Designer: Maria Finn
Owner: Mookie's parents (Josh and Lisa)
Location: Brooklyn, NY
In Maria's words:
Mookie is known as "The Destructor" at doggie daycare. He experiences the world by passionately chewing anything within his reach, and when let loose in the small courtyard, this translates to toppled and uprooted plants...
...So the question is how to grow vegetables out of the reach of Mookie and create a visually appealing space?
We ordered a pre-fab sleeping loft to keep costs down, but it needed to be treated for the outdoors. The idea of priming and painting it solved weatherproofing problems. We decided to go with eggplant purple and contrast the colors with chartreuse sweet potato vines tangled with orange nasturtium. Baskets of strawberries and chocolate mint hang from the side and herbs are planted alongside salad greens that include spicy mustard greens, tatsoi and baby red and green leafed lettuce. Boxes hold Mediterranean and Mexican vegetables.
Rather than have planter boxes in the corners for the figs and grapes custom made high enough to keep Mookie out, lattice could be added around the rims. These too would be painted bright colors adding a dynamic and patterned element to the area.
Dear Mookie,
You sound like you get into everything - even conventional planters? You have very thoughtful owners! Besides the dog-proof aspect, which also means the back yard is kept open for Mookie to play freely, the individual planters on the loft area make the garden more manageable. The eggplant color of the loft coordinates nicely with the nasturtiums and sweet potato vine. We hope you are having a good harvest - and thanks for sharing the idea with us.
We have a little gift in the mail to Mookie, Josh and Lisa: a pot from Ecoforms and seed packets from SelectSeeds.com to help make your gardens grow. Enjoy!
Best,
matt at apartmenttherapy dot com
Copyright © 2007 Apartment Therapy
This is so impressive - pets can be the catalysts for so many creative solutions.
view Erin K.'s profile
What sleeping loft did you order and from where? Any chance you've got a link? Thanks!
view carrier's profile
This really is very handsome; I hope they inhabit part of the second floor, so they can look down on the plants that are in the upper area, so they can enjoy looking at them, though.
view Curtis's profile
Do you think it would be possible to do a double decker vegetable bed with this design - one on the ground and one above for double production?
The bottom layer would get less sun...but maybe there are some plants that don't mind a little shade?
view kmswann's profile
I think Mookie needs an advocate. Can we see pics of poor maligned Mookie?
view priscilla's profile
It says on their designer Maria Finn's Web site (link above) that Mookie is a chocolate lab.
view Lisa from VA/lsaspacey's profile
Hi there -- this is one of poor maligned Mookie's owners. We ordered the loft from:
http://www.collegebedlofts.com/
Then Maria and company weatherproofed and painted it...
Doesn't seem like there's a way to post photos here, but I can try add a couple to flickr later on. Will post a link here once I do.
PS: Matt - Thanks so much, and I'm sure Mookie will love eating the seeds ;-)
view joshtee's profile
joshtee-
Mookie may also enjoy chewing on the pot - it's biodegradeable!
A great, manageable project. Love Mookie's nickname; I am sure it is used with great affection.
Maria has a blog of their projects here where you can see the adorable Mookie.
view mattplantguy's profile