moist. When gardeners don’t feel their soil down in the root zone, but instead notice that the top of their soil looks dry, they supplement their drip irrigation with hand watering even though the roots have plenty of water in the root zone. The only time this is really needed is when trying to get seeds to wake up and germinate, so be sure to feel all the way down to the root zone for mature plants before increasing your water supply.

Thanks to Ashley Joyce of Bend Urban Gardens for these resourceful tips.

This article appears in The Source Weekly April 3, 2025.