Garden designs
Dec. 21st, 2005 01:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kareidAs those of you who live with me may have already noticed, I've started trying to figure out what to do with the yard next year. I'm trying to decide where to lay out flower beds, vegetable patches, paths, lawn, possibly a lilac tree if I can find a good spot, whether to move the compost pile again, etc. I've discovered that there are lots of books out there which want to give me advice on what flowers will look nice together, complete with glossy photos, but fewer which will give me advice on how to lay out landscaping elements to create an integrated and interesting whole. If anyone has recommendations on good books I'm missing, please share.
So far I've figured out that I want a symmetric design, not an asymmetrical one. This is complicated by the placement of the existing path from the back door to the lawn, which is the most likely feature to use as my axis of symmetry. The path is centered on the door, which is nice for walking, but not centered in the yard, so anything I base around it leaves extra space on the left, shadier side that I'm not entirely sure what to do with. I'm also realizing that higher, less see-through fences would be an improvement, as the yards on the other sides of the short chain link are nothing I really want to see. I had been liking the long sight lines, but really, is a long sight line of a paved area nice?
Once I figure out this level of design to mostly-satisfactory levels, I'll move on to the what-flowers-where level, and the how to actually build raised vegetable beds level. I hope to get to this with plenty of time left to order seeds.
So far I've figured out that I want a symmetric design, not an asymmetrical one. This is complicated by the placement of the existing path from the back door to the lawn, which is the most likely feature to use as my axis of symmetry. The path is centered on the door, which is nice for walking, but not centered in the yard, so anything I base around it leaves extra space on the left, shadier side that I'm not entirely sure what to do with. I'm also realizing that higher, less see-through fences would be an improvement, as the yards on the other sides of the short chain link are nothing I really want to see. I had been liking the long sight lines, but really, is a long sight line of a paved area nice?
Once I figure out this level of design to mostly-satisfactory levels, I'll move on to the what-flowers-where level, and the how to actually build raised vegetable beds level. I hope to get to this with plenty of time left to order seeds.