 Boundaries
We started with a garden that had been allowed to grow wild (paths had long since become completely overgrown, for example) within the "natural" boundaries of the surrounding concrete walls around the yard and in an effort to tame the jungle we wanted to create clear boundaries for the planted areas. We also found that, although we thought that it was fairly easy to see where the flower beds were, friends' kids ran all over the place, heedless of the plants, so defensive measures were also needed. At the same time, we wanted to use materials we had on hand to avoid mortgaging ourselves to the garden shop.  An early experiment involved lining the planted areas with the small rocks that had been used to pave the old paths, but the plants just grew under and over the rocks, obliterating the dividing lines. One day, a friend mentioned that his carpenter uncle had to pay a fee to have his scrap wood carted away. Problem solved: Uncle was happy to let us have the wood and all we needed to do was apply some creosote as a preservative. We set rows of chunks of wood in varying heights to create raised beds and used bricks or large rocks elsewhere for variety. We tried to avoid drawing more attention to the materials used for the boundaries than to the plants, taking a lesson from a woman in the neighborhood who has filled her small garden up with so many different types of bricks, rocks, logs, and fences in different arrangements, along with statues of cartoon characters, that one can barely see the flowers. Once the boundaries were in place we no longer had to be constantly directing visiting friends where it was safe to walk. The kids then decided that balancing on the blocks of wood was fun, but a few strategically-placed low fences solved that problem. Since our yard is fairly small we we found it best to create clear dividing lines to prevent a return to the original jungle state, but it isn't necessary section off every part of the garden as we've done. A large tree can stand alone or have slow-growing shrubs planted beneath. Well-designed paths also serve as dividing lines. The shady conditions in our yard and sandy composition of the soil render a lawn problematic, but a friend's enviably spacious backyard has a broad lawn surrounded on three sides by groves of old trees whose thick shade keeps the grass in check and eliminates the need for boundaries. |