Rethinking Space

This recently designed perennial garden once was inhabited with vegetables in a past design iteration.

Outdoor spaces should always be designed to serve a certain purpose. But because life changes, somewhere down the road that particular space may no longer serve the same need. Coming to a quick conclusion of redesign makes it easier to find a new purpose for that space. 

Need a perfect example when it’s time to rethink an outdoor space? This recently designed perennial garden once was inhabited with vegetables in a past design iteration. Part of the client’s initial design criteria - that a vegetable garden be a ‘must’ in the overall master plan. But after two years of veggies in the ground, a certain reality hit big.  This alluring thought of growing vegetables wasn’t as alluring as it was in its beginning stages. The daily time commitment for a vegetable garden with an increasingly demanding schedule meant back to the drawing board with a simplistic design fix. 

The charm of creating a showcase kitchen garden plus growing your own food can win out during the early design and planning phases. Falling in love with that initial idea is quickly overturned by the deal breaker - that daily commitment during growing season. The truth about a vegetable garden - a day cannot slip by without someone’s attention to tending the crop. When that fun hobby quickly dwindles, before you know it, there’s an unkempt vegetable garden staring you in the face. The ugly doesn’t outweigh the elbow grease and work. Plain and simple –veggies are more demanding and unforgiving than perennials. 

Just a word of caution - one of the trickiest parts of maintaining a beautiful landscape, at least if you want vibrant plant life is keeping healthy and happy plants. Too often the 'wow' factor of plant materials in the ground gets trumped by aftercare. Maintaining and keeping any plant material looking fresh requires your efforts or a knowledgeable crew; it should look better than the day it went in. Perennial gardens, even the best of the native layouts should not be confused with ‘maintenance-free’. But when compared to a vegetable garden, especially an eye-catching one, well, you get the drift. Kitchen gardens can turn unattractive very quickly if it doesn’t receive daily care and upkeep. 

When you tackle your outdoor rooms, the possibilities can be endless. But don’t fret if there’s a part of your landscape where a particular space no longer serves the same need. Come to a quick conclusion - it’s just time to rethink your space.

© Copyright note: this image & design have been developed by and is the property of Bilowz Associates Inc. and should not be reproduced in any manner nor are they to be assigned to any third party without the expressed written permission and consent of Bilowz Associates Inc.

If you like this blog, check in for your daily share's worth of garden inspiration, landscape architecture and design tips; always original, not cookie cutter and copied. Just like our design work, we strive for unique! We invite you to contact Bilowz Associates, Inc., or to browse our portfolios. Like our Facebook follow on Twitter or subscribe to the blog to receive posts daily via email or a feed. You can follow with visuals on Pinterest and find us on LinkedIn and Houzz, too.  And you can also find us back on our Google+ Business Page. (Landscape architects/Landscape Design/serving Massachusetts and New England.)