I have a lament. The covenants of my neighborhood prohibit me from having sheds and other outdoor buildings. Perhaps lament is too strong a word, as this disallowing of sheds was not unexpected. I knew when I bought my little piece of ground that these covenants existed. And knowing I could not have a garden shed, I made sure my garage was big enough to hold my gardening tools and carts and other necessities of gardening.

It just would be a lot of easier if I had a shed in the backyard so that when I am working in the garden back there, I could just throw open the doors to the shed and go merrily back and forth getting whatever hoe or rake or other tool I needed at that moment without losing my momentum or thought of what I am doing.

Now I have to plan what I want to use for whatever I am going to do and then carry it from the garage around to the back. And if I forget something, I have to make another trip around to the front to get it or go on without it. I want a shed!

The shed shown here is at my old neighbor’s house next to where I grew up. And the fence around it is from the home he grew up in. There’s a bench inside the fence, and it makes for a nice, shaded area to rest and reflect about the garden. I think it looks nice and there is no reason why I shouldn’t have something just as nice in my own backyard!

I’ve tried to think of ways I could sneak a shed into my backyard. One of my ideas was to build a sort of garden “closet”, up against my privacy fence in the corner of the vegetable garden, making sure the roof did not extend above the fence. If asked about it, I could just say it was part of the fence, because technically, it would be, right?

Or, I could build a hobbit shed like you would find in Hobbiton. But my yard is rather flat and the sudden appearance of a mound large enough to disguise a shed might attract a bit of attention!

So, I will continue without a shed, at least for a while.

But, there is one thing I do not want to lament. Sometime next summer, our neighbor is going to move. If his sons do not want that fence, well, I do! I’d find a place for it, even without a shed and a good shady spot. I would even be willing to replace the old pickets with some brand new pickets and paint them, so the fence doesn’t have to be completely torn down.

I would regret not at least asking, so I will ask about it sometime soon.