This is what the front yard looked like when I first moved in, August 2023.
I used the moving boxes as a biodegradable weed barrier to eradicate the grass where I wanted to create garden beds.
I added this permeable drainage pipe to prevent moisture intrusion in the basement. It also passively waters the plants in that bed.
I drew this plan to delineate the garden edges and make this shape. I call it "diamond teardrop."
After edging, I dressed the beds with a thick layer of Com-til. As you can see, it was a drier than usual season.
I planted garlic, daffodils, resurrection lilies, and other spring bulbs inadvertently unearthed during the landscaping process
The following summer (2024), I had enough garlic for my annual supply, a braid of 1 dozen each for all of my neighbors up the street, and a nice selection large “seed cloves” for the coming year.
View from the front porch.
View from the street.
I gleaned seeds for this amaranth from a nearby park.
I grow hot peppers amongst the flowers out front.
Okra thrived in the "hell strip" between the sidewalk and curb alongside native pollinators like Queen Anne's Lace, Milkweed, Echinacea, Rudbeckia, Yarrow, and Monarda.
This is what the backyard looked like in fall 2024, before I began landscaping out back.
You can see the lot is fairly long, with areas of sun and shade adjacent the garage.
This is the plan I created for a mix of gardens and seating areas.
Using a rear-tine tiller, wheelbarrow, and hand tools, it took me about 7 weeks of physically-demanding labor – after work and on weekends in April and May 2025 – to transform the backyard.
I named the garden Fiddlehead after the shape of the path and fire circle.
It was an abundant first season!
Carrots
The tomatoes provided multiple harvests from which I made many jars of sauce and paste.
San Marzano tomatoes and a mix of hot peppers
Bishop's Cap peppers, seeds were gleaned from a local park
A mix of hot peppers that I will soon crush into flakes.
I regularly put out my surplus to share with neighbors and other friends.
The harvest was extended by an unseasonably warm autumn.
A path amidst wildflowers and stone fruit trees (cherry, peach, apricot, and plum) leads to a hammock next to the fire circle.
End of growing season bonfire with neighbors.
Sunrise after the first frost of fall 2025.
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