As part of a massive, $26 million renovation occurring at L’Auberge Del Mar Resort and Spa, which will include a splashy new restaurant, Executive Chef Paul McCabe conducts his homework in a garage test kitchen and backyard garden to prepare for the restaurant’s opening in September.

The University City chef has relied on his green thumb and a test kitchen that he built in his garage last year for devising the upcoming menu. As an avid gardener, he’s learned some growing secrets along the way that other urban gardeners might embrace.

McCabe works with about 160 linear feet of soil, although he doubles his growing capacity by creating raised beds.

“The beds run about 36 inches deep,” he noted, “which means that you get a lot more crop per square foot. My mother used to always do it that way wherever we lived – and I became obsessed with growing stuff.”

McCabe’s yields have been prolific. “I can’t remember the last time I purchased produce,” he said, referring to an abundance of assorted lettuces, heirloom tomatoes, beets and English peas that his garden provides.

The peas, in particular, have “gone wild.” McCabe’s garden is producing so many of them this year that he’s giving away care packages to his neighbors. While some vegetables such as peas, lettuce and cucumbers thrive in San Diego’s coastal-strip climate, the cloudy moisture brought on by May gray and June gloom isn’t quite as advantageous to other crops.

In particular, several varieties of heirloom tomatoes McCabe plants struggle in a lack of sun. As East County residents can start their tomato plantings early, McCabe now waits until early summer to begin the process.

Brussels sprouts present another challenge. “I’m having the hardest time with them, and I’m doing some research to find out why,” he said. “It could be because of a lack of alkaline in my soil.”

The chef tends to his garden between 10 and 12 hours a week, often pulling in a little extra help from his kids. And he considers himself lucky that weeds and rodents haven’t afflicted the fruits of his labor.

When McCabe doesn’t have his feet in the soil, he’s been staying busy developing new cooking techniques and creating menu items in his garage test kitchen for the upcoming restaurant, which still remains unnamed.

The makeshift kitchen is replete with induction burners, dehydrators and a vacuum machine for sealing. What needs to be baked, he takes into the house. So far he’s crafted about eight dishes that will land on the restaurant’s debut menu. In addition, he’s fine tuned some revolutionary cooking tricks, such as using an enzyme that binds proteins for adhering duck skin to ahi tuna or for making ricotta gnocchi sans potatoes. And where organics are needed in certain test recipes, the chef simply moseys over to his edible garden and plucks from the bounty.

L’Auberge Del Mar Resort and Spa is located at 1540 Camino Del Mar. For more information, call 858-259-1515.