Not being city folk, it was important for us to surround ourselves with natural beauty. This house had been condemned 5 years ago and the innards of the house got re-done but the outside needed lots of love.

Year one was all hardscape to replace the weeds, debris and overgrown trees. The backbone to the garden had to happen before the planting began. Because of the small space we were very selective with our plant choices.

Our original thoughts were for the majority of the plantings to be perennials and shrubs but as the garden progressed we realized the importance of growing our own food as well. We’ve added dwarf fruit trees, blueberries, strawberries, herbs and veggies throughout the garden space to make it edible as well as attractive.

We installed 700 gallons of rainwater collection last year with strategically placed rain barrels and expanded that to almost 900 gallons this year. A solar panel and pump was added to assist in watering our 200 sq. ft. raised bed area.

Projects that are in the works are a pergola that is a delightful summer sitting area now but plans are to screen it in for bug protection then replace the screen panels with clear corrugated panels for winter growing of lettuce and greens.

Other plans include an additional solar panel to power the waterfall for the fish pond, adding an additional raised bed for veggies, and building more cold frames (currently we have 4 frames) to increase our cold weather vegetable production.

Our garden feeds our body and our soul in addition to inspiring others to grow their own food.

Event extras: guided tours various times, talks about 4 season gardening, rainwater harvesting, solar pumps, small garden spaces

Additional photos from the day of the stroll.