by Gloria Ballard | Mar 5, 2023
Wouldn’t it be nice if, on a cold winter afternoon or a cool early-spring evening, you could gather with friends in your own back yard around a crackling fire? If that sounds like an ideal way to enjoy the outdoors, then a firepit can be your answer.
But what kind of firepit? How big should it be? How will you use it? Where will it fit in your backyard landscape? These are among the questions to consider when you begin to plan for that addition to your landscape design, says Gardens of Babylon landscape designer Mike Omar.
Gas or Wood Firepit?
“The first thing I ask a client is if they prefer a gas or wood-burning firepit, and I would say that 70 percent want gas now,” Omar says, noting that the advantage of gas is the immediate gratification of turning on the fire when you’re ready for it, and turning it off when you’re done with it – no after-fire cleanup involved. A wood-burning firepit requires more set-up time, using starter logs and adding wood as it burns to keep the fire going.
A custom designed gas firepit requires extra considerations, of course. The gas company taps into the home’s gas line to connect to a fireplace insert; the landscape building crew then builds a block or other veneer around the insert. “That, plus other considerations – if the insert uses lava rock or broken glass for the base of the fire, for example – that will drive how we want to design a firepit,” Omar says.
It’s important to consider how much time you plan to spend around the fire, as well, and at what temperature. A gas firepit will produce a cozy fire on a cool evening, but it won’t produce nearly as much heat as a woodburning firepit. “A gas firepit will be minimally warm, but if we get down to 18 degrees, a gas fire is not going to put out enough heat to stay cozy and warm for long.”
And if you’re planning to use the firepit for an occasional cookout, keep in mind that you can’t cook on a gas firepit, but you can cook over a wood fire, Omar says.
Consider Your Style
The style of a firepit or fireplace reflects your personality – in other words, the choices are endless! Round, square or rectangular, stone, brick or steel are all design and material options for this landscape feature.
“You will want it to be architecturally cohesive with the house or outdoor living space,” Omar believes. “The shape is an individual design decision.” In general, a square firepit is more in tune with a contemporary or modern design, he says. “In a more traditional design, it’s usually round, which has a little more movement to it.”
A custom, built-from-scratch stone firepit starts with a concrete base. “We go on the outside with cinder block, and veneer outside that is either brick or stone, with a cap on top of that. Inside is all fire brick,” Omar says.
Is Bigger Better?
The size of a firepit can be determined by the space available in your landscape and the crowd you expect to gather around it. A smaller option would most likely be a pit that’s 30 inches across, which would keep four or five people seated around it comfortably warm. A 48-inch firepit, which can accommodate a circle of eight to ten people, lends itself to entertaining larger crowds. Omar says.
You will also want to map out the seating around the fire. A designer can incorporate a seat wall three to four feet away from the firepit, leaving space for Adirondack chairs or other seating options. “Generally speaking, you need at least a four-foot radius around the whole firepit for seating,” Omar says. “With the firepit, by the time you add the seating around it, you generally need about 120 square feet of space.”
Size may also dictate placement in the landscape. The firepit can be part of the hardscape in a patio design, or farther away from the house. “It can be cool and natural out in the yard, maybe on a crushed stone base, with seating boulders,” for example. “You can create that space in a lot of different ways.”
To discuss ways to include a firepit or fireplace in your landscape design plans, book a consultation with a Gardens of Babylon landscape design team professional here.
by Gloria Ballard | Feb 20, 2023
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Gardening friends, Spring is right around the corner. It will soon be time to pull on your garden gloves and get your hands in the dirt.
Can’t wait? Here is a handful of ways to get you primed for the next good garden season:
Plan your veggie beds:
If you grow a kitchen garden, now is the time to think about what you’ll grow this year. Start with the cool-season crops — lettuce, spinach, cabbage, kale, turnips, carrots – and plan for planting your warm-season favorites when the time is right.
Prep your raised beds:
Those who garden in raised beds know how much easier it is to maintain a kitchen garden:
- The soil in a raised bed warms up earlier in the spring.
- Raised beds drain quickly when it rains.
- The beds grow more food in less space.
- Weed control is easier in a raised bed than in a traditional in-ground garden plot.
Or if you don’t have a raised bed:
Now, before the season kicks into full gear, is a good time to build one. The Garden Center at Gardens of Babylon has everything you need: cedar boards and raised bed kits, along with the soil and plants (in the appropriate season) to fill them and the tools you need to plant and tend to your new garden beds.
No time to DIY? Consider a “Personal Farmer”:
Gardens of Babylon’s Personal Farmer service makes growing food easier, says landscape designer Chloe Barrett. “We offer everything necessary to have a successful home garden, from raised bed design and installation, filling your beds with premium compost, to planning, installing, and maintaining your vegetables for you,” she explains. “We also offer organic fertilization and pest control for the home garden.”
Start seeds indoors:
The time to start seedlings indoors depends on plants’ individual growth rates and the recommended dates in your area for putting plants in the ground. To figure the seed-starting date, start with the recommended planting time, calculate the plant’s germination and growing time (often noted on the seed package), and count back the required number of weeks to reach the date for starting the seeds. A plastic seed-starting tray with a cover, peat or coir pots or seed-starting kits make the job easier, but you can use almost any container that can have drainage holes punched in the bottom.
A light potting mix, plenty of bright light – natural or supplemental – and gentle watering are the secrets to success for starting seeds indoors.
Give perennial beds a head start:
The perennials that star in your garden will be coming up soon (if they haven’t already started), so make sure those beds are in good shape. Clear out any unwanted wildflowers (aka “weeds”), prune shrubs as needed appropriate (but not the azaleas or other early-flowering shrubs!), cut back monkey grass and other ornamental grasses before new growth begins. Tidy up the beds with fresh edging and mulch. Check the mulch around shrubs and trees and add more if needed – but don’t pile that mulch up around the trunks. Fertilize perennials, trees and shrubs as needed.
Get your tools ready:
If you haven’t already done this, start by cleaning last year’s muck off your trowels, pruners and weeders, rakes, shovels and hoes. Remove any rust with a wire brush, and lubricate any moving parts with household oil. Clean wooden handles with a stiff brush, and sand down any splinters. Store tools out of the weather, and they’ll be ready to begin the gardening season when you are.
Ready to start your raised bed gardens? To book a consultation with a Gardens of Babylon pro or to learn more about Gardens of Babylon’s Personal Farmer service, click here. For all services available, visit the Gardens of Babylon website.
by Gloria Ballard | Feb 13, 2023
Families are spending more time outdoors, and landscape designers know that every homeowner’s idea of the perfect outdoor environment is unique. We asked Gardens of Babylon designer Ryan Fogartyto tell us about her most memorable project of 2020:
At home in the woods
The owners of this home on a large lot in West Meade struggled with a serious drainage problem. “Every time it rained, the backyard turned into mud,” says Ryan Fogarty. “This was their biggest gripe.” They also wanted to have a place that felt inviting, where they and their kids could entertain, and they needed more privacy, and for multiple places to entertain that felt connected, she says.
What was the biggest challenge? “The water issue,” Ryan says. They discovered that there are several natural springs on the property; no wonder it was always wet back there! A swale lined with river rocks was the best solution. “That was the biggest constraint of the whole project, making sure we built it to work.” Ryan says. “We did a lot of grading, so that when it rains, the water is all directed into the swale. We brought in a ton of soil!”
Beyond that, the homeowners asked for other improvements. “When we came in, the only thing they had was landscaping in the front and an existing patio in the back,” Ryan says. Her design called for enhancing the front landscaping and adding a flagstone walkway from the driveway around to the back patio. In the back, they built brick raised planters, painted to match the house. “The back of the house was so tall, the raised planters gave a better sense of scale,” she explains.
A feature that was added midway through the project: a separate patio with a rustic firepit and a seat wall, situated away from the house. “It gives a feeling of being in the woods,” Ryan says. A large piece of flagstone placed over the sunken swale serves as a bridge near the site of the firepit patio.
Originally, the lot was enclosed by a chain link fence. Gardens of Babylon worked with Titan Fence to remove and replace it with tall wood fencing.
What do you think is the best feature? “I really like the offset patio in the back, the firepit patio,” Ryan says. “It’s in a great location, which helps keeps the natural feel. I think it turned out really nice.” She is also pleased with the raised brick planters. “I like the transformation that it gave to the existing patio. It completely changed the whole look,” she says. “It’s something small that gives a big impact.”
Do you plan to upgrade your outdoor spaces in 2021? Click here to book a consultation with a member of Gardens of Babylon’s landscape design team.
by Gloria Ballard | Jan 30, 2023
Start planning your garden, or let us do it for you!
On days when the temperature struggles to get above freezing, it may feel like warmer weather is in some far-off future. Rest assured, though, that gardening days will return soon.
Meanwhile, if you have an established kitchen garden or are a newbie considering growing food for the first time, take advantage of these next few weeks to plan for it.
Gardens of Babylon’s “personal farmer” service makes it even easier, says landscape designer Chloe Barrett. “We offer everything necessary to have a successful home garden, from raised bed design and installation, filling your beds with premium compost, to planning, installing, and maintaining your vegetables for you,” she explains. “We also offer organic fertilization and pest control for the home garden.”
If you’re more the DIY type, the Garden Center at Gardens of Babylon has everything you need to build your own raised beds. Cedar boards and raised bed kits, along with the soil and plants (in the appropriate season) to fill them and the tools you need to plant and tend to your new garden beds are available in-store and online.
Advantages of raised bed gardens
Years ago, when I was too busy to take care of a garden but wanted a garden anyway, I discovered the advantage of growing the food plants in raised beds:
- The soil in a raised bed warms up earlier in the spring.
- Raised beds drain quickly when it rains.
- The beds grow more food in less space.
- Weed control is easier in a raised bed than in a traditional in-ground garden plot.
Now I grow herbs, lettuce, peppers, tomatoes and other food in the raised beds in my backyard garden each year.
Raised bed basics: How, where and when?
One significant advantage is that you can improve the condition of the soil more easily in the concentrated area of a raised garden bed. It’s especially good for gardeners whose ground is heavy clay; the soil in the raised bed can easily be made more friable, better for growing food.
Expert gardeners agree that the best raised beds can be as long as you want them, but the width should be no more than four feet, which allows you to comfortably reach the center of the bed from either side without stepping into the bed and compacting the soil.
Most food plants, especially summer vegetables such as tomatoes and peppers, grow best in full sun, so plan to position the beds where they can get direct sunlight at least six hours a day. If you already have beds in position, it’s easy now to prepare them for spring planting; if you are looking at raised beds in your future, preparing them now assures that they will be ready when it’s time to begin planting in spring.
What can you grow in raised beds?
From the U.T. Extension Service (and personal experience), I know that beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and all types of herbs do well in raised beds. Tomatoes and cucumbers grow better when they are allowed to grow up, supported with stakes or cages, and now allowed to sprawl.
Unless the bed is extra deep, corn is not a good choice, as it needs to be well-anchored – though I have seen corn growing in a couple of community garden raised beds where it did well (until the raccoons found it!).
Large, sprawling plants such as melons and pumpkins will quickly take over a bed, so those giants are more suitable for larger garden spaces. Smaller sprawlers, such as summer and winter squashes, may be easier to keep in the boundaries, but be aware that they, too, can overrun other plants when conditions are right and they are allowed to sprawl. You may be able to train them upward on a trellis.
Raised beds also make it easier to interplant vegetables; radishes and lettuce can grow early in spring in between spaces where tomatoes and other larger vegetables will be planted later. The early vegetables will mature and can be removed before the larger plants need the space.
You can also grow a single perennial crop, such as strawberries or asparagus, in raised beds. The most efficient raised gardens are well-fertilized, watered and kept filled with growing plants from early spring through late fall.
Ready to start your raised bed gardens? To book a consultation with a Gardens of Babylon, click here. For all services available, visit the Gardens of Babylon website.
by Gloria Ballard | Jan 15, 2023
As any writer or artist knows, when you start with a blank page or a clean canvas, anything is possible. That’s also what happens with a landscape design that starts from scratch. The owners of this home in West Nashville had ideas for what they wanted, and called on the Gardens of Babylon team to bring it to life.
“I really enjoyed working on this project,” says designer Matt Kerske. “The owner was excited about the plan we proposed, and was happy with the way everything turned out.”
We asked Kerske to give details on the success and challenge of this custom design:
What did the homeowners want? “They were looking for better ways to utilize the backyard,” Kerske says. “They could envision a space where they could relax and enjoy sitting and visiting with friends and family.” The wish list included a seating area protected from the elements, and a gazebo was the natural choice.
What was the biggest challenge? “The backyard was nothing but grass. It was a blank slate,” the designer says. Building the gazebo that suited their needs was key.
The 15×15-foot square structure, built primarily of western cedar, is a clean-lined, contemporary design with a crushed granite gravel floor and a gabled roof. Trellis panels at each corner provide a sense of enclosure and privacy without shutting out the outdoors, and a ceiling fan installed inside the peak of the roof stirs the breeze in summer. The homeowners furnished the gazebo with comfortable seating, making it suitable for a cozy gathering of friends or a quiet outdoor getaway.
What do you think is the best feature? Besides the gazebo, the overall design called for a backyard landscape makeover, Kerske says. “It’s a mix of native plantings: oakleaf hydrangeas, encore azaleas and a sweet bay magnolia tree.” The plantings are in beds that flank the back yard along new pine fencing that was part of the design, and in a gracefully curved bed between the house and the gazebo. Large flagstone stepping stones lead from the home’s backyard deck to the gazebo.
“The gazebo is what really brings it all together,” Kerske says. “The owner gets really good enjoyment from the new backyard feature.
Do you plan to upgrade your outdoor spaces in 2022? Click here to book a consultation with a member of Gardens of Babylon’s landscape design team.
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