shed

There's something about sheds that really appeals to me. I think it's the huge variety you get of buildings that are essentially 'just' garden sheds, combined with the myriad of uses people find for them. Some people using them for storing gardening stuff, some as an escape from everything, some as a place to work. I gather that authors tend to be particularly fond of sheds and other outbuildings as workspaces and I can see why. My dad uses his shed for just about everything. It's a shrine to ingenuity with stuff stored in every possible space. I love it.


And it's so covered with clematis that in the summer from some angles you can barely see it. It's a Stealth Shed.



Dad is the master of ingenuity and constructs garden buildings and storage whenever they're needed, such as the lean-to to the side of the main shed, and of course the sitooterie:

..which naturally is a place where you 'sit oot' (click here for a different take on the concept!). That's not a great picture as it was taken in the spring before growth really get going - in summer it's a beautiful green place to sit in the shade or indeed if it's raining and you still want to sit oot. Mum and Dad like to have their coffee 'outside' a lot so they're often in there or in the greenhouse. They have a washing-line in the sitooterie too for airing stuff on wet days. I should do something like that. We used to have neighbours who had what was essentially a car-port minus the car with washing-lines strung up. Here in the wet west of Scotland it meant they had their washing out much more than the rest of us. I don't suppose it dried completely but even if it had to have a few minutes in the tumble drier to finish it off it'd still have that fresh smell. Mmmmmm.

My garden is too small for a shed unfortunately. We already have the kids' trampoline taking up space, along with the PVC mini-greenhouse, and the gradually rotting and disintegrating playhouse. I have a wishlist as long as my arm, both for plants and bigger stuff like shed and greenhouse, but I'd really need a Tardis garden for all the stuff I'd like to cram in. And to go off at another tangent, now I'm imagining a courtyard garden in the middle of the Tardis - how cool would that be? I'm hoping that when my Beloved's sold a motorbike there'll be more room in the garage for my gardening equipment (where do my trowels go? Do they migrate?) and dyeing stuff. Our neighbours recently got a shed and I have Shed Envy.

One of my favourite garden buildings - it's really too much of a stretch to describe it as a mere 'shed' - is Puck's Hut in the Formal Garden at Benmore Botanic Garden near Dunoon. I suppose it's more of a summer house really but it's just such a nice design and looks so right in its setting, which is interesting because that's not its original setting. It used to be in Puck's Glen but was moved down to Benmore at some point.

It's got just a hint of moominhouse about it! I like it so much I bought the postcard:

I have the postcard up on my pinboard now, along with other things that make me smile.