A kitchen garden is something I have been dreaming of for years and years, and years. I have so many beautiful coffee table books filled with image after image of incredible kitchen gardens that i've taken inspiration from, and my outdoor pintrest board currently has over 1200 inspiration pins. I cannot tell you how many times I have sat down to map and draw out my dream garden. I think it changes every single time.
Last Friday we started the task of putting up the fence to go around our kitchen garden. It made it feel more real to see the space we have set out and allocated for growing. We originally had plans to paint the fence black, but i think we've decided to keep it the raw wood, knowing it will eventually age to a weather grey colour.
Ben also put up the archway leading into the patch, this is made from old wharf timber that came off a construction site in Melbourne. We LOVE old beams and have big plans for them inside our rammed earth farmhouse when we eventually start to build, so it was only fitting that the beams in the kitchen garden tie back in with this look. (We also have some of these beams out over the outdoor area at the barn, we have Autumn glory vines potted that will eventually grow over the top of these to create a garden canopy between the posts)
Another weathered element we are looking to somehow incorporate into the patch is these massive old rusted ceiling beams that lived in our neighbours yard for a very long time. Before he bought the land, the previous owers loved to collect all sorts of random crap, old rusted out chevy utes, and to our advantage, ceiling beams! Luckily one day we were chatting to him when he told us he was about to take a heap of "junk" to the scrappos, we pounced and asked if we could have the beams, which he happily agreed to get rid of right then and there. We dragged them across the fence line and hid them down in our gum trees where they have been sitting for a few years, waiting for us to decide what the hell we are actually going to use them for. We have 4 of the beams, they are roughly 8M wide and 2/3M tall and we think we will get tall rusted legs made up to match them and use them to create a canopy of sorts over the central area of the bottom tier of the garden.
No matter how many times I map, and re map out our dream garden, a few things always remain consistent.
1. THERE MUST BE A GLASSHOUSE
I have always always dreamed of having a glasshouse, and not just any glasshouse, it must be large enough to have a table inside I can host long lunches on (but of course), a few of my favourite inspiration shots are below. I am very lucky to have a handy man friend who has always said that one day he would build one as a gift, that day is finally approaching!
2. THERE MUST BE A CHICKEN HOUSE
I bake a-lot. I also eat a-lot of eggs, I think everyone does. I dont think any garden looks complete without a few chooks and ducks grazing through the rambling garden beds. I have big plans for araucana chickens, because they lay the prettiest pastel blue coloured eggs of all time. (My mum and I were chatting the other day, and we came to the conclusion I was the only person I know who gives a shit about the pantone colour swatch of the egg shells that come out of my chickens asses) - trust me, it will be worth it when my rainbow abundance of eggs finally graces my kitchen bench.
3. THERE MUST BE ROSES AND PEONY'S.
I love roses, but my favourite flower of all time is the peony, particularly coral charms. Some of you may or may not know that I run an event styling business, and a-lot of my work is floristry. I taught myself the art a few years ago, and love putting together beautiful blooms for all my events. Out of all the rose varieties, David Austin garden roses are my favourites, there is something so old worldly about them. I think sprawling rose bushes make a garden feel as though its been there for years. This weekend I ordered 40 different varieties of climbing roses from Treolar roses (all of which you can see mapped out below). We plan to put them the whole way around the garden fence, eventually they will crawl up and throughout the fence-line and create an abundance of sweet smells and colour. I had an absolute field day spending hours choosing my favourites. The one i'm most looking forward blooming is called Pierre De Ronsard - I ordered extra of this one and plan to have it grow over the archway gate leading into garden.
4. THERE MUST BE A SHIT TONNE OF PLANTING SPACE
I cannot wait to grow food of all sorts. I cant say i've ever done it, but I am itching to get started. I cant wait to turn tomatoes into passata, apples into pies, cucumbers into pickles, pumpkins into soup - you name it, I have plans for it. And before you all shut me down and tell me its a-lot of work, I know it is, but i've never been afraid of a challenge. Apart from meat and dairy.... and wine and chocolate, one day I dream of being self sustainable. We are completely off grid here at Laycock Farm, we run off tank and bore water, and we have absolutely no access to mains power. We have a very large solar power system installed on the roof of our barn which powders the entire property by the sun. Its important to me to try and tread lightly on the world, and I would love to see how close we could get to being completely self reliant on the land.
A pipe dream it is, but I truely hope this garden to fill our lives with beauty, lots of colour, lots of fresh, beautiful organic produce, and lots of time in the kitchen together, teaching our kids about food, creating, laughing and loving the life we have made for ourselves.
Tell me, what is it you dream of when the world goes quiet?
L xx
Good on you, many people will say it’s too hard or a waste of time if you can ‘just buy it’ but it is well worth it. Focus on what you eat and what grows well. Learn and plan to preserve, plan your garden on what you’ll need preserved and fresh. Gardens constantly evolve and gardeners never stop learning. Don’t let your failures put you off. Try Homesteading Family for food preservation... Carolyn really knows her stuff and how to teach it.