An Intimate Summer Dinner Party in our Patio Herb Garden with the Home Depot
in partnership with The Home Depot
Cultivating community through homegrown food around the table has always been a long held passion of mine. I love the connection and celebration that summer gardening, cooking, and gathering friends around the grill brings. It’s a ritual I’ve deeply missed since the pandemic began. Nothing brings me more pleasure than crafting a freshly harvested meal after a day spent tending the garden, then sitting down to a seasonal tablescape to enjoy the evening with family and friends. I am thrilled to welcome that winning trifecta back into my life this summer with special thanks to The Home Depot, Traeger Grills, and Bonnie Plants.
In the case of this beautiful dinner party, the patio garden, the table setting and the meal all follow the same philosophy - seasonal, sophisticated, cohesive, contrasting. This patio garden gathering space pulls together all of those elements while also providing an atmosphere that feels fresh, organic, modern, welcoming and approachable.
So, step into my newly transformed patio and join my intimate summer dinner party to discover how I transformed my back patio into my dream garden-to-grill gathering space. I’ll share my creative process and all the goods that helped me curate all three - the patio garden, the table setting, and the meal - to inspire your own memorable experiences with friends and family this summer season. Cheers!
Patio Herb Garden as a Gathering Space
The theme of this transformation was creating a garden-to-grill outdoor entertainment space. It doesn’t get much closer to that than building a garden literally within the grilling space. My large patio began as a blank slate, and I knew from the beginning that I wanted to keep it as simple as possible in order to cultivate a sophisticated and free flowing atmosphere that folks can move through and interact with the garden. I find that container gardens can easily clutter up a patio scene, so I chose containers from The Home Depot that are the same color and texture as cement. The containers appear to naturally arise in the corners of the space like boulders, effectively framing an intimate outdoor setting. With the containers blending in so well it really makes the Bonnie Herbs pop and become focal points to view, smell, touch, and taste while gathering. As a gardener and homegrown foodie, I’m always looking for ways to highlight the plants - both in the entertainment space and in the meals.
I’m a big fan of gardens that are both beautiful and functional, so instead of filling my pots with ornamental flowers, I chose a variety of culinary herbs from Bonnie Plants. Planting this way also helped me achieve cohesion in the dining experience because the culinary herbs travel less than a few feet from the pot to the plate. In just eight large pots I was able to fill them with high quality organic potting soil and loads of fresh herbs and vegetables including: sweet basil, Thai basil, lavender, oregano, parsley mint, dill, chives, cilantro, rosemary, sage, thyme, jalapeno, tomato, and some edible pansies. The culinary possibilities are endless with this many herbs and I was thrilled to utilize many of them throughout all elements of the meal.
I planted the herbs around Mother’s Day, and with regular waterings every 3-4 days, plus liquid fertilizer once a week my potted herb garden is thriving. I’ve already harvested from it multiple times as I’ve trimmed the tops to help the young plants grow bushier and stronger. I’ve shared my best Master Gardener tips for how to grow herbs in containers in my Patio Herb Gardening Guide, as well as veggies too, in The Patio Kitchen Garden Ebook.
The beautiful large patio dining set from Home Depot is the centerpiece of the entertainment space, and it’s crowned with a large shade-offering umbrella. In the summer afternoon the shade is a godsend, and as the evening progresses the LED lights on the umbrella help to create the most intimate ambiance. The elegant lanterns placed next to the containers also add to the ambiance as the sun sets which makes the potted herbs glow beautifully. Throughout the patio I chose to make the contrasting colors of black, cream, and tan the focal color scheme. The black iron in contrast with the fresh cream-colored cushions of the dining set offer a classic combination that flatters any season and once again makes the green plants pop.
Within view is the large Timberline 1300 Traeger Grill that has come to be a summer dinner cooking essential at our house. I wanted it close to the entertainment space so that while my husband and I check on dinner we aren’t leaving our guests or the conversation. The grill also happens to be a large fascination for our guests and we love having it as part of the dining experience because everyone enjoys checking out the bells and whistles of this incredible grill.
Table Decor
It really is essential to establish a color palette when you’re preparing a tablescape and meal for a dinner party—it becomes a literal visual feast for the eyes! With the fresh summer blooms and the linens, I introduced more colors to the palette here to add interest. Slate blue, soft yellow, green, cream, black and soft purples are the colors coming through in the potted herbs, the tablescape, and soon enough through the meal too.
I couldn’t have created a more beautiful scene without the patio dining products and inspiration offered by Home Depot online. Their selection is wonderful and I was very pleased with the pairings of the lightly textured china, silverware, wooden handled steak knives, and high quality glassware I chose. The wine glasses are my favorite! I also love how the woven table mats and flour sack striped napkins provide a touch of that farmhouse-fresh feeling. It really makes the tablescape approachable and welcoming. The centerpiece Hampton Bay lantern really ties the whole scene together and adds the final touch of ambient lighting as good conversation lingers late into the evening. The tablescape is truly where I achieved that desirable amount of cohesion and contrast. It’s such an inviting space on hot summer evenings outdoors.
Meal
Before I get into the details of the meal and how I used all the wonderful Bonnie Herbs in my recipes, I have to brag about the Traeger Grill the way I did to my dinner guests. It’s truly a showstopper piece of equipment on the patio. It has elevated my outdoor cooking game by leaps and bounds without any effort on my behalf. The Traeger is an electric grill that uses flavor-infused natural wood pellets to smoke everything from meat, to side dishes, to desserts. The smoke creates the most amazing slow-cooking environment and infuses dishes with incredible flavor. Additionally the temperature can be controlled to the exact degree so food is cooked perfectly as desired. It also has the ability to sear and cook food quickly at a high temperature with a simple turn of the dial. The Timberline 1300 can connect to wifi and a smartphone, so that means I can slow roast meat while I’m out working in the garden, or running errands, and I can check the temperature on my phone. I can also get notified when the probe reaches a specific temperature so I know when the meat is done cooking. The Treager app is a helpful resource that offers thousands of recipes with simple grilling instructions. Grilling with a Traager is a nearly hands-off grilling experience that renders perfectly cooked meat and side dishes.
For this intimate summer dinner party I wanted to keep the meal approachable, seasonal, and fresh, while utilizing as many garden herbs and veggies as possible. I chose to cook a free-range, grass-fed, organic tri-tip steak using the reverse sear technique. That sounds complicated I know, but it was incredibly easy! The reverse-sear technique is where the meat is smoked (or cooked from the inside out) at low temperature for at least sixty minutes, then seared on the outside at a high temperature for just one minute. The result is a fabulously textured and flavorful steak that reveals the classic red smoke ring on the edges of the meat when sliced.
I paired the steak with Treager’s Blackened Saskatchewan Rub before grilling and a homemade chimichurri using the fresh Bonnie Herbs from the patio when served. I also served thick slices of Bonnie Beefsteak Tomatoes and heirloom tomatoes as a side. The freshly harvested tomatoes are so meaty and flavorful they don’t need to be enjoyed with anything other than salt, pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil. The acid of the tomatoes helps to cut the fattiness of the steak, and their flavor profile is bright and delicious. It’s a fabulous summer meal combination. In addition to these two focal points of the menu I served a fresh loaf of french bread and kale salad with a creamy lemon dressing infused with herb flecks - once again harvested from the patio herb garden. I also served a dry, yet acidic chardonnay, because those elements of white wine pair well with steak. The last touch was of course ice water infused with mint and lemon. I love how I was able to infuse my garden herbs into every aspect of the meal.
The stars of the meal were the steak, chimichurri sauce, and the creamy lemon herb-fleck dressing - we couldn’t get enough of them! Here are the recipes for you to enjoy too.
Reverse-Seared Garlic & Herb Rubbed Tri-tip Steak
Prep Time: 10 min
Cook Time: 90 min
Total Time: 1 hr 40 min
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
2 ½ lbs Organic Free-range Grass-fed Tri Tip Steak
Treager Blackened Saskatchewan Rub
Hickory Pellets
Instructions
Set Traeger Temperature to 225*F and preheat, lid closed for 15 minutes. Use the Super Smoke setting if available.
While the grill is preheating, massage the rub into the steak covering all sides.
Place tri-tip directly on the grill grate and cook until it reaches the internal temperature of 130*F, this should take 60-90 minutes.
When the tri-tip reaches 130*F, remove it from the grill and wrap it in foil.
Increase the Traeger temperature to 500*F and preheat, lid closed for 15 minutes.
When the grill reaches searing temperature, remove the steak from the foil and sear it for 3-4 minutes on each side.
Remove it from the grill and let it rest for 10 minutes before slicing against the grain. The fully-cooked, juicy center and the red ring on the outer rim is a sign that it’s been reverse-seared to perfection.
Garden Herb Chimichurri
Makes about 2 cups
Ingredients
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 Bonnie jalapeno finely chopped
3–4 garlic cloves, minced
½ cup red wine vinegar
1tsp. Sea salt
½ cup finely chopped Bonnie cilantro
¼ cup finely chopped Bonnie curly leaf parsley
2 Tbsp. finely chopped Bonne oregano
¾ cup extra-virgin olive oil
Instructions
Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until desired consistency is reached.
Creamy Lemon Herb-Flecked Dressing
Makes about 3 cups
Ingredients
1 cup veganaise
½ cup creme fraiche
¾ cup choice of milk
1 lemon, zest and juice
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp freshly ground pepper
⅛ cup fresh chives, minced
⅛ cup fresh parsley, minced
*Add any additional herbs you have in your garden (tarragon with chicken, dill with fish). This dressing is wonderful in a salad, served as a bread dipping, or drizzled over veggies.
Instructions
Place all ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine.
What are your favorite elements of the patio transformation + al fresco dining experience?
What would you recreate in your outdoor space?
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