Elements of Garden Design by Joe Eck

Author:Joe Eck [Eck, Joe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Published: 2005-02-01T00:00:00+00:00

Other Garden Structures

Most gardeners know that the least useful thing to do with a garage is to park the family car in it. Bales of peat moss, bags of fertilizer, rolls of burlap, the fancy chipper that was the big present last Christmas, all are more in need of protection from rain and snow than a mere vehicle. And as the garden grows in scope and the gardener in sophistication, space is required for other needs, as a place to store clay pots, a bench on which to sow seeds and strike cuttings, drawers in which to keep plant labels, catalogs, twine, and all the other essential paraphernalia required by gardening. Soon, perhaps, the garage seems a bit crowded and cluttered—even without the car in it—and the gardener begins to long for a proper potting shed, well lit (which garages seldom are), with shelves for reference books, a rack for tools, bins for sand and perlite and potting compost, and a hope that, with proper facilities, one could at least begin to master the exacting art of tidiness.

Simultaneous with this process, or perhaps coming a little before, is the need to expand domestic space. The family grows, as families will, or the family bank account does, and an addition to the house seems necessary. One begins to think that life really would be nicer with the addition of a proper dining room, a library or office, a guest bedroom perhaps, a larger kitchen or a spacious utility room. Maybe the acquisition of a second car, or a third where there are teenaged children, suggests that a garage in which cars could really be parked is a good idea (for one car can be left in the drive, but not two or three). So one begins to think of building a secondary structure on the property, one that would satisfy some long-felt need, or maybe simply some deep desire to make the family nest a little more capacious, a little more comfortable and handsome.

Whatever purpose a new building is to serve, attention to two principles will help to make it an asset to the garden rather than a liability First, the new structure should echo the general architectural qualities of the house itself and be made of similar materials. Gardens are by their nature fairly busy and complicated aesthetic entities. They gain in beauty if the buildings that inhabit them have a common character and surface. Second, if a new building is to be freestanding, and is to serve something other than a purely domestic function, it should if possible be set along the length of the garden’s boundary and not projected out from it. In this way, the new structure will serve not only the practical purpose for which it was built, but will also become a part of the garden’s frame.

On country properties where ownership of the land extends beyond the area given to gardening, the placement of buildings in this way usually poses no problem. Many residential communities,

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