garden design Archives - Page 2 of 4

The vertical garden is planted with spring and summer crops.

Design: Vertical Patio Garden Delight

We recently created a tidy vertical garden for a busy business woman in Marina del Rey. Her condominium patio didn't allow room for a full-sized garden, and tight quarters limited her sun exposure to one wall. Her patio housed a collection of random containers, some with leggy plants long overdue for re-potting. We took steps to unify the patio to enhance her new vertical garden. Our first step was to re-do the patio to remove infiltrating tree roots. The client…

Post author:Christy
Post published:May 30, 2017
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
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Bulldozer at work demolishing the client's swimming pool.

Design: From Pool To Garden

Back in 2016 we got a call from a woman who had a swimming pool but wanted a vegetable garden. She had already taken steps to fill in her swimming pool, but needed help building the vegetable garden. A blank slate, a designer's delight. The homeowner's previous gardening experience was limited to a 3x6 raised bed on the side of the house. It was enough to fuel her desire for more space. Given the drought and the expense of keeping…

Post author:Christy
Post published:February 22, 2017
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
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The cage is tall to accommodate tomato cages and pea trellises as needed.

Design: A Cozy Caged Garden

While Los Angeles may be a concrete jungle, we still have wild animals lurking about the garden. Our most recent garden installation was designed to protect new seedlings from wandering critters on the canyon slope. It's a starter garden, this 3x5 foot raised bed. Not much design involved, except that we had to make it fit on top of an existing brick patio barely bigger than that. We decided to move the bench back a foot, closer to the rock…

Post author:Christy
Post published:November 9, 2016
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
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Josh and a DIY client prepping to paint her new fence.

In Memoriam: Josh Hover

Gardening is about life cycles, we deal with life and death every day. When someone prized is taken too soon, however, it is a tragedy. I write today to honor a friend and colleague, the carpenter who took my visions and built them into realities, who was taken from us two weeks ago: Josh Hover. Josh came to Gardenerd by way of Daniel Mayorga, my landscape professional who installs my garden designs. Josh and Daniel knew each other since Kindergarten,…

Post author:Christy
Post published:August 3, 2016
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
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Finished garden pops with color in front of the home's white background.

Design: Southern Hemisphere Garden

We recently completed a landscaping project for a homeowner from South Africa. He wanted a lush and colorful landscape that is drought tolerant and low maintenance. At the same time, he talked of turf grass and wispy foliage that reminded him of home. We brought his desires and needs together in this new landscape. Since we usually focus on edible gardens, we started with fruit trees in the front yard, then surrounded them with succulents and a combination of California…

Post author:Christy
Post published:March 16, 2016
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
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Mostly started from nursery transplants to make it easy for beginning gardeners. We did plant seeds for radishes and carrots though.

Toddler Garden

It's important for kids to know where their food comes from, so here at Gardenerd we like to start them young. Really young, in the case of this recent garden installation. A two-year-old was about to get a younger sibling, so her parents wanted to give her something small to call her own: a toddler garden. Naturally, we needed to keep it simple for both child and parents. They'll have their hands full, so this garden needed to be self-sufficient…

Post author:Christy
Post published:January 6, 2016
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:1 Comment

A mixture of lettuces and kale, planted from nursery transplants, allow residents to see the difference between starting from seed and buying from the nursery.

Design: Therapeutic Garden For Recovery

Every once in awhile we get to be part of something big. Build a garden that really makes a difference. This is one of those gardens. For those who've never heard about "horticultural therapy," take a look at the latest garden we installed in October. It's a therapeutic garden for recovery. Horticultural therapy is all about engaging people in the act of gardening to improve well-being. We garden for health, well-being, and sanity, right? Horticultural therapy goes a little farther,…

Post author:Christy
Post published:December 8, 2015
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
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In progress. Hauling in the mammoth raised beds.

Design: Tall Beds for Deep Roots

We recently completed a new garden installation in Sherman Oaks, CA, where a homeowner wanted tall raised beds to remind her of her garden in Oregon. Stately, tall beds with plenty of root space for veggies to grow big and strong. Gardenerd was happy to oblige. The space was already mapped out with a foundation of decomposed granite. So we knew drainage would be great. Located near the family pool, the garden would be out of the way enough to…

Post author:Christy
Post published:November 25, 2015
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
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The new raised beds are still in a little bit of shade, but in the sunniest part of the yard. Surrounded by fruit trees and native plants.

Design: Front Yard Veggie Garden

We've been hard at work helping people get rid of their lawns in favor of edible front yard landscapes instead. Our latest garden is located inland where temperatures are high in summer, but large trees create a lot of shade; two conditions less than ideal for growing food. This new front yard veggie garden works around all that. The homeowners, both rabbis, wanted to incorporate as many of the Seven Mystic Fruits of Israel into their garden as would fit.…

Post author:Christy
Post published:November 17, 2015
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
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She'll guide cucumbers and pole beans up the trellis this summer.

Design: Balcony Garden Joy

Small space gardening is our specialty here at Gardenerd. We like making the most of tiny gardens, and our latest project was no exception. Using pre-fab products, we turned a plain old balcony into a farm-for-one in Hermosa Beach, CA. You can do this too. Here's how: The Balcony The client's balcony was tiny, to say the least. 2 outdoor seats and some pots with succulents took up much of the space. The client was so excited about growing some…

Post author:Christy
Post published:June 3, 2015
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:2 Comments