After
the house was extensively remodeled, the garden was a construction zone. The
owners were therefore able to start from scratch. Their goal was to create
front and back yards that required little maintenance yet gave some space to
play with fruit trees and vegetables.
They
decided to remove the remaining grass, replacing it with artificial turf and an
expanded garden bed area.
A low
water, low maintenance cactus and succuclent garden dominates the front yard. The
backyard has raised beds for vegetables, fruit trees and a new patio area.
Bamboo planted on one side of the backyard will eventually provide some
privacy.
Sprinklers
water the front yard and the backyard has a drip system. The owners supplement
the drip system by hand watering as required.
The
owners did not have time in the past to play with vegetables and have really
enjoyed planting them and watching them grow this past year. Last summer—their
first—they experimented with squash, tomatoes, lettuce, bush beans, radishes,
eggplant and okra. In the winter they planted winter tomatoes, lettuce, snap peas,
snow peas, herbs, kohlrabi and blueberries. They are trying to grow Hawaiian
papayas from seed and have a Babaco Papaya from Ecuador.
