I have a confession. I have been holding out on you. But I wanted it to be a surprise. You see after the big storm back in April, when the house was still up on jacks, while the foundations underneath were being built, that brought with it 212km gusts straight off the ocean, I realised I’d have to adjust my vision for the garden a little.
That storm was terrifying, but the house stood strong and now in the midst of winter went a storm rolls in I feel safe and secure in the knowledge, no harm will come to us. However, in years gone by I have spent many a night lying awake and thinking the worst as the wind whipped around my glasshouse, and its predecessors of varying quality. The storm made me realise things out here on the coast need to be built of stronger stuff and the greenhouse I had picked out but not yet purchased, just wouldn’t last long in these conditions. I naively thought the ability to withstand winds of up to 150km would be enough.
A greenhouse is a significant investment for a good one and I was looking at spending around $6K. The conditions of the move with Hubby the Un-Gardener, was I was to have everything I had before, and in time for the new growing season. That required a good budget, because the old garden had come about over the decade with a bit spent here and a bit spent there, and no one noticed how much it really cost. Until we did a quick add up as we were packing to leave…. I had a good budget and thought I could get away with a slight upgrade on the greenhouse… just a touch bigger than the old one. A chance like this wouldn’t come about often.
But had I bought the greenhouse before the storm that would have been money wasted especially as I found out years ago, you can’t ensure a greenhouse on the eve of a storm. The insurance people weren’t very encouraging at all, strangely. So, the storm was a blessing, but one that required a rethink.
Then I remembered my lovely friend Bren, over in Ohio, who I met when I went to the Garden Bloggers Conference back in 2015 in Atlanta, USA, has a Geodesic Biodome and loved it. She could garden in the middle of a snowy winter in there. You should check her out – she is over at Brenhaas.com and has fabulous gardening things going on. I don’t need mine so much to keep the cold out, but aren’t triangles the safest shape? And with it being a dome shape the wind would just sail right over. It seemed perfect.
So, I set the wheels in motion and asked my builder – “do you think you can build me one of these?” and showed him a picture on the internet. He knows me better now and my strange requests that start with “can you build me…” doesn’t faze him anymore. But he embraced the challenge and now I have a fabulous geodesic biodome sitting proudly in my garden! And I love it. It still needs glazing and shelving, but oh my goodness it is awesome. Oh, and don’t ask about the budget – I think I blew that a long time ago.
If you want to see my wonderful dome and have a tour of my garden to see what I’ve been up to lately, check out my latest You Tube video.
Now the dome is up, I really need to press on as spring starts on Saturday and I’ve still got beds to build and loads of digging to get them all filled.
Come again soon – the new growing season in my new garden is about to begin.
Sarah the Gardener : o)
Wow, what a clever solution. I wish you many happy years in your dome, safe from all that the weather can throw at you. No more sleepless nights, says I!!!
Absolutely. The dome is very solid and won’t be going anywhere, no matter how windy. I just love it! : o)
What a blessing your new garden is! May it fulfill all your dreams. Autumn is just coming on here, so I will be following your beginning of spring with great longing as frost threatens my garden and things are coming to an end. What is the diameter of your dome?
Thank you so much for your kind words. The dome is 4 metres across, which is a good amount of space for what I’d like to do. I hope the frost doesn’t come too quickly in your garden. : o)
Love your dome! I’m so looking forward to watching your new garden develop now that the bare bones are more or less in place 🙂
It is strange how your Spring starts on Saturday and our Autumn doesn’t start until September 23rd – I’m guessing that’ll be the same in reverse come our Spring and your Autumn 😀 😀
I think we go by the calendar for season changes, but it other places it is based around the equinox and the solstice. The calendar fits in well with the start of our growing season here. Besides I don’t mind saying goodbye to winter early than later! : o)
Lol, I know how you feel – I’m quite reluctant to say goodbye to Summer 😀
really enjoyed having a good look at your garden,that dome is going to be amazing.Love your chooks.spring is here tomorrow,even though it arrived a month early in my garden in christchurch,with Daffodills out at the beginning of this month.Looking forward to seeing more of your amazing place,happy spring to you.
Thanks so much for your encouraging comment. Daffodils always bring such hope at the end of winter – just when you need it the most! : o)
That’s going to look so cool! And that is a hell of a storm.
Yeah – it was pretty terrifying. I’d be happy not to see something like that again in a long time – or ever! But at least we were able to learn from it rather than lose everything to it. : o)
That is very true.
There was a geodesic house near mine growing up. It sure gave rise to imaginative architectural designs of my childhood castle drawings!
Now I remember a round house near us as well. It caused quite a stir when it was built! But why do we have to all do everything exactly the same as others?! : o)
Right? Probably because we forget to ask, “what could we do?” We get so conditioned to ask, “What’s done?”
Those raised garden borders look nice, so you have schematics for those?
Thanks for your comment. It made me realise I hadn’t put a plan of the garden up yet… I’ll get onto that in a up coming post. : o)