Re: Plants and gardening happiness
Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2011 10:04 pm
heh, I was trying to see what I would do with your list of dream features:
-a kitchen built outside for canning: I figured I'd think having a triple sink in close proximity to the greenhouse would come in plenty helpful, it'd be better if it had running water anyway, so attaching the kitchen thereunto seemed like a good idea.
-lots of room for fruit trees and garden and a flower garden that you can walk through with benches: getting placement of trees without shadowing flowers would be interesting. I allocated the eastern third of the yard to flowers and garden path, also a streamlet that would double as irrigation for fruit trees and garden if worked properly.
-a yard big enough for croquet: a professional croquet court is 84'x105', which is .2 acre in and of itself. I scaled it back to 2/3 size, put the greenhouse in one corner (assuredly not going to go glass now!) and allowed some of the trees to encroach on the bottom. Croquet is free-form enough to allow for such modifications, methinks.
-a greenhouse big enough for a banana tree: the area I cordoned off as greenhouse was 12'x24', big enough to segment into at least two different temperature zones, but I'm not so sure I'd want the kitchen in the greenhouse, and building an inside corner is a bit wasteful when dealing with greenhouses.
-I also need a rooftop garden there: this one I couldn't really come to terms with. I'm from areas with significant snow loads; flat roofs aren't much of an option. So I figured I'd meet you halfway, I'd build a deck and have half of it as a raised garden area, with a significant water feature on the far end, spilling over to a koi pond giving you your
-waterfall. yay!
-(ability to) host all our kids' wedding receptions in our gorgeously landscaped backyard. I re-landscaped a yard for a wedding reception and loved the look of a cobblestone path leading to a gazebo, so threw one in among the flowergarden/strem/trail. Not sure how good such a layout would be for hosting larger gatherings, but there it is.
I've been considering buying or building for some time myself, so figured I'd do well to take the time to see how well I could plan out your dream yard and price it out. (I'd considered doing a house plan too, as I also have a penchant for libraries and hidden passageways, if not rooms. That will have to wait for another day, alas.)
Oh, and with a 2880 sq foot housing footprint and 20 ft of front yard, the total acreage comes to .35
-a kitchen built outside for canning: I figured I'd think having a triple sink in close proximity to the greenhouse would come in plenty helpful, it'd be better if it had running water anyway, so attaching the kitchen thereunto seemed like a good idea.
-lots of room for fruit trees and garden and a flower garden that you can walk through with benches: getting placement of trees without shadowing flowers would be interesting. I allocated the eastern third of the yard to flowers and garden path, also a streamlet that would double as irrigation for fruit trees and garden if worked properly.
-a yard big enough for croquet: a professional croquet court is 84'x105', which is .2 acre in and of itself. I scaled it back to 2/3 size, put the greenhouse in one corner (assuredly not going to go glass now!) and allowed some of the trees to encroach on the bottom. Croquet is free-form enough to allow for such modifications, methinks.
-a greenhouse big enough for a banana tree: the area I cordoned off as greenhouse was 12'x24', big enough to segment into at least two different temperature zones, but I'm not so sure I'd want the kitchen in the greenhouse, and building an inside corner is a bit wasteful when dealing with greenhouses.
-I also need a rooftop garden there: this one I couldn't really come to terms with. I'm from areas with significant snow loads; flat roofs aren't much of an option. So I figured I'd meet you halfway, I'd build a deck and have half of it as a raised garden area, with a significant water feature on the far end, spilling over to a koi pond giving you your
-waterfall. yay!
-(ability to) host all our kids' wedding receptions in our gorgeously landscaped backyard. I re-landscaped a yard for a wedding reception and loved the look of a cobblestone path leading to a gazebo, so threw one in among the flowergarden/strem/trail. Not sure how good such a layout would be for hosting larger gatherings, but there it is.
I've been considering buying or building for some time myself, so figured I'd do well to take the time to see how well I could plan out your dream yard and price it out. (I'd considered doing a house plan too, as I also have a penchant for libraries and hidden passageways, if not rooms. That will have to wait for another day, alas.)
Oh, and with a 2880 sq foot housing footprint and 20 ft of front yard, the total acreage comes to .35