A Garden for Gathering: Garden Design
Before I map out where I plant things, I map out how I want the entire space to look and feel. This article shares some of how I design my garden prior to planning.
Moving to this home introduced me to a fenced garden - a space set apart and large enough to encompass you in garden. As I looked at designing the structure, I wanted a space with elements that make the garden feel balanced and peaceful, still orderly and productive, and a touch of flowing and wild.
I am drawn to a French Potager/kitchen gardens for their wild and trailing feeling, densely planted for layers of texture and color, as well as high yield. I also love the neatly ordered rows you see on the pages of Peter Rabbit, perfectly ordered and tidy. My own approach is somewhere between these two, balancing structure with wildness and beauty.
I am endlessly inspired by so many gardens on instagram, and I have included a list of my top accounts to follow at the bottom of this post.
Focal Points
When planning out a garden space, it’s helpful to think about where the eye will travel and rest. Working as photo Art Director, I am looking for the sense of flow within an image, how it leads you through visually from point A to point B. In my own research on garden styles, I came across the idea of focal points in a House & Garden article - intentionally planning a focal point or several within a garden for your eye to rest. When mapping out our current garden, the two most obvious statements that draw the eye are the garden gate and the pumpkin trellis.
I wanted both to be key focal points - as you walk to the garden you are focused on the gate, and once in the garden you are captivated by the pumpkin arch. In addition to having these points of focus, I add elements to frame these focal points - marigolds beside the gate, pole beans growing up either side. Chard standing tall to the left, nasturtiums trailing to the right. Elements that add balance as well asymmetry, to keep the wildness of the space as well as the balance.
Layers of Color & Texture
This leads into how texture and color can play a big role in adding visual balance and interest to your space. I like to plant elements with different textures or colors near each other to create a visually interesting view. For example, I love planting peas or beans, zinnias and cosmos near each other - their textures are all so different, yet together feel so rich and beautiful.
I also like to play with a bit of repetition to draw your eye throughout the space - nasturtiums are my go to for this, as they are easy to add to the edge of a bed and let trail into paths for color.
Narrow Paths
I do not have much control over my width of paths currently, as I am growing in the existing bed placement from the former owners. They built the paths rather narrow, and at first I thought I would definitely want to widen them, but after spending a year in this space, I love the closeness. There is a complete enveloping that happens when paths are left more narrow, even so much so you have to step over a trailing veg. This invites exploration and being completely immersed in the space, which I do love.
Path Materials
What material you use around your beds is also key as it will affect the feel of your garden. My current garden I mulch around my beds with cedar, and in the larger areas I create paths on top of the mulch with slabs of logs. I was inspired by Breanne of Burch Acre’s garden paths, as well as her planting shed’s beautiful wood slab floor. The floor is built with large rounds of cut logs surrounded with pebbles–it is stunning. I did something similar under our pumpkins, filling the space beneath with Aspen logs from a tree we cut down, then surrounded the logs with sand. It has become one of my favorite features in our garden, providing a beautiful floor beneath the hanging squashes.
Consider plant and trellis height
For practical reasons, you will want to consider how to optimize sunlight in your garden by planting taller plants behind shorter ones, and consider how trellises and larger plants will create shade within the space throughout the day. From a design standpoint, I also want a garden that allows me to see everything in a balanced and pleasing way. I structure my full garden space with lower elements towards the center and taller elements towards the edges or back. This allows for if I sit in the center, I can look out at all plants and take them all in, without feeling like the largest plants are towering over me.
Growing vertically
I am a novice at this so far, and I am looking forward to working on creating trellises that fill with abundant produce and florals. I am planning this year to mix beans, climbing florals and squashes to create a dense and full trellis, with each plant supporting one another in how they grow. Beans fix nitrogen in the ground, florals will invite pollinators and squashes reap the benefits of both. Growing vertically adds beautiful height to your beds and if well placed, can provide shade and a place to rest during the hottest days of summer. The pumpkin trellis became this very haven, but the pumpkins left quite a few gaps in the top of the trellis. I hope to create an even denser patch of shade this summer.
Places to rest and gather
I know, not something we often think about but building in places to stop and enjoy the garden are key. Right now I have one log I move around and sit on, as well as a bench beneath the apple trees. This is the simplest way to invite gathering into your space, and give yourself a spot to stop and take it in. In future posts I will be sharing about my dream garden plans, and how I want to build it as a place to gather.
In the next installment of A Garden for Gathering, I will walk through my garden plan in depth, taking through all of the plants I am looking at filling my space with this year.
As previously mentioned, here are some of my must follow garden accounts. If you have anyone you love to follow on Substack or Instagram, please share them in the comments, I would love to follow along.
thanks for sharing your instagram favorites rachel! so timely!