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| Now!!! |
A large vegetable garden was something we had dreamt of having for some time. We began visualizing what we wanted in our yard and garden about five years ago which was such a delightful process. Books, magazines, trips to various nurseries and attending local garden tours provided plenty of inspiration. Keeping clippings from magazines of things we liked and taking photos when someone else's garden delighted us helped solidify our ideas.
John Tikotsky and Associates was our landscape architect and R&R Landscape Services was our contractor. Both firms did incredible work. John is gem. We wanted to be urban farmers and reduce our impact on the earth at the same time. We removed all but a sliver of grass in the front and back yards, converting to a drip irrigation system, installing a smart watering system that adjusts to seasonal temperature changes and planting low to medium-low water usage plants. We minimized water loss by using mulch, which also eventually breaks down and enriches the soil.
Two years ago our basic design was completed and we began planting seasonal vegetables, berries and herbs. This reduced our carbon footprint even more, because rather than a trip to the store to buy vegetables, we simply walked to the front yard. The next year we added blueberry bushes and fruit trees. Every year we work on a new section of the garden. This year we are planning to add low water and native plants around the perimeter of the front garden and get rain barrels. We maintain a completely organic gardening system.
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| Front produce garden in progress... |
Soil is enriched with compost we make from yard clippings and kitchen scraps. We also recycle kitchen waste in our worm bin. The resulting worm castings are an incredible garden soil food. Our focus is on growing healthy soil with the faith that healthy plants will follow. Each season we learn something new from the garden and discover new varieties to try. Our garden provides us with tremendous joy and bounty!
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| Starting point... |
