It's hard for me to believe, but it has already been a year and a half since we moved to Patina Farm. Now that we are settled in, Steve and I have started to dream up ideas for the rest of our property.
Although we will be dividing the work into smaller projects, we wanted to think about the entire property to conceptulaize how the different areas will eventually relate to each other.
So, on our way to Los Angeles one day, Steve and I started discussing our dreams... an art studio for Steve that could also work as an office... a larger potager with a greenhouse and a shed for extra donkey hay storage...
Here is Steve's first sketch...
Once we agreed upon the placement of the various structures, Steve created this site plan, which includes the new potager (with greenhouse and hay shed), a rose covered arched arbor walkway to the ponds, a circular lavender field, a garden folly by the pond, and the art studio.
Steve's sketch really captures the romantic/relaxed tone of the garden.
Because the area is so large, we decided to lay out the structures in the field to make sure the size and placement of each piece felt right. I know it takes a bit of imagination to picture the completed garden, but this layout was definitely helpful! Our mini donkeys, Daisy and Buttercup, are in the field to provide scale :)
This week we started on the potager...
This garden will consist of 20 raised beds, several citrus trees in barrels, the greenhouse, and the hay/garden shed. There will also be a large farm table by the tree for potting or dining.
The rose covered arched entrance will face our house.
Both the greenhouse and the shed will be raised to allow air to flow as well as to create a small porch in front of the greenhouse. Boxwood balls and a small hedge will add some green formality.
A shady outdoor room is created between the greenhouse, shed and Sycamore tree.
Chicken wire was attached to the bottom of each of the raised beds to deter the gophers.
The shed was assembled yesterday. We'll use Superdeck "Weathered Grey" stain on the Cedar so it will match the donkey house and the rest of the Cedar on our house.
Today the footings for the greenhouse were poured.
We raised the front facade of the greenhouse on a couple of bags of concrete so we could look at the final height. I think it's going to look great!
Please feel free to ask questions in the comment section of this post. This is the best place to get your questions answered...
That's it so far! You can follow me on Instagram to watch the day to day progress.
Happy Week!
xo
Brooke
