It’s February, and you know what that means?
GARDENING!!
Well, sort of. I mean, not really. At all. The backyard is basically a giant ice patch, and there’s not a hint of anything green as far as the eye can see.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot to love in February: Valentine’s Day (which was always a family holiday when I was growing up, second only to Christmas), my birthday (Balloons! CAKE!!), ordering new honeybees (bzzzzzz) and the first hints of spring as the days lengthen.
But it’s often cold, murky, grey, and more than a little gloomy. So naturally I’ve been buoying my spirits by planning gardening projects for warmer months. After all, I get to start some seedlings in about a month, and they’ll need somewhere to go! I’ll also be shoring up the herb garden, moving things around and working on a more permanent fence and path, now that I know I like it where the garden is. But THAT’s another post, for another day. ;)
I recently rediscovered the notes I took last summer during a class on medieval cloister gardens (I’ll add the link when I find that, too). It was a really inspiring lecture, replete with a vivid slideshow and heaps of Latin names for historical plantings. Obviously, I was smitten. Even now, just thinking about it, I get a little glow of that late July warmth. Pair that with my trip earlier to the Chelsea Physic Garden in London, and I’ve been obsessively Pinning ever since…
So I pulled out some notebooks and started sketching. We’ve got a few good sections of relatively flat space around the house, and one, just up from the garage, is about 20’x30′. Can we say AMBITIOUS? But the more I’ve worked on this, the more I’m really keen to give it a go.
Here are the top three sketches:
The leftmost sketch is one I did last year, and really liked, until I did the other two earlier this week. I envision it being laid out like a cloister garden, with a heavy dash of potager-style planting. Basically, it’ll be a very pretty vegetable garden, with flowers and companion plantings scattered throughout. It will definitely take me several years to really get the thing sorted, but I’m guessing I can do the basic layout and at least the outside borders this year. The different sketches play with tiers of different heights, but I’m not sure how complicated I want to get with that.
Here are the absolutes:
- the paths are roughly 2′ wide. That might get fudged a little one way or the other, but I won’t know until I lay everything out.
- The back wall of the garden, at the tops of the sketches, will be a tall grape trellis. My father-in-law is giving me his vines, so I need a place to put them. There will be banks of hyssop and lavender below those, and possibly a pair of turf benches flanking the gateway out to the field.
- The front wall, at the bottom of the sketches, will be predominantly cutting flowers. That side of the garden faces the road, and I’d love for the 4-7 cars that drive by every day to see something beautiful.
- The front gate will have an arbor over it, with either climbing roses, or runner beans, or something. Maybe topped with bird houses. We’ll see.
- A quince tree in the center of the garden. I’m pretty sure I can get a hardy variety that will grow here, and I’d love to not have to catch them during the single week a year they’re available in stores.
- places for ALL the raspberries, because I love them so. Also, places for strawberries, asparagus, and corn, because I either have those already outgrowing their current spaces, or will definitely plant them again.
So, WHICH DO YOU LIKE BEST?!
Help me interwebs, you’re my only hope…
Chelsea,
These are all fabulous sketches and great ideas! As an architect, the one suggestion I can give on your selection of a design is pick the best that works for YOU. Consider the adjacent house, landscaping, and other elements – what seems most appropriate for the setting?
What will it look like in 1 year? 5 years? Will it still work when the landscape matures? Will there be too much shade? Will some items be replaced (perennials) seasonally? Do you think you might modify these and if so, how would that affect your selection?
Think about how you are going to irrigate it – is it automatic or will you do it by hand? Will a drip system serve your needs or a sprinkler system? You don’t want to have something that will be beyond your ability or desire to upkeep and have all the work go to waste with neglect.
Finally, consider budget – if the sky was the limit, what would you build? Then work backwards – what would you remove or replace once you have a firm budget. Will you do the work yourself or have a landscaper do it? Are there low cost options such as purchasing smaller potted plants, different varieties of the same species (you would be surprised in the variance of costs for these!) Can you find building materials on Craig’s List or similar sites?
Good luck and have fun!
Hi Chelsea! The drawings look fantastic.
One thing to keep in mind is that the area directly between the garage and the carriage house (“Wonderworks”) is part of an old barn site. When the barn burned the foundation was broken up and buried. Part of it that remains is the north wall of the garage – the old concrete section.
That means the area is not really tillable. The area in front of the garage (and within that paddock area) has a lot of fill and is pretty easily dug up. But I wanted to alert you to the potential of lots of rocks and bits of concrete in the back part of the space you’ve described.
If your garden design incorporates raised beds or is part of a permaculture type garden approach, it may not make any difference. But if you want to plant a tree in the middle, you may want to approach it with a backhoe and lots of topsoil. I think it drains quite well, but the dirt there is pretty crunchy.
All the best –
Glenn H.
I think any of them would be absolutely lovely, but B really spoke to me. The gorgeous little drawing of the arbor at the bottom of the page probably helped! You do understand you’re going to have to post many many pictures of your progress, right? So that those of us who live in suburban environs sporting teeny tiny yards may live vicariously through your garden?
I love them all, but I think B is my favourite. I like the shapes and overall layout, and the beds seem easy to reach across. Out landlord let us build a smallish raised bed, but I wish I had built it a little narrower, since with the fence at the back it can be hard to reach some of the beans without trampling the front plants.
I think B looks great, although they are all good. And I second the request for lots of photos as it slowly comes to fruition.
My preference is for C as long as you can reach the middle of every box while kneeling at the edges…
As an aside have you considered putting these into a tool like “Sketch-up” and colouring them? a good bit of fun and super fast with a little practice.
WOW! Inspiration! I never reply to stuff like this, but I must vote for ‘C’. Absolutely beautiful! Altho you should perhaps listen to people who know things about like, how the soil is on your land – much more important for planning purposes. I have filed the email notifying me of this post away into my “garden” file for when my fabled Someday arrives…
Cheers!
B is giving me Versailles, I love it.