[Thunder Chicken]

I have a low (~6") deck right outside my back door, area is about 6' by 8'. There is a 6' by 3' area next to this deck (shown in green in the attached) adjacent to the house that gets lots of excellent direct sun during the spring and summer, and I was really thinking I'd like to make some sort of raised garden bed/planter right there - first thing I see when walking out the door, and first thing people see as they walk up (they approach from the upper right of the picture). The sun comes from the lower right in this picture, right into this corner.

We have put some potted stuff there in past seasons, peas and herbs mostly. Potted tomatoes might do very well there, and we really need to give our other raised beds a rest from tomatoes for a season or so - they didn't do very well last season and suspect that they picked up something in the soil. It doesn't need to be strictly a kitchen garden either, I'd like it to be attractive. This spot gets somewhat brutal sunlight during the day, so whatever goes there will need to like sun and heat. Keeping things watered isn't a problem.

I'd like to just brainstorm some ideas of what I could potentially put there. I'll see if I can get a picture up of the area tomorrow.

 

[Thunder Chicken]

Here's a pic of the area from my back yard. Sun generally shines directly into this corner. Foot traffic between the door and the driveway passes to the right (I'm also thinking of installing a walkway). I want to do something with the area adjacent to the deck next to the gutter downspout.

For starters I was thinking of grading and filling in that area with pea stone or river stone, and I could put in some pavers to support some sort of table, keeping it clear of the wall. I was thinking of maybe something like a 3 tiered table, a high tier in the back to support tomatoes and maybe something that hangs, a middle tier for herbs, and a low tier for annuals / pretty things. I am also thinking of maybe trying to work a rain barrel into the downspout to serve these plants.

Thanks for your thoughts!