LANDSCAPES : Turn a Tiny Backyard Into a Private Oasis
Whether your outdoor space is attached to an urban condo or a suburban dwelling, a pretty and comfortable garden can provide an oasis of civility, a place to refresh mind and body, soul and eye.
Here are some of the simple ways we’ve seen homeowners give character to the small, blank rectangles most started with:
* Tiny fountains. In one garden, a half whiskey barrel is filled with a liner and a little bubbler-type fountain. It has rocks, plants and even a couple of goldfish.
* Arbors. One enterprising homeowner uses copper tubing to make an arbor of arches from the side of the house to the fence on the other side of a narrow areaway. He is training vines on the pipes, but in the meantime they’re decorated with strings of tiny white lights.
* Tiny fences. A garden uses an ornate wrought-iron gate opening into a square rose garden. The owner said he cut it down from a piece of fencing left over from the front walk.
* Raised beds. In a yard with a paved back yard, raised beds are used to provide an environment for plants. Tall beds were 2 1/2 to three feet off the ground, and short ones as tall as one railroad tie.
* Brick patios or walkways. In one long yard, there are two paths: a straight one that follows the fence to the back gate, and a curvy one that wanders between wide border beds. The meandering path makes the garden seem much larger.
Garden projects are among the easiest and most rewarding you can undertake. Even an element as dramatic as a pond, if you have space for it, is remarkably easy. You can buy a rigid black plastic liner and dig a hole to fit it, or you can dig a free-form space and fit it with a flexible liner. (Just be sure the liner is big enough to cover the excavation.) Add a plant step about nine inches from the top, if you’re planning to add water plants.
Line the excavation with damp sand, drape the liner over it, and place bricks or stones around the edge to anchor it. Gradually fill with water, adjusting the bricks as the liner sinks to fit the contours of the pond. Trim the liner, leaving about six inches to fit under the edging. Flat stones are the traditional edging, but bricks will also work.
Brick walks and patios are also easy to build.
As with ponds, the hardest part is the digging. Mark the sides of the path or patio, and excavate about six inches. It’s best to install a permanent edge; you can use a pressure-treated 2-by-6, held in place by stakes driven below ground level, or you can use concrete and pour permanent sides and bottoms.
If you’re not using concrete, put two inches of sand in the bottom of the excavation and tamp it down (you can buy or rent a hand tamper). Level it a brick’s depth below the top of the edging (about three inches), using a board notched on each end to ride on the edging. (For a large space such as a patio, level with the longest board you can comfortably use; check for level by placing a level on the edge of the board at intervals.)
Deciding what pattern to lay the brick in is one of the fun parts of the job--will it be straight, herringbone, diagonal herringbone, lattice or something of your own invention? Just be sure to use a brick that is designed for paving. Some old bricks aren’t glazed and will crack and crumble. Tamp the bricks into the sand with a board and fill the gaps with more sand.
Some people line the excavation with black plastic sheeting to keep weeds from growing between the bricks. The walk may still need occasional weeding, and because it’s set in sand, it will move with the heaving of the earth, so you may have to reset a brick every now and then. A concrete foundation will offer a relatively weed-free and perfectly level surface, but it’s a lot more work, more expensive, and it won’t have the handmade charm of the sand.
