The specific dilemma that's been plaguing me the last few days is what to do with our garage. We have a detached, one-car garage that sits about 8 feet from the back of our house. This means it also sits in what is essentially the middle of our back-yard. GOOD PLANNING CONTRACTORS OF 1941! Wasn't this right around the time of the victory garden? Didn't ya think people would want to use their yard? Actually, I'm sure they had a logical reason for putting it there, but it's not a logical reason any more. So, there we were, brand-spankin-new home-owners with a 70 year old house, a brand new furnace and detached garage in a horrible location. Thankfully we were six weeks away from the wedding and due to the aforementioned house purchase had about $.47 between the two of us. Busy and broke, we didn't have time or the money to think about what to do with the garage project, so it was happily shelved for the duration of 2010. Post wedding and for the duration of the fall it was the "ahh-we're newlyweds and so happy phase" so there was no thought about the garage, then it was winter in the NW and it RAINED and RAINED and then it was Christmas so we again postponed thinking about the garage. But now reality has caught up with us. I cannnnnnnot wait to plant a garden AND build a deck. It's early February, so I know now's not the time to plant in the NW, but it is time to start thinking about planting, especially because my planting process involves building the raised beds in addition to growing seedlings and mapping a garden. SO, I woke up to a smack of reality last week and a new-found urgency. WHAT DO WE DO ABOUT THE GARAGE? We now have time to think about the garage and more than $.47 to execute those thoughts. BUT, what do we do? This is where we meet the dilemma.
Our back yard is essentially a square. Ergo, we have four corners. One corner will be where the deck is--because that's where the sliding glass door is and unless there are some ingenious design tricks out there that I am totally oblivious to I'm pretty sure the deck needs to go where the sliding glass door is. So, there goes one corner. The two corners furthest from the house get the best sun. Ergo, (ok, I like that word this morning), are where we put the raised beds/vegetable garden. That leaves one corner. The remaining corner is where the garage currently sits. But it eats up like 45% of our yard! Ok, that's dramatic. I only took one math class in college and I hated every minute of it and barely survived my former-drill Sargent prof (I'm not kidding) so I'm not sure how much space the detached one car garage really takes up, but it's enough to be really annoying. So, back to the four corners. One is for the deck, two and three get the best sun. That means the current location of the garage would be the best place for a shed (we do need some storage, but just not a garage that takes up a quarter of our yard.) I am of the opinion that we reconstruct the current detached one car garage into a smaller structure, aka a shed. Pros: we could continue to store our garbage cans there, it's a convenient location in relation to the back door, we won't be eating into the other corners that get the best sun AND we could re-use many of the materials from the existing structure (siding, 2x4's, etc) and reduce the amount of materials thrown into the landfill. Cons: Keegan hates this idea.
Therein you find the dilemma. Marital disagreement #1. He thinks it should go into a back corner, despite the back corners being the sunniest places in the yard and the best places to grow lovely and nutritious vegetables and berries. I think he is struggling with the idea of having the garage so close to the house, in a location that feels very much like the middle of the back yard.
Thankfully I put some thought into who I married. He is very right brain and I am very left. I'd rather be right and he'd rather be happy. Meaning: I'd rater get my way and he'd rather find a solution and move on.
In the meantime, I found this handy-dandy Plan-A-Garden program at Better Homes & Gardens website and made a mini-plan for our yard. No, the dimensions are not to scale (one math class, remember) but you get the idea.
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