The Brown's Patch

The addition of a small, quaint vegetable patch built to one side of the Brown's backyard brings to life a space that could easily have been, nothing special.  But this is special and was designed & called upon by creative Mumma and kids clothing designer, Mrs Kobi Brown.

I'm in love with her simple, creative yet cost-effective style.  She nails it, quite literally, every time. Kobi's a do-er, she gets things done. She just does, she's one of those super mums who seems to manage it all..and some.

Kobi designed this gorgeous little garden to house a combination of vegetables including corn, cucumber, beans, strawberries and spinach.  She only has one regret, "I probably over did it, too many fruits and veggies for such a small patch..atleast i'll know for next time." To me it didn't seem over done at all. It was pretty perfect actually but I guess Kobi thought it needed to be more spaced out, because the garden has grown bigger than she expected and will obviously continue to grow.

The frame of the vegetable garden was built by a friend of the Brown's who put it together by using recycled wood.  They went for a sort of 'zig zag' design which you can tell from the photographs.  There wasn't really any reason for this, Kobi decided on it because it looked like more fun than the straight up and down look.  Clearly it did the job since all the veggies seem to be thriving!

Beautiful, two-year-old, Harvi Brown, Kobi's daughter introduced us to her little garden before grabbing a huge cucumber from the front of the patch.  They've already got corn, spinach and cucumbers ready to be eaten and it's only been in action a couple of months.  

Young Harvi's loving her little veggie garden and as Kobi said, "she really likes it, I think it's given her a sense of responsibility which has definitely been a good thing."  Harvi even has her own job, watering the garden, which from what I could tell, she was pretty good at! Kobi laughs as she tells us, "Harvi almost loves it too much.  She never wants to stop watering so i'll often have to intervene before she ends up drowning the whole thing."

Gardens for children are a good learning tool, I think.  Because although they may not fully understand what's going on, they're able to process the growth and development of their own mini project.  They have a job and they come to realise that when the job is done, they'll be rewarded...with fresh, homemade fruits and vegetables that they can chow down on.  It doesn't take much to teach a child what their little hands are capable of.

Photographer: Sami Lorking-Tanner