Home » Plants & Animals » Beginning a Garden » The Birth of a Garden Design

The Birth of a Garden Design

© Kate Berry

This is the story of one woman's negotiation with (and browbeating of) her mate and small child to obtain the garden of her dreams.

It started innocently enough. While standing in the backyard of my new house, I imagined holding my husband's hand as we walked in a lush flower garden with our daughter playing nearby. Our yard only featured a chain-link fence, bare spots, and a view of our new neighbor wearing an unfortunately small thong, so I casually mentioned that I'd be starting a garden that week. My family looked downright skeptical until I extolled the virtues of flowers and fresh vegetables (and making Mom happy).

With their eager input, we listed what our perfect garden required. Much to Hubby's chagrin, I refused to discuss practicalities. "Let's act like Congress," I told him. "We'll write whatever we like without worrying about the budget or if it will work." This was the result:

Flowers! A playhouse. Dining area. A private reading nook for me. Vegetables. A BIG pond. Hiding the chain-link fence/thong-clad neighbor. Storage for lawn tools. Golf putting area. A Mom-only potting shed.

Since size would influence what we could have in our garden, I measured our lot, house and 'hardscape' features like driveways, sidewalks and utility fixtures, drawing it all on graph paper. (1 square = 2 sq. ft land) I noted the slopes and the boggy area next to the house, and the trees we'd decided to keep. It became clear we'd have to be resourceful to incorporate all the ideas on our list. At 70 by 75 feet, our backyard is more modest than my neighbor's thong and small compared to those in gardening articles and books.

We needed a list everyone could agree on. That meant I had to concede some ground to my family's desires or face weeding, watering, and maintaining the garden alone. My daughter, who adores all things girlish, begged for pink flowers, while Hubby prefers deep blues and my tastes run to white. Although we settled on a pastel scheme, some ideas we could never agree on. Like the putting green that I vetoed.

The negotiation began in earnest. In exchange for Hubby doing the muscle work in the garden, I'd keep the lawn equipment in the potting shed so he could start parking in the garage. I would also agree to grow his much-cherished sweet corn. Next ensued a debate over replacing the whole yard with a cornfield. (Hubby's suggestion after losing out on the putting green). The family peace-keeper, I pointed out that if we plant early lettuces and spinach between cornrows and train tomato vines to cover the fence, our smaller vegetable garden would leave us room to satisfy our other requests. (Namely, mine.)

The copyright of the article The Birth of a Garden Design in Beginning a Garden is owned by . Permission to republish The Birth of a Garden Design in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.