Why You Should Put a Dining Table in Your Garden Pronto
Maryline Damour is founder of design-build firm Damour Drake as well as the Kingston Design Connection. She's also an avid gardener and chef. In this series, she connects the dots between gardening and interior design.
I never owned a plant until I moved to the Hudson Valley. However, one of the first things I did when I purchased a weekend house was build a vegetable garden. Because isn't that what one does in the country? When I moved here permanently years later, I remembered this first garden. After it was built, I found the teeniest corner that fit one bistro chair where I could sit peacefully, listening to nothing and watching plants grow. When I created this current garden, I made sure to reserve space for us among the vegetables.
ln creating livable spaces outdoors, I consider first the location and its use. Our vegetable garden is where I have a summer dining room. Because vegetable gardens are typically sited where you get at least 8-10 hours of sun a day, it's a good idea to incorporate an umbrella. This allows for casual lunches and al fresco work-from-home. In the evenings, lighting is essential. Just as I layer lighting indoors, I have a combination of solar-powered lanterns on the fence and electricity near the table.
When considering furniture, a good-sized table is a must for all the activities you may want to do. My current table was a bit short, so I bookended it with bluestone, which relates nicely to the bluestone gravel in the garden. Now, it's a perfect staging area for plants ready to go in the ground and for prepping vegetables for cooking.
In setting the table for entertaining, don't be afraid to reflect your personality as you do in your interiors! Even when I'm not entertaining, I use my good china, linens, and crystal, so it's natural for me to bring these outdoors. It adds a whole other element to dining outside. Not much else is needed in the way of decorating after that.
Throughout the seasons, the garden evolves, creating a constantly-changing and beautiful backdrop. For more intimate entertaining, we also have a gazebo near a creek at the bottom of our property. Unlike the bright and airy vegetable garden, it's up a short flight of stairs and tucked in near a wall of evergreens, and is just big enough for two
These two different spaces serve up numerous ways and reasons to be outdoors, tie us closer to the world around us, and set the backdrop for an always beautiful dinner party.
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