Alex and Harper’s Place
“The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just on the body, but the soul. ”
Alfred Austin
Alex, Harper and their dog, Guppy live on 49th Ave SW just north of Andover in West Seattle. If they could grow only one crop, it would be tomatoes, but they are also interested in growing other types of food for healthy eating, to create beauty around their home and to align with nature.
They feel if they had more knowledge and confidence, they could truly create the garden that they want. They are familiar and interested in gardening techniques with native plants, vertical gardening, double digging and herb gardening.
They learn best by watching others and then doing it themselves, have about 3-5 hours a week to devote to their garden, which is a good match because that’s how much time they would like to work on it.
If they had all of the money and time in the world, they would like to create an outdoor living area in their backyard and they are already close with their gorgeous cherry tree, quaint little sitting area and great selection of ornamental plants.
Front Yard
They have the start of a great garden out front and made some excellent choices for a variety of color and plant styles. They would like to expand on the work they started by taking out more of the grass and adding more ornamentals and edibles to offer color and interest throughout the year. For spring and early summer color there are alyssum, evergreen, peonies, huckleberry and more could be added to fill in the open spaces. Mint and lilies have summer interest and color, and more lilies as well as zinnias or dahlias could be added to get from summer to frost. For fall and winter interest Alex and Harper already have rosemary and hellebore, as well as a wormwood, whose gray-green foliage adds color all year round. They have a root slayer shovel they like to use to remove grass, and Alex mentioned hiring someone to do that for them since it is tiring work. Sheet mulching is also a good way to add to the garden space and remove more grass. Interest can also be added with different heights and layers of plants, from a groundcover layer all the way up to trees and shrubs. With the shade around the north and west edges of the front garden, there is plenty of potential to add natives that would be easy to care for and offer structure for the smaller ornamentals.
Side Yard
The side yard gets lots of sun and has southern exposure, so it is a good place for growing edibles. However the space is a bit unorganized, with overgrown strawberry plants, a patch of grass where strawberries aren’t thriving, and a rose that is infected with both black spot and anthracnose. Although the rose has gorgeous flowers during the summer and is nice to look at through the window, it may be happier in another spot where it has a bit more space and could be admired from all sides. If the rose were moved from that spot there would be more room for blueberries or other perennial edibles.
Harper installed a small raised bed made with an old dresser drawer, but the wood veneer is peeling and the drawer is falling apart. A new, sturdy raised bed would do well in the spot where the drawer is now, and could offer about 12-20 square feet of space for annual vegetables or fruits.
The strawberries need to be cleared of grass and an edge put in between the side yard bed and the gravel path. The spot where the strawberries are dying out needs to have grass removed and another carefree edible put in its place.
Back Yard
Alex and Harper want the space under the cherry tree to remain without many edibles. It is already a lovely sitting area, and could be made much more welcoming with some pavers connecting it into the deck of the house and creating a line toward the bed on the east side of the garage. With the cherry tree and the addition of the plum and fig trees in the back yard, that space will become more shady as years pass, so the tree circles should be allowed to grow and the grass area can slowly shrink to accomodate the tree canopies. As in the front, some of the shrubs are a bit close to the building structures and need thinning and lightening in order to stay in excellent health. The grass pad on the south side of the pathway in back will remain as is, to accomodate the school bus/ RV conversion they plan to purchase.
Summary
Alex and Harper have a great start on a beautiful garden out front and lots of options for the area beside their house. There is plenty of room to grow in back as well, where the south portion of the back / side yard can be raised beds for edibles, giving way to the School Bus/ RV parking and then into the small orchard with their outdoor living area and possibly herb and greens containers on the deck for convenient harvesting while preparing meals.