Inner West courtyard
Courtyard garden for a Melbourne apartment. This is a small Melbourne apartment, our client was overlooking a very bland concrete yard and fence. The brief was to create a garden view, lush and full to look at from the living room window.
We also needed to include some outdoor storage, shade from the hot western sun, and incorporate vegies and herbs. The challenge was to create this from a completely concreted space (no bare soil in sight) and very limited access.
The result is a raised freestanding garden bed that includes outdoor storage. The fence will be softened with a mix of Chinese Star Jasmine on very simple mesh screens, and espaliered lemon trees on wire. In a year or 2 the fence will be covered. Crepe Myrtle ‘Zuni’ will create a small tree canopy to add to the view and provide summer shade. The garden beds have been filled out with herbs, both for eating (of course!) and for decoration. Perennial spinach, much to our clients delight, lines the back of the main bed, Italian parsley will fill out the shady corner, thyme and oregano will spill over the front and soften the raised wall.
We managed to carry all the materials through the apartment, with the exception of the storage cupboard which came over the back fence (great neighbours).
Small Spaces was born from living in many small Melbourne flats and houses from Carnegie and St Kilda, then over the river to Flemington, and eventually Coburg. We live in small spaces, we understand the limitations and the possibilities.
