Before: This side yard was the home to an old lawn that had died years before. My clients were stuck on what to do with the space so had just not done anything until finally they gave me a call.
When I first visited this site, I was amazed at the view of the valley below from this upper mounded perch. My clients mentioned that they sometimes like to stand there and watch the sunset. During this visit I also noticed some far-flung garden beds that my clients said they tried to maintain but often forgot to harvest since they were out of sight and therefore out of mind. Now that their kids had left home, they wanted to pursue their passion of gardening and growing their own food.
Design: To accomplish their dreams of having garden beds, I chose to move the garden beds to the previously located grass area. Now that they didn’t have kids at home, they were not interested in maintaining the lawn. I had them itemize what they wanted to grow so that we can determine how many garden beds would be needed. I also added some additional fruit trees off to the side to add their production. To help with production, I added pollinator plants all around the beds. These not only help create more habitat for pollinators but will also help the garden look interesting year-round.
After: Now my clients enjoy the bounty that their garden brings them. They are constantly experimenting on new seeds and are enjoying the therapeutic nature that gardening gives them.