With a new deck and garden shed completed, it was time for this family to realize their dream of an urban edible garden landscape.

It was hard to envision a beautiful garden with veggies, fruit trees, berries, and pollinator-friendly perennials in a post-construction zone.

We helped them see beyond the piles of debris, uneven ground, ragged lawn, and invasive goutweed to envision a backyard paradise for the family to grow in.

Amy designed a beautiful garden with a defined raised bed area for vegetables, herbs, and berries for easy planting and harvesting.

The container garden space floats on a courtyard of crushed granite paths wide enough for the wheelbarrow.

The design also uses the courtyard in a goutweed-infested area to create a functional space that blocks the goutweed from spreading.

The yard was excavated to smooth out uneven areas and soften the slope when stepping from the stairs into the yard. A small grassy area was weeded and overseeded with microclover and durable grass seed mixes to withstand foot traffic and wrestling with a new puppy.

Along the side, a beautiful mature privet hedge was pruned. Beyond the hedge you can see a slinger truck loaded with 14 tons of crushed granite aggregate, ready to “sling” it over the hedge and onto the property to create the courtyard.

The courtyard is bordered by ornamental garden plantings with low-maintenance evergreens for spring color. Along the side, a trio of cedar obelisks create vertical interest and functional planting structures for clematis and rose vines. Early summer blooms will be beautiful and attract pollinators.

Corrugated steel containers take up less room than traditional wooden structures to optimize planting areas. We added structures for squash and cucumbers that have tendrils that help them climb. This gets them off the ground and increases planting capacity.

Plants with tendrils like to attach to something organic and non-metallic, such as a twine trellis or wood lattice. We used bamboo with twine for a sturdy and affordable solution.

Nearby, the in-ground garden fruit plantings include high bush blueberries, raspberry canes and an espaliered apple tree.

An interesting design element, this star configuration of planters is in easy reach of the kitchen. This planting contains strawberries for picking by the kids, herbs for dinner and pretty cosmos flowers to cut and enjoy indoors or on the picnic table.

A series of 5 cedar trellis add interest and expand harvest potential for indeterminate tomato transplants and scarlet runner beans.

Pole beans are twiners, meaning that as the vining stem grows upward, it will wrap itself around anything it can touch.

Twiners aren’t fussy about what they climb but make sure it’s high since they can grow almost indefinitely.

Fun fact! Pole beans twine in a counterclockwise habit so if you are training a bean plant to grow up a support structure, observe its pattern and be sure to twine it in the direction that would be natural for the vine.

By August, the garden was growing beautifully with fresh herbs and crops being enjoyed by the family.

The children and their friends gained valuable insight to where food comes from and the fun to be had in growing it themselves.