Installation

After all the visioning and planning comes the fun part.

If you have a new house, there is much to do before installing the plants. Fences, patios, decks, walkways, retaining walls, cisterns, and other permanent features need to be installed. These elements may require machinery and a lot of impact on the garden, so it is best to make sure these are installed first. We can help you find competent professionals and contractors to take care of these things and will offer a lot of options like living walls and fences and recycled materials that can save you money and be good for the environment at the same time.

Here is an example of a small condo backyard that the owner wanted to be weed free with zero watering:

The concrete pathway allowed little room for a planting bed. So what do we do?

We suggested removal of the concrete path and reuse of it in a new path.

Included in the new path would be a rain water harvesting swale to collect water from the roof and bank water for the dry months.

Note the 4” drain pipe at the bottom of the photo below that distributes water into the swale. In additon to using the “urbanite” (broken concrete) from the old walkway, we are re-using the landscape fabric that was under the whole back garden to prevent weeds in the swale. Note cardboard and wood chips are used in planter beds for weed and moisture control. The tree is a drought tolerant variety that will be watered by the swale.

A garden is starting to form that conserves water, uses materials on-site, and rarely has a weed.

Five years later, zero water and weed free.