Gardening From the Kitchen Table
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| Photo Credit: ©Pennystone Gardens |
| Kitchen table gardening requires just a few tools and your imagination. |
Winter weather might be dreary, but it’s still a great time for gardening. Even when snow covers your yard and you’re stuck inside, you can design your landscape from the comfort of your kitchen table. It’s inexpensive, fun – and you won’t even get dirty!
Once the “outdoor” season gets into gear, there’s just too much on the to-do list. So the deep winter, right after the bustle of the holidays, is the ideal time to plot and plan, scheme and dream – and most of all learn. Focus your imagination on improvements you’d like to make or plants you’d like to add to your yard. Learning about gardening never ends. If you’re a newcomer to this popular pastime, rest assured that thousands and thousands of seasoned gardeners are spending their winter months doing this very thing: kitchen table gardening. | Add Photo to Journal |  | | Photo Credit: ©Pennystone Gardens | | We had fun last year rearranging this garden bed from sketches we made the previous winter. |
Personally, I find that a pot coffee and plenty of cookies make a nice accompa-
niment to my winter gardening tools: a pad of graph paper, a short ruler, sharp pencils and a nice table with room to spread out. Graph paper comes in handy because it keeps layout concepts in relative scale – especially if you’ve got a detailed plan of your property showing buildings, walks, driveways and other major features like trees. Just trace a copy of that plan, then outline key features with a felt-tip pen. Slip this copy under a sheet of graph paper and easily transfer those features to working drawings. Now, scribble away to your imagination’s delight!
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| Tips |
- Design fearlessly, and don’t worry about having to make changes later. Almost anything can be accomplished in a garden, and the best gardens are constantly adjusted for new ideas and inspirations.
- If time, budget or uncertainty is an issue, try to break your garden plan down into easy-to-manage stages. Take one stage at a time until you’ve reached a limit, then enjoy what you’ve accomplished.
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| Faqs |
- Q: How do I plan my garden around my rambunctious kids and dog?
A: Stake out a spot that’s not in their line of fire and claim it for your own to create that special retreat. The most intriguing gardens are small in size but big in satisfaction – and affordable, too! - Q: What’s a good way to measure my property accurately?
A: If you don’t have one of those huge tapes to measure your property, just grab a 50-foot clothesline and tie string markers on it at 5- or 10-foot intervals. Then enlist the kids as helpers so you can transfer distances accurately to a piece of graph paper.
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| Resources |
- Looking for some inspiration? Visit public gardens and arboretums to see how the pros do it. Also check in with garden clubs – they often have tours to show off what their members have created. Don’t be bashful – gardeners love to share!
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