Don't you hate that- old blogs just drifting through cyberspace? I check in from time to time here but if you want to stay current you can find me at my website americanpotager.com Cheers.
sometimes I write fiction
Here is a photo of one of the watercolors in my new book, The Kitchen Gardener's Handbook. It's a bird's eye view of a front yard edible and seasonal garden- in summer. One of many in the book. The paintings illustrate how the garden shifts through the year and one season is highlighted in each chapter.
When I drew up the plan I carefully selected edible and non-edible flowering shrubs and perennials that will provide bouquets for the table or something to nibble on every day of the year. The planting plans are quite detailed and are in the book- oodles of them, so you can use them to create your own garden.
When I drew up the plan... there was no garden. It was a figment of my imagination coupled with a desire to showcase such gems as Tiki Torch coneflower or Henry Eilers sweet coneflower and to mix them up with rhubarb, espaliered apple trees and peonies. Most of what I do is fiction... until we build the garden.
evolution of a book title part deux
This post could also probably be called evolution of a book cover because until the book is released in the fall it could change. For now this is the version that is on Workman's website. The title, in fact, has changed since my conviction that it would be called Kitchen Garden Companion. Handbook sounds a little more handy, useful and of course, indispensable. It's a book you'll take with you when you design your kitchen garden then plant, harvest, cook and eat.
evolution of a book title
My second book will be published by Timber Press and is set to be released in the fall of 2010. The truth is the book has been in my brain since the release of Designing the New Kitchen Garden. The topics of design, kitchen gardens, flowers, and things to eat are never far from my mind. So for the last year some portion of my days have been spent planting, harvesting, cooking, painting, photographing and eating some concoction from my garden.
The concept for the book was clear from the beginning- to inspire a lifestyle connected to the garden. It's a design book, a cookbook and a how-to garden book set up by seasons so it's clear what to plant and harvest spring, summer, fall and winter. My goal is to demonstrate how plants can be used to create space, attract beneficial insects, provide food and something to cut for the vase throughout the year. It stems from my belief that simplicity is often the most beautiful.
The working title for the book was Seasonal Harvest which does sum up the topic well. The title has been through a number of iterations since then. The goal of every publisher and author is to sell books and the title selection is part of that business. It's been a surprising lesson for me to think that important people have been sitting in a room hashing out my book title. Let me share some of their brain storms. The first was The Home Gardener's Four-Season Table: Harvesting, Cooking, and Decorating from a Well-Designed Garden. Way too wordy. Two other similar titles evolved- The Homegrown Table: Gardening, Harvesting and Cooking with the Seasons and The Gardener's Bounty: Growing, Cooking and Decorating with the Seasons. The current title has morphed into, The Kitchen Garden Companion: Growing, Harvesting, Cooking and Decorating Year-Round. Have I confused you? Keep it simple and call it, The Kitchen Garden Companion. This is all subject to change. We'll know when it hits the shelves.
gate details for the potager
I have been working on an estate project in the south for a while now. I couldn't have imagined two years ago that my reply to an e-mail would blossom into the creation of a significant garden. "Do you travel to design gardens?" was the simple question that has led to a partnership with the owner in creating a series of outdoor garden rooms with edible and mixed perennial and shrub borders. American Potager, LLC created the master plan for the site, the detailed planting plan and designed the walls, arbors and gates. Local craftsman have built the gates, the custom bronze hardware and the ball-bearing hinges to support the massive weight. A local contractor has been remarkable in implementing the design.
Last week I was on site as we installed phase one of the planting plan. When the boxwood hedge was planted in the potager I couldn't help smiling. This new garden looked as if it had been there for a long time.
green walls
I have been mulling over a design problem for a while now. We have been designing an estate garden in the south. The client has a brick colonial home and we are incorporating a formal potager with shrub and perennial borders. We are locating the greenhouse and designing the walls, fences, gates, storage buildings and compost bins. It is a tricky site and one of the issues has been how to screen the property while maintaining the formality, attention to detail and aesthetic we have created on the rest of the site.
In an odd triangle of left over space we have created a green triangle room. These are the conceptual drawings from my sketchbook of this vision. The green room will truly be a secret garden with two entrances. The tall wood gates will need to be wide enough for a wheelbarrow to pass through yet solid like a door to screen views. Inside the green room will be the double compost bin. The green room is adjacent to the kitchen garden and will be a work room to support the edible garden.
I have decided on two types of evergreens for two different areas. The green triangle room needs a plant that that can be sheared into a dense, formal evergreen hedge maintained at a height of eight to ten feet. Prunus caroliniana 'Monus' or Bright 'n tight Carolina cherry laurel is a cultivar that is narrower than the species and will be ideal. It's also native to the southeast and has small black cherries to attract birds. This green hedge will join another hedge planted along the property line for privacy. I have decided on a very reliable holly, Ilex x 'Nellie R. Stevens'. Nellie R. Stevens holly will provide the height needed for this part of the wall. It eventually will grow twenty feet high to block out the views into the neighbors property. This hedge will also be sheered to create a formal green background. This part of the wall is meant to be a backdrop for the dogwoods, flowering shrubs and perennials that will be planted in front of it.
my office overlooks the kitchen garden
So now you see it. I have taken over the dining room. My sons took over my office as they temporarily moved in, then moved out... leaving their belongings, clothes and boxes. Do you have grown children? So, I gathered and moved my work space to the place in my house that has the best light and still overlooks the garden.
The book that I am currently working on for Timber Press, Seasonal Harvest, is a monumental project of writing, photography and watercolor painting. It's much easier for me to work in a visual way- that is, everything I need in plain view; I've strung up the photos across the window for sorting, organizing and inspiration. Here are some of the images from the Fall chapter. I took the photo just before dusk last night. It's a great way to work. I'm smiling as I type.
