Function Meets Curb Appeal : The Leoni Family's Organic Garden

For several years the The Leoni family’s landscape has been evolving almost as fast as their appetite for locally grown organic produce.  They’re plans for a completely revamped backyard included an organic garden, but strict community regulations meant that, in addition to growing  organic produce, their backyard garden also had to meet  the neighborhood’s  high standard for aesthetic appeal.

The design we made for the Leoni family features a large, L shaped raised bed for growing vegetable varieties, with a smaller, square shaped bed perfect  for culinary herbs.

 The Leoni family’s raised beds were made using  five layers of Western Red Cedar 4”x4” timbers, which gave them a depth of about 18 inches.  The beds were filled with a blend of pine bark fines, mushroom compost, and Stalite PermaTill, and amended with Microfarm Mix ; a blend of Dried Blood Meal, Bone Meal, Kelp Meal, Green Sand, Rock Phosphate, and Dolomite Lime.

To create attractive, functional pathways around the beds, we installed heavy gauge steel landscape edging in a perimeter around the beds. In order to control weeks in the walkways, we first pinned down premium grade professional landscape fabric, then covered it with two cubic yards of small glacier pebbles.

By the end of the day, the beds were planted and glacier pebbles raked smooth…and the Leoni family finally had  an attractive and functional organic garden that the neighbors will enjoy almost as much as they do.