#6 Did You Make Your Garden All at Once?

20 Common Questions about my Immersive Garden

The Cottage Garden and Pergola Walk in 2024 at Havenwood

“Whatever is foreseen in joy

Must be lived out from day to day,

Vision held open in the dark

By our ten thousand days of work…”

🌿 Wendell Berry, Sabbath poems from 1979, X

Welcome back to my series on some common questions that people ask about our intensive, immersive garden in northwestern Pennsylvania zone 5. Today we will talk about how we worked at our garden making:

#6 Did You Make Your Garden All at Once?

Long-term vision

My garden, Havenwood, is located in northwestern Pennsylvania, zone 5/6. It is one-acre divided into many different garden rooms with an emphasis on creating different growing conditions so that I can grow a large diversity of plant types. Successional planting means there always something interesting going on, even when our snowy winter weather (like this year!) lasts for many months.

But how did we create this one-acre garden in Pennsylvania?

Did we make this garden all at once?

We have made all of the gardens at Havenwood one puzzle piece at a time over the last decade. While considering the whole, and working towards the best ecological and economic decisions, we have cut down our mowed area from a full acre of lawn to just a few paths and a rectangular patch in the back for croquet.

Though ecological choices can be expensive in the wider economy, I find that on a domestic level, they can be very affordable! If you are lacking in funds then you are ready to make a truly great garden that will be good for the environment too.

The key is to slow down…

Gardens at Havenwood: the Long Border, the Entry Garden, the Pond & Potting Shed, St Francis' Garden, the Cottage Garden, and the Kitchen Garden. 2024