A good thing happened, a small miracle… a talented, high-end landscape designer, Rob Steiner, agreed to plan out Connie’s garden! Great help, since the hard part is visualizing the layout, and there’s nothing like expert advice to propel a small community project like this. We spent a couple of hours with Rob and he suggested taking out one of the larger ornamental plum trees to bring in more sunlight and make more room for raised beds. From his layout plan you can see he was able to fit in six boxes and a space for compost. The right hand side will get the most sun light, so think heat loving plants like tomato, pepper, and eggplant (great color combination as well). A custom-made, screening fence will be built close to the house and doubling as support for beans, cucumbers, or tomatoes. The left hand side will be shaded by the remaining plum tree and can be planted with lettuce, arugula and similar plants that will otherwise tend to wilt in the hot summer sun.
A flower and herb area will line the street side and will provide a fragrant barrier. The concrete walkway will be redone to align with the front yard and the broken corner of the driveway corner fixed.
Our local organic master gardener Tim Tarbell is taking on the task of pruning the vegetation on the lower end of the plot and laying out the irrigation system, including a pipe that will be placed under the walkway. Once the framework for the garden is in place… there will be a lot of excited gardeners in Connie’s front yard! Honk if you drive by. Just kidding.
