11375 Matteson Avenue

Spring! See our new bench made from recycled wood & hand-built-mold concrete shape.
Please try it out ... just know that our kitty Crystal often hides in the Chard right behind the bench!

Starting with zero gardening knowledge, in 2008 this family stopped battling their monoculture lawn and began learning how to cooperate with nature on their learn-as-you-go journey of drought tolerant landscaping, urban gardening and rainwater harvesting. 


New for the 2012 tour -  their  local Transition chapters and friends are having a barn-raising-style work party to help support residential lawn conversions. On this project, they learned  "on-the-job" as they helped install a simple passive, hidden "reservoir" for rain water collection to transform this 8'x15' patch of dirt into a garden of edible CA natives. Come see the results!

Their hope is to model creative self-reliance and to encourage growing food and community in a frontyard display that is friendly and inviting and not too “farm-y." This entire DIY project has had strict budgetary parameters (everything cheap, recycled or free) as the homeowners slowly converted their post-lawn moonscape into a creative sustainable garden featuring stealth edibles intermingled with drought tolerant natives and succulents, small "urbanite" terraces, a WaterWall for rooftop rain collection, and a bistro-style hardscaped frontyard room with homemade concrete planters and pavers. The L-shaped corner lot offers a spectrum of microclimates from sunbaked hardpan to mossy deep shade which has provided a steep learning curve for these beginning permaculture enthusiasts. The front entry of river rock, DG & flagstone is wide & inviting as well as easy to maintain. Recent learning curve adjustments include resculpting the berm with mini-swales and adding a keyhole feature to help prevent mulch and water runoff as well as a soil pH crashcourse due to excess lime leaching in concrete planters. In hopes of improving their resilience, ecological footprint and water savings, the homeowners recently consulted with sustainable landscape architect John Tikotsky  for advice on greywater Big Picture planning.

“Our reason for participating: We have had such fun with the project so far -- we really want to encourage others to be brave and take up their lawns. Now that the biggest physical part of the work is done, we are discovering the many joys of puttering in the garden and growing some of our own food. Plus since we're out front for all to see, a side benefit has been connecting with neighbors and building community!”