Getting rid of grass for veg beds a bad idea?

[ColdieWoldie]

Really struggling with planning the empty shell garden and need some perspective and opinions. As it is there's a raised bed to the rear with pear, apple, cherry and plum trees (currently used by cats 🤢) and lower rear part and sides have been concreted as it's a retaining wall. Large pergola that can't be moved and patch of grass measuring 5m x 4.5m, both facing a fair size patio. SE facing.

I'm dreaming of a cottage style garden with nasturtiums trailing over the walls, clamatis Montana up the pergola sides and cosmos, dahlias and some hydrangeas to break up the openness and create two little areas. The original plan was to add swirling borders to the grass and have lots of pots and a tree BUT I love growing our own veg and so am toying with the idea of raised beds where the grass is and creating a kitchen garden with herbs in the center and space around for all the things we want to grow. Plus cat proofing it all. I can't seem to get away from the notion of no actual grass. It's a family house with youngest 11 so they don't actually play in the garden anymore and we aren't looking to sell anytime soon. Also been on the allotment list for 12 years and currently sat at 65th place so half way there now!

It looks so sparse now that I'm worried I'll be stripping it of the last bit of green, plus it's so boxy as it is. It needs some shape and it's just quite overwhelming and far from what we want. Any suggestions, opinions etc welcome. Thanks!

Could you grow veg in large containers?

Or put a gate into the nearest fence and plant veg between the two? Or is that where the concrete is?

Cute cat by the way!

Absolutely do this. It will look beautiful and soften the lines. Grass is a monoculture and is not good for the planet or wildlife. I have an allotment and I grow lots of cosmos/foxglove/lupins which are great for pollination but also marigold, sweet peas, nasturtiums etc as sacrificial plants and the bonus is they look beautiful. You could do more than you think with that grassed area and still plant amongst the veg. Look at companion planting. Tomatoes like marigolds and basil and lots of others have companion plates that have a purpose but look lovely.

Definitely go for the veg garden, it’s a big enough space and it’s nicely to grow your own!

Ahh that's where the concrete is with chips over. It's 80cm wide and couldn't get anything deep in there. It gets a lot of sun, the shade creeps in just after noon by the house and out that way so I'd ruled out the patio.

Thank you all so much for the encouragement! Feeling a bit more confident! Any ideas how you'd lay it out? Everything I try looks boxy and has no shape, maybe an L shape raised bed along the fence with a swirly border to separate the pergola area? It's driving my crazy. Would some stepping stones mean I could keep some grass or do you think it'd just get ruined? Argh I'm hopeless!

Back with a horrendous diagram... I'm itching to go and map it all out but it's freezing.

Is there a ground cover plant that would work instead of grass? I have seeds for most suggestions of flowers so thank you, should be able to separate the two areas high and messily enough to break up the lines I hope! Don't fancy building curved planters but guess that'd be an option.

Everything in that photo is very square so I would embrace that and have rectangular raised beds. I think with such a small area of grass there is little point and it feels like such a drag to get a mower out for 5 minutes. You could also put rectangular planters on the raised gravel. If it gets the sun it would be perfect for strawberries.
I also agree with pp that a mix of food plants will be much better for wildlife and more attractive than a monoculture lawn.

Clematis montana is too vigorous for a pergola.

Well, there’s not much point in that bit of grass, is there? Get something growing that gives some height! You don’t have to grow vegetables in raised beds, but don’t be tempted by grass paths because you’ll be forever weeding grass out of you beds.

I might consider veggies in raised beds on the paved are then you have the whole grassed area for a cottage garden. Or you could interplant veggies and flowers.

Ahh sorry I wasn't clear, the green areas are the raised beds and the circle in middle is a raised bed, stepping stones are around the beds in the grass but I probably wouldn't bother mowing and just let it get a bit overgrown with the odd thing planted along outside the beds so it's not too uniform. The bench I was planning to put a stone border and gravel with a ton e of bulbs for all seasons. Hopefully that makes more sense!

Absolutely ditch the grass. It's your garden, so you can do what you like. If you want something to take the whole space and be reminiscing of a lawn, creeping red thyme and lawn chamomile would be fairly common options. You could also plant them around tubs if you are planning on only light footfall.

Go for it it will look bigger for having more in it. You can add a small tree for example even though the garden is small - you just need to be careful what type. Make sure you don’t just have beds around the outside but obscure the view by jutting into the middle. Mix your veg with flowers- artichoke is so ornamental and really fun as a feature plant. Definitely watch a few garden makeover shows like Garden Rescue (there are hundreds and they are all small gardens with particular issues). What fun! Enjoy the challenge and go for it!

@ColdieWoldie my reply was in response to your first photo, not in response to your plan