Look at the neighborhood maps of  Palo Alto, Mountain View, and Los Altos to see where the various neighborhoods (e.g., Baron Park, College Terrace, etc.,)  are located.

College Terrace, Palo Alto

This lovely, productive garden with many exciting features has 12 garden beds full of vegetables, as well as a sheet-mulched orchard boasting an apricot, a mulberry, and four apple trees,. A full ninety-five percent of the plants grown in this edible landscape are started from seed in the greenhouse or planted directly into the garden.

In addition to the herbs, flowers and native plants around the house and garden, the garden contains  fig, peach, pear, plum, blueberries, persimmon, pineapple guava and grape!

This fully sustainable garden gets its nutrients from the chicken poop for the soul (I mean soil) and from the homegrown compost, located in a 3-bin open pile system. Check out the living roof on the straw bale and clay chicken coop!

Jesse’s garden is an active part of the local Stanford community. In a wonderful collaboration, Jesse’s garden is used as the “working garden” for the Stanford Teaching Education Program (Elementary STEP Program).

If you’ve ever gone to a tasting at the Flea Street Cafe, you have already sampled this scrumptious garden! See you soon!

Barron Park #1, Palo Alto

A joy and a challenge of Jan’s garden is the large redwood tree in the middle of her backyard. Along with making shade and using lots of water, the redwood tree helps to create several “garden rooms”: a sunny kitchen garden on one side, and on the shady side, a meditation garden and a moon (or white) garden.

At present, Jan is attempting to grow 18 kinds of fruit, including 13 different fruit trees. In spite of the challenges of drought, shade and squirrels, most of the fruit growing has been fairly successful. A ‘Granny Smith’ apple and a ‘Wonderful’ pomegranate have recently joined a plum tree in the front yard and will eventually provide some shade from the hot afternoon sun. Other fruits are pear, dwarf peach and nectarine, pluot, a young aprium, lemon, orange, mandarin, fig, pineapple guava, blueberries, raspberries, boysenberries, grapes, and alpine strawberries.

Raised beds provide space for favorite seasonal vegetables, and Jan is encouraging edibles to self-sow. Parsley, leaf celery and ‘Marvel of Four Seasons’ lettuce are coming up here and there, to be left in place or transplanted.  Jan also encourages plants that attract beneficial insects.

Jan is very interested in recycling both materials and water. For example, the large rear bed was built from discarded fence boards from another property, and an old bathtub on the patio is the place for delightful outdoor showers and helps irrigate nearby shrubs.

Jan has tried to satisfy her desire for a lush and private, yet water-thrifty garden by combining edible landscaping with drought-tolerant plants and California natives. Mulch is important so leaves and prunings cover much of the ground, resulting in very good soil.

Jan is grateful for the knowledge and inspiration she received from many people while working for 12 years at Common Ground and more recently as a member of her neighborhood garden circle. Her greatest pleasure is being surrounded by healthy plants, insects, and birds and sharing this space with friends.

Barron Park #2, Palo Alto

Both the garden and the chickens at Sharon’s house have been a fixture since her childhood. Her large yard has bountiful space for both chickens and vegetables, herbs, flowers, and fruit trees. Sharon and her family eat seasonally. Why?

Because nothing compares with a sliced tomato sandwich still warm from the sun,

Because nothing tastes better after a long day at work than a huge fresh salad straight from the garden, and

Because a fresh, really fresh, artichoke tastes different than any other. She doesn’t think that she’s ever succeeded in picking a whole bowl of raspberries to bring into the house — they get eaten straight off the vine!

Sharon starts her seeds in her greenhouse and usually has enough plants to share with her local Barron Park Gardening Group. This neighborhood garden circle was started at a Grow Your Own Conference presented by the Valley of Heart’s Delight (now Green Fork) project. Winter vegetables usually include fava beans, peas, broccoli, cabbage, bok choi, and cauliflower. Summer season vegetables include tomatoes, eggplant, lettuce, beans, cucumbers, squash, asparagus, edamame, artichokes, and basil. Sharon digs her beds deeply and irrigates with both drip and a hose. She grows comfrey for her large compost piles.

On the fruit side of things, Sharon has a 50+ year old orange tree and Meyer lemon that bear virtually year round, several semi-dwarf fruit trees — plum, apricot, peach, apple, nectarine, Asian pear, tangerines, and lime. She has several beds of berries — ollalie blackberries, raspberries, boysenberries, strawberries, and blueberries. Some people pay to join a health club, Sharon gardens!

Barron Park #3, Palo Alto

The Hartinger’s started their garden 17 years ago when they moved to Barron Park and started raising their three children. Certainly part of their consideration when buying a house was whether there would be a sunny area for vegetables — a desire Jake has had ever since he attended a high school organic gardening class. After a few handfuls of Common Ground training classes, and quite a few years, the garden has evolved and grown.

The main vegetable area is approximately 300 sq ft and includes two composting areas, rotating beds, and changing pathways with no set bed design. In the summer. the garden has tomatoes, basil, peppers, squash, pumpkins, lemon cucumbers, beans, eggplants, and sunflowers. As fall rolls around, beds and pathways are redesigned in a new configuration with carrots, beets, lettuce, kale, chard, fava, potatoes, and compost crops.

The Hartinger’s main garden philosophy is to maintain an organic sustainable garden area that produces some high-quality food for their table year-round. However fun, beauty, whimsy, and minimal effort are always high priorities, too. The Hartingers make about ½ of all their compost, double-dig beds (if necessary), and minimize impact on the entire area with changing stepping stone walkways. They love their dirt, and they love their worms!

The Hartingers start most vegetables from seed using simple flats and pest deterrent covers such as old windows. Other vegetables are purchased and many are volunteers that recycle through the compost. The garden also features mature apple and orange trees, lemons, figs, and several varieties of herbs and flowers which create diversity and attract beneficial insects.

Green Acres, Palo Alto

Common Ground Garden Center’s motto is “Creating Abundance in Community” and their vision is to promote edible gardens in neighborhoods throughout the San Francisco Mid-Peninsula. The Common Ground Demonstration Garden is a model for this vision, and a place for the community to learn the best ways to get started or continue gardening.

The garden is the host site for classes held on GROW BIOINTENSIVE mini-farming, permaculture, drip irrigation, California native plants, seasonal vegetable gardening, garden tours, and more.

The core of the garden is a 14-bed GROW BIOINTENSIVE Mini- Farm area. Many compost piles are brewing. A home demonstration area will soon include three vegetable beds, native plants, and herbs. A childrens’ garden bed will be planted in this fall’s “Gardening with Children” class.

A total of 17 beds are planted with unique crops including grains and root crops. Look for tomatoes, potatoes, amaranth, wheat, parsnips, oats, corn, jerusalem artichokes, alfalfa, millet, and bush beans. Two old apricot trees are a legacy of the former orchard, and five apple and two pomegranate trees were planted recently. Common Ground wishes to thank the regular Thursday volunteers who help make the garden a reality.

Los Altos Hills

The Lassen garden and fruit orchard are located on a hill along the roadway and are highly visible. The edible landscaping takes up about 1/3 of the 1 ¼ acre property. This front yard exposure offers a great opportunity to demonstrate how diverse a garden can be. Neighbors, friends and passers-by come to feed the hens, ducks and rabbit that live with them as well as marvel at the fruit and vegetables. The garden has even helped to slow down the traffic on the street. The Lassen garden has taken on a life of its own. Not only does it provide really great tasting organic food, but it acts as a meeting place and a place to kick back or play hard.

Mark starts his plants from seed in the house. The 60 fruit trees, blueberries, and strawberries were all started from bare root. Eight hens and two ducks provide the family with eggs, the garden with natural fertilizer and keep the yard free from slugs and snails. The property is irrigated with a drip system that is fed from a well. The theme of the property is to landscape with plants and trees that look beautiful and give back to the people who care for them. The vegetable garden is terraced up the hill by using raised beds and a pumpkin patch. The Lassens keep the garden going year round and think the winter garden is even more exciting then the summer garden — or maybe it’s the other way around!

The Lassens’ goal is to show that large lots with big homes do not need to have a large expanse of grass which is fed with synthetic fertilizers and sprayed with earth-poisoning herbicides. The Lassens believe that everyone can landscape with organic gardening! Share the bounty with friends, neighbors and passers-by and be the talk of the neighborhood!

North Los Altos #1

Prior to the development of the surrounding suburban home sites during recent decades, Sun Acres was the name of the apricot orchard that once stood here along with the historic home that is still standing on the western edge of this garden. When the opportunity arose in the early 1990’s to reunite this parcel with the original home, the owners —inspired by Rosalind Creasy and a talk that she gave at Common Ground—both preserved the land and revived the spirit of Sun Acres in this lovingly tended garden.

The return of the site to its original roots first required remediation of challenging soil and drainage problems. The site had been scraped and prepared for development, and when Ros set to work, she found little life in the compacted soil. Ros responded with the creation of a series of raised beds, importing yards and yards of compost to repair the soil food web and return to the earth the microorganisms that had been removed. The patience and planning paid off, and regular applications of compost and mulch have gradually brought the soil back to health, and the beds are now teeming with life.

This elegant edible garden features a central gazebo and arbor, around which a colorful wheel of pie-shaped raised beds produces countless bountiful harvests throughout the season. The garden was further expanded nine years ago, when Maureen Decombe replaced the volleyball court with a play lawn and a large cobble-edged raised bed for cut flowers and fruit trees. Cherries and figs thrive among mixed ornamental and edible plants.

Armfuls of bouquets are harvested for the house, and the interplay between ornamental and edible plantings sets a colorful stage for beneficial insects, butterflies, hummingbirds, and the resident honeybees. Living fences of espaliered apple and pear trees have increased fruit yields in a narrow raised area surrounding the main garden, and a year-old bramble trellis has produced an abundance of raspberries and blackberries.

Each year a wide variety of vegetables are grown and tested for taste, productivity and disease resistance along with old favorites such as the much beloved pumpkin varieties, Rouge vif d’Etampes and Musquée de Provence. This garden provides year-round harvests for the family, neighbors, and friends.

Thank you to Marva and John Warnock who have generously opened their garden for our enjoyment, and to the Green Willow Gardens team—Julia Könye, Belinda Florio, Matt Whittington, and Maureen Decombe—for their attentive care of Sun Acres.

North Los Altos #2

Welcome to the Front Door Farm!

What began five years ago as a square foot gardening experiment of two 4′ X 4′ raised beds in our back yard, has evolved from a few herbs and vegetables into a front-yard consuming garden, something our friends and neighbors refer to as our small farm (1/4 acre), complete with chickens and bees.

The Warnock family does not follow any one “system” of gardening, and their garden would not be what it is without the efforts of their two sons. The Warnocks do what they can, when they can. They enjoy their morning coffee and after-work cocktails in the gardens when the weather is nice.

The Warnocks plant only what they like to eat, or what they would like themselves to like to eat, and they try to harvest it when it is ready. They encourage volunteers, plants that mysteriously pop-up in the middle of bed or in the undefined nether regions of the garden, an artifact of raised beds. They never know what the plants might be. If they are undesired, they are weeded. Thye have have received a fig tree, and numerous tomatoes, flowers and melons have came to them in this manner. They usually let some of their plants go to seed, harvest the seeds and then cycle the plants through either the compost or the chickens.

Ultimately, the family learns a lot and enjoys the education and the harvest that coincides with their efforts. They know that no pesticides are used and often provide visitors with fresh eggs and produce. Working in the front yard, they meet and interact with more of their neighbors. They exchange gardening tips, stories and trade harvests: peaches for nectarines, eggs for apricots and cherries, and cucumbers just for passing by.

Monta Loma, Mountain View

Alan, an enthusiastic gardener with over 30 years of growing experience (10 of which was dedicated solely to tomatoes!), has been a homeowner of this petite Eichler tract home for the past twelve years, during which time he has transformed the garden into an organic oasis with a mind towards gardening practices that support insects, bees, butterflies, and birds. The transformation includes a bountiful garden dominated by California native plants.

In place of about 10 overgrown trees and shrubs that came with the property, now stand Santa Rosa plum, Satsuma plum (2), Elephant Heart plum, Blenheim apricot, espaliered Fuji apple (2), Pink Lady apple, Bavry Green Gage plum, Washington Navel orange, Bearss lime, Meyer lemon and a variety of young Dwarf or Semi-Dwarf fruit trees. The removal of the overgrown trees and shrubs also allowed for construction of walkways, patios, and retaining walls. The backyard started as an open palette.

Alan’s large raised vegetable beds hosts different vegetables each year.This year you will find melons, dry beans, winter squash and, yes, tomatoes! (So far the cool weather has favored the tomatoes.) Broad use of drip irrigation and soaker hoses tends the beds in this seven year plus fully organic garden. Year by year, Alan has also been increasing his awareness and use of food preserving techniques.

Come see!!

Blossom Valley #1, Mountain View

When Thierry and Patricia bought their home in 2001, they inherited traditional ornamental landscaping in the front and backyards, including over 20 rose bushes. They have gradually redesigned the yards with fruit trees, vegetable and herb beds, and native and drought tolerant plants. Both grew up in households where cooking with fresh basic ingredients was the norm (Thierry immigrated from Belgium, and Patricia from Chile), and they enjoy growing a variety of vegetables and herbs organically for daily use year round. Their love of nature and a desire to maintain a thriving habitat for wildlife, has also been a factor in their approach to landscaping; therefore, they do not use chemical herbicides, pesticides or fertilizers.

Initially they consulted with two different landscape design firms, but ultimately decided to create their own plans. Their gardener and his crew worked with them to implement their vision by doing the preparation including installing drip systems, flagstone and crushed granite paths, and building the planter in the front yard. Thierry put his computer skills to use with Google Sketchup and drew up the designs which provided detailed plans for the workers. Thierry and Patricia researched, acquired, and planted all of the plants and consider their gardens works in progress, as they make new discoveries of their favorite edibles.

The front yard features a large and very productive Meyer lemon tree and a thriving ten year-old avocado tree nurtured from a sprouted pit from the compost pile. A planting bed constructed from “green” materials provides additional space for seasonal edibles, including a kumquat tree as a centerpiece. A spectacular stand of Matilija Poppy, and other natives have replaced a side lawn along the driveway.

Thierry and Patricia eliminated all of the lawn in the backyard (with the help of their two beloved greyhounds), and redesigned the yard so that it is compatible with four-legged family members while providing spaces for vegetable gardening, wildlife habitat, and an outdoor dining area under the pergola. A key feature is the raised bed planting unit that they built from a ready-made kit which includes a watering system, trellis, and a gate to keep the edibles safe from curious canines. They have planted young apple and pomegranate trees, as well as herbs for the kitchen. The pergola is framed by grapevines and is the perfect spot to enjoy the diversity of birds that share the garden. The shrubbery along the backyard fence was preserved as nesting habitat for them. An organically maintained rose garden supplies food for the soul (blueberry bushes have replaced some of the roses).

Blossom Valley #2, Mountain View

Mixing fruits and vegetables amongst the Sheridans’ front and backyard gardens achieves several goals for their family:

Increases the amount of vegetables and fruit in every meal,

Minimizes their contribution to water intensive wasteful agricultural practices, and

Creates an environment where their three children learn about plant nutrition and hopefully increase the likelihood of their living healthier, happier lives by incorporating similar concepts into their own food choices as adults.

Although each of these three goals supports the Sheridans’ decision several years ago to dig up their front lawn and grow vegetables 9 or more months out of the year, at the end of the day the main reasons why they made that decision was because gardening is so rewarding and because their front lawn area had the best sun location on their property.

The Sheridans have planted an apple, apricot, nectarine, and two pomegranate trees. During the summer, they grow zucchini, squash, bush beans, yellow pear tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, Early Girl tomatoes, basil, and other herbs. The red potato patch is a springtime-only feature.

Every year the Sheridans have enjoyed caring for their gardens, and as a consequence, they have also learned a lot about their neighbors and have had the benefit of the remarkable taste of freshly picked vegetables from their own garden.