One of the newest trends in outdoor cooking is the outdoor oven. Vancouver-based Urban Ovens builds fixed structures that can be incorporated into a variety of facade structures and materials to complement your garden. Mediterranean, rustic or contemporary; the choice is yours! Urban Ovens can be incorporated into your outdoor kitchen plans.
Imagine baking sourdough bread, breadsticks, calzones and thin-crust pizzas surrounded by your garden!
Share your passion for outdoor cooking and entertaining with the addition of an outdoor oven. You may find that you get pizza orders from your friends, family and neighbors.
For further information, visit the Urban Oven’s website: urbanovens.com
Using rain water collected from your home’s roof, you can:
- reduces the amount of runoff collected by sewers
- save water and $$$
- be environmentally-responsible
HOW IT WORKS
Rain barrels come in all shapes and sizes. The one pictured is designed to look like a terra cotta vase. It stands approximately 48″ tall. Terra Luma Design has several sizes and styles to choose from!
This custom outdoor kitchen includes 60,000 BTU Napoleon BBQ grill, drawers, trash/recycling drawer, a general storage cabinet and black granite countertops.
The window was modified to allow for easy pass-through from the home’s indoor kitchen to the shelf on the outside!
An outdoor kitchen is quickly becoming a requirement of our outdoor living! I am calling this post Outdoor Kitchens 101, as it is a primer that covers the basics for clients who are interested in having an outdoor kitchen installed.
An outdoor kitchen is an outdoor cooking space with a built-in grill, refrigerator, sink, prep area and storage.
Homeowners who have completed an outdoor kitchen installation consider the ideal skill set to be a combination landscape design and kitchen designer.
So exactly why are outdoor kitchens so popular? My clients tell me that it adds enjoyment, luxury and relaxation. It’s a lifestyle thing! Cooking in an outdoor kitchen creates a sense of occassion for each meal, and the outdoor kitchen area becomes a gathering point (just as all great parties end-up in the kitchen!).
Creating an outdoor kitchen requires an assessment of your individual needs as well as a site assessment to evaluate all your property’s options.
The way you cook will vary from that of your friends and neighbours. Today’s outdoor kitchens make it easy to grill, make pizzas, boil lobsters and incorporate a bar! A designer will help you incorporate your preferred use of the space.
We will also evaluate the scale of outdoor living you anticipate: some of my clients need to accommodate a large gathering of family each summer while others have maximum dinner parties of 4-6. We’re all different!
There are two types of outdoor kitchens:
- Satellite kitchens – the bulk of the food preparation is done inside
- Fully-independent kitchens – the bulk of the food preparation is done outside, increasing the need for refrigeration and food storage, counter space and work surfaces, storage of dishes and linens, and a larger sink.
Obviously the proximity of the outdoor dining area to the outdoor kitchen is very important! As part of the site assessment, we will explore all of these options and look at outdoor dining furniture.
The trend in outdoor dining is moving away from dining around a formal dining table (although many of my clients still prefer this). I'm seeing more and more options for cocktail table height firepits which provide a heat source in the center, and room for a dinner setting or glass on the perimeter of the fire pit! I recommend a fire pit that is a minimum 42" square; this will accommodate two people on each side (or eight people total).
Click here for my post on outdoor dining furniture options!
En route to Palm Springs, I had to stop and fill-up in Pasadena. To my delight, we happened across an incredible garden centre before we found a gas station. I suggested “I bet the garden centre can tell us where to find a gas station” (with an ‘oh please, oh please… let’s stop just for a minute’ undertone to my voice). Joey had had a piddle break in hours, so we decided to stop. Check-out my visit in a separate post here.
Perhaps my best find was Tony Kienitz’s book The Year I Ate My Yard. It’s a must-read for anyone interested in growing their own food! Kienitz’s humor is warm and welcoming while his gardening tips are full of insight and common sense.
Look for it at your local garden centre or book store. You’ll be glad you did!
Plants are, of course, the stuff that great gardens are made of! A garden can be defined by one specimen plant, but more often than not it is a collection of plants are that artfully arranged. Your garden is probably a collection of plants that speak to you, reflecting your individual tastes and lifestyle.
My personal favourites include classics such as elegant Japanese Maples (Acer palmatum and Acer palmatum dissectum), bamboos (the likes of Phyllostachys nigra and Fargesia robusta). I also love old-fashioned perennials such as Iris, Bleeding-Hearts and ornamental grasses!
What we want our gardens to look like says alot about us. We all have our favourite plants and styles preferences. Research has been conducted on our love of, or disdain for, grass: Conformists like lawns that are golf course perfect while non-conformists strive for anything but fescues, ryes and Kentucky blues!
I also like many of the new introductions that various growers develop. I use these new hybrids to edit my garden; it’s an easy way to give it a new look every season! This year I am looking forward to adding an edible component to my garden with lettuces, herbs and other vegetables.
You will find many plant profiles on this site. If you are looking for a particular plant, just enter the botanical or common name in the search field at the top of the page.
Increasingly, we’re using our landscape for productive, edible gardening! Incorporating vegetable plants and herbs is a great way to grow your own!
This year, I’m using heirloom lettuces as ground covers in planters. You will find their beautiful, unusual foliage unlike any ornamental!
Check out these recommendations:
- Gentilina is a Italian lettuce, with light green ruffled leafy heads.
- Mignonette Bronze is an heirloom lettuce that dates back to the 1800s. Its bronze/green colour adds a punch of colour to planters!
- Cowlick is one of my personal favourites – because of its name, but also for its spiky leaf habit. It is from the Czech Republic.
- Sunfire has a narrow, branching oakleaf shape. Medium green leaves have red and green veining underneath a red surface blush.
- From the Italian Alps, Rossa Di Trento is a broad, savoyed cutting lettuce with exquisite wine red margins
- Another heirloom lettuce is called Ears of the Devil. It has large tapered leaves that are beautifully burgundy and bronze-coloured.
Many of these fabulous heirloom seeds are from a living gene bank called The Seed and Plant Sanctuary for Canada. They are a charitable organization dedicated to the health and vitality of the earth through the preservation and promotion of heritage seeds. The Sanctuary is committed to maintaining, evaluating and keeping records for all the edible, medicinal and useful crops that can be grown in Canada.
The lettuces I have recommended become very different when they flower and go to seed. Leaves change shape, stalks shoot skyward, flowers contrast with foliage, and seedheads pop into reality! This all adds an exciting dimension to your garden design!
