Our European Inspired Garden plan.

June is in full swing and so are our outside projects. Every summer on our little farm we’ve had a big outdoor project we’ve completed. In past years we’ve cleared brush, built a chicken coop, painted our barn, built a horse fence, and last year we painted our entire house. I am so excited about this summer’s project. We really wanted to do this one last summer, but painting the house took basically the whole season and by the time it was done, so were we. We were completely out of steam and needed a break. We are expanding our current pea gravel outdoor area and creating a beautiful European inspired patio garden.

The before:

Before we get into the inspiration and plans for the space, here’s a look at the current state of the space. We’re already a week into this project so part of the work has already been done here, we’ve scalped the lawn and done some grading that needed to be done to fix some drainage issues and we’ve already built 2 of our garden boxes. You can see that this was just a sad, unused bit of space between our current outdoor area and our driveway… time to change that. We want to make the space more usable and also create better flow and functionality with our backyard.

The inspiration:

First up, the inspiration.

I have long been inspired by European gardens. I love their wild, natural beauty, the way they incorporate traditional shapes and architectural details into natural settings, and of course, their use of pea gravel. I never understood the charming delight of a pea gravel patio garden until I experienced it myself, but after having lived with one for the last 6 years, I can’t see myself ever wanting to go back. I’m so excited to expand ours.

The Plan:

Our plan is to expand our pea gravel garden from the current area (you can see it here in this post) all the way over to our driveway. We’re adding 4 large garden grow boxes using reclaimed wood 4×4’s topped with wood 2×6’s. (I plan to grow herbs, veggies and cut flowers in the garden boxes.)

We’ll be doing a stone border to create a natural edge along the pea gravel with stones sourced right from our property, and we’ll incorporate beds within the gravel patio for growing hydrangeas and other hardy perennials. We plan to add an arbor at the end of the walkway between the garden boxes and plant honeysuckle vines on each end. I will also be adding large pots around the area for a collected feel. We’ll build a screen to hide our propane tank, as well as screens for concealing our garbage cans. I would also like to incorporate a potting bench near our mudroom back door, and replace the current door with a dutch door.

I’m also considering adding a second seating area between the end of the garden boxes and our stone wall, but want see how it all comes together first. After it’s all done we’ll add garden lights and some other fun things. I’ve been dreaming of this space for several summers, and I am thrilled to see it all come together! See more inspiration below!