My friends’ garden is in Architectural Digest!!! A few years ago, my sweet friends Andrew and Paul bought a house in the Catskills, and they’ve been working on it ever since. Thanks to social media, I have gotten to watch their progress in making the beautiful house and grounds their own. Turns out, I wasn’t the only one watching!
One of the upsides of working remotely is that we’ve all had more time to spend in – and on – our houses. At the beginning of the COVID quarantine, Andrew and Paul closed up their NYC apartment, packed up the dogs, and headed out to their Saugerties, NY, home where they’ve been working ever since. This gave the boys the time to develop a ‘pandemic victory garden’ in high style.
“The very first purchase I made when we signed off on the house was a lawn mower and bamboo for the front gardens. Over the next two years, I spent weekends filling in the slope down the hill to our yard in the back of the house and filling out the front with flowers and bushes of all varieties. In March, at the beginning of ‘lockdown 2020’ when things seemed much more uncertain than they do now, my client Alan Tanksley sent me a quote from Audrey Hepburn: ‘To build a garden is to believe in the future.’ That’s when the seed [for a vegetable garden] was planted in my mind.”
– Andrew Joseph to Architectural Digest
I’m always so happy when I find unexpectedly-positive things that have come out of this difficult time, and I’m very pleased for my friends that they’ve gotten such great attention for their efforts.
You can read the article on the Architectural Digest website, and you can follow Andrew and Paul’s progress with the house and garden on Andrew Joseph’s Instagram.
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My OBT 
August 9, 2020 at 6:51 am
What a wonderful garden!
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August 9, 2020 at 7:53 am
It’s cold and miserable so I’m missing being out in the garden. it’s lovely to see their garden being so lush and productive. Very cheery. 🙂
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August 9, 2020 at 11:02 am
I know what you mean! We don’t have any outdoor space right now, so I’m gardening vicariously through the boys!
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August 9, 2020 at 7:36 pm
Oh! That’s hard. At least I can walk around the garden with the animals and think about what I’ll do when it’s warmer. What about indoor gardening? If you have a spot in front of a window that gets good sun, you could buy those hydroponic lettuces from the supermarket that come with roots. Plant them in soil, keep nice and moist and ‘most’ of them do survive and thrive. I call them my supermarket escapees. 🙂
Then you have cut-and-come-again lettuce right there!
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August 10, 2020 at 6:24 pm
Hmmm. That’s interesting!
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August 9, 2020 at 8:08 am
Some day I hope to have my own garden. I had hoped it would be this year but things came up and all I have is my Fig tree. Garden is still in the plans but other things are using up all the money. One day………………….. Hal
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August 9, 2020 at 11:03 am
I know what you mean. I have big plans…
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August 9, 2020 at 8:38 am
It is beautiful.
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August 9, 2020 at 8:56 am
Pretty place and looks very productive.
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August 9, 2020 at 11:03 am
Very productive is right!
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August 9, 2020 at 12:49 pm
Well now I feel like a total pandemic slouch. Seriously though, what they have achieved in a short space of time is breath-taking. It isn’t just practical and flourishing and a testament to their green thumbs but also a beautiful, aesthetically pleasing outdoor space. What a wonderful place to retreat to.
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August 9, 2020 at 2:02 pm
You’re absolutely right, and there were never two more deserving people!
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August 9, 2020 at 3:15 pm
After months of being stuck in my house self-isolating, I knew I needed a plan to regularly get me out of the house safely doing something I love. After much thought, I approached a friend who had surgery which made gardening difficult. I offered to work in her garden three mornings a week. She has an acre of gardens, so there is always something to do and something new in bloom. I have had the BEST summer and she has been able to enjoy her garden without the frustration of not being able to keep up with the weeds. It may be her garden, but it is my pandemic victory garden.
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August 9, 2020 at 4:26 pm
That’s amazing! I truly love that idea. So thoughtful and practical. Congratulations! I’d love to see pictures.
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August 10, 2020 at 7:08 am
If I Get a chance to have good time in gardens i never missed that . I am very happy to see it , I have a loan and would like to gardening by your inspirations. Ye time is very crucial in COVID pandemic Andrew and Paul did great job by closed up their NYC apartment.
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August 10, 2020 at 6:25 pm
They definitely got it right!
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