Small and Walled

My Santa Fe garden could not be more different from the space I left almost 8 years ago back east. That garden was an open half acre of green lawn and garden islands surrounded by New England fields and forest. 

My little garden here is small, completely walled in, surrounded by stucco and fence.

Even our patio sitting area is surrounded by walls -- it's an alcove within 3 walls of the house, with round tree trunk beams above. Bedroom to the left, kitchen to the right, and sliding glass doors in the middle, leading out from the living room.

The beams (vigas) don't serve as a roof of any kind, they are just decorative, with open sky above. 

I often think about the differences between the two garden spaces I created. 

I never went out into my garden back east in the mornings, it was too dewy wet and a little exposed to a busy street in back and neighbors out in the open. To go outside you had to go down a step to the porch, down another to the deck, down a few steps to the patio and then out into an open yard. 

It was nice to look out at the yard and garden bed from inside the porch, though. But the yard was steps removed from inside.

Here, in this small enclosed space, I take my coffee on nice mornings on the enclosed patio, sit in the chairs in my jammies under a summer moon, wander in and out through the sliders all day and feel secure and unseen in my walled enclave.

Despite being so close by all my neighbors, the walls and fences and alignment of homes keep my tiny space private. No windows overlook our space even though the walls of our neighbor's houses enclose us on two sides. Our own garage wall encloses us on a third side, and our house is the fourth side.

I'd like a view of mountains (I'd like a pond and horses and meadows and a nearby forest too, okay?) But without a view, the vibe of my little garden is small and walled. 

Close, intimate, and kind of cozy for an outdoor space in a high desert environment with unlimited sky.