Defining Spaces in Your Garden through Outdoor Rooms (Love Your Garden)

Hanging-bucket garden before the grape vine took off.

There is nothing I like better than a vast, open, undisturbed prairie.  The back of our home at Dry Creek opens onto a large, open space that was once an alfalfa field, which I would like to turn into a prairie.  However, although prairies can actually benefit from temporary, seasonal stampeding, constant foot traffic and wild grasslands do not mix.    There was also the issue of shade.

What slowly evolved in my mind is a series of outdoor rooms, that would be very structured and geometrical next to the house and then would loosen up away from the house, slowly blending into the field beyond.  These rooms would not only provide shade, but they would also enclose areas enough to discourage deer, who we love, but who also provide challenges to gardening March through May and again in September through November.

The first structure I built was my hanging-bucket garden (pictured above and below).  I built it as a wall to block the hot, late afternoon sun from the eating area.  It also provided a place I could plant flowers in the early spring when there are still too many deer to plant flowers on the ground.  The patio table on the east discouraged deer from that side.  To discourage deer from the west, I made a little room with a wrought iron fence (pictured above).  Although deer can easily jump fences over six feet tall, they are leery of tight spaces, so although not full-proof, it is a deterrent.

To blend in with the rustic surroundings, I used old juniper poles and some old window frames my brother-in-law gave me.  To increase shade, I planted a grapevine, which now covers most of the log rail structure and planted tall flowers, such as giant sunflowers inside the small garden created by the white wrought iron fence.

Close-up of repurposed windows in the hanging-bucket garden

Next, I set about creating our vegetable garden.  At first I was just going to create a fenced in garden of four beds created by railroad ties, but in the process, I decided leave out the fourth bed and instead include a Pergola (pictured below) as a birthday present for Marci.  To visually tie the beds together, I created a circular path through the garden using gathered stones.

Vegetable garden and pergola under construction

 

To provide shade for the pergola, I ran wire fencing across the top, wove in some bamboo stalks, and covered it willow.  I also planted a grapevine that will eventually cover it.  The shaded space creates a cool outdoor room that looks out on the vegetable garden (pictured below).

 

Interior of the pergola and wrap-around vegetable garden

Next, I built a structure for my grill (pictured below) to keep it out of the weather and provide shade while I'm grilling.  It also created shade in the late afternoon for a second dining area. 

Newly completed grill pad



 

Next came the job of tying the areas together, which I'm still in the process of doing.  One such "hallway" is pictured below.
 

"Hallway" to the west dining area

The final trick is to have the spaces slowly loosen as you move away from the house.  So, you start inside the house, move out to outdoor rooms, move out to semi-formal gardens (more organic shapes, but still very defined spaces), which then slowly dissolve into nature.  I'm still in the process of this.  I used thuja junipers in pots to provide structure along the main garden path.  Native rabbit brush fit well with the Tuscan feel of the garden. 

Potted thuja junipers soften garden structures

 

Starting to get that Tuscan garden feel

 

Although I haven't directly drawn ideas from the show, I absorb much of my inspiration from watching Love Your Garden.  Alan Titchmarsh and his gang have a real sense of gardens as composed spaces.  Below is a short clip of one such garden.  Enjoy.