The Outsider: L-Shaped Deck in Park Slope

Welcome to The Outsider, Brownstoner’s new Sunday column devoted to design and use of outdoor space, from backyard gardens to green roofs. Like The Insider on Thursdays, it’s written by Cara Greenberg, who blogs at casaCARA: Old Houses for Fun & Profit. Find The Outsider here every Sunday at 8AM.

THE NEW WOOD DECK and the backyard behind this single-family limestone row house are essentially one and the same. “The backyard is very tiny,” says landscape architect Liz Farrell, who masterminded the project. “The whole backyard is the deck.”

In an available L-shaped space about four feet off the ground at the rear of the 17.5-foot-wide house, Farrell replaced an old deck that had rotted away with a new one made of ipe, a Brazilian hardwood. It incorporates arbors for climbing vines and planter boxes for herbs and annuals. A hedge of bamboo in an 18-inch wide strip across the back of the property provides total privacy screening (it’s planted in a concrete trough, so there’s no danger of it getting out of control).

The owners, a couple with grown children, wanted space for seating, dining, and a grill. They now have all that, as well as low-voltage Mission-style lighting and a drip irrigation system that feeds the bamboo and the planting boxes.

Dineen Construction was the builder.

See more after the jump.

This week’s Outsider is brought to you by The Artist Garden: James Stephenson’s Artist Garden brings 20 years of experience in high level hardscape design, as well as all aspects of garden installation from planting to irrigation and lighting.

Photos: Liz Farrell Landscape Architecture PLLC

Mature bamboo, 10 feet high, went into a concrete trough at ground level (with additional barrier material) for instant screening. An 11-inch-wide planter box along the short (8’8″) side of the new deck is potted up with herbs.

Overhead trellises are designed to support climbing vines for seasonal color, such as autumn clematis and climbing hydrangea.

Annuals in planter boxes change from year to year. Above, purple sweet potato vine, pink petunias, and licorice plant.

A neighbor’s bamboo fence screens one side of the deck.

Access from the house is through a door in one leg of the L. Behind the grill, a hidden planter box is intended eventually for a rose bush or fig tree.

If you missed last week’s premier of The Outsider, you can find it right here.