Chicanery in the Garden Rooms

If you are not a gardener, look away now. While I was in Yorkshire Roy and Angie--as close to elves as a grown up can expect to find--have added the chicanes and gates to the area that is going to be the main gardening area--at least for veg and herbs next year.

View of chicanes and new gate from edge of house by garage.

'Chicanery' connotes 'trickery', but up here we have to be as wily as Odysseus of the twists and turns not outwitting fate and monster children of the ancient Gods, but the wind. And it takes all the wits of an Odysseus to do it. If you try to stop it, it will mow down any of your sturdiest defences. It has to be cajoled and distracted like a fretful toddler. And so chicanes: netting to let in light and to slow the wind down. Up here we have the extra added challenge that the wind carries salt from the nearby sea. Despite that--foible--we have to be grateful for the sea. Otherwise at nearly 59 degrees latitude North, we'd be as cold as Estonia or Moscow.

OK I made a concession to the netting for a proper fence here (thanks, Roy, for seeing me right on this.) And this gives you an idea of what the chicanes are--almost fences. Room for walking and wide enough for a wheelbarrow, but overlapping enough to stop the breezes. Last year a late season blast from the east knocked the flowers off my tatties and shredded most of my garden. This year we'll be better prepared. It is either hubris or naivete to proclaim that it will not happen again.
The path is made up of the chopped up trimmings of the top heavy willows. That protects them from the wind (See the blue rope on the end of the fence? That's where that willow went down last year in a gale. Probably would be OK on its own now, but just in case, we'll keep it tethered.)

Now with house and garage walls the chicanery defines these outdoor rooms as reasonable working/sitting areas in the pre or post season of gardening. Still work to be done, but so happy with the space, wanted to share it.