Before + After: North End Alley
When I first heard from Gina, a retired teacher in the North End, she said she had an alley area she wanted to utilize as a garden space. I didn’t really know how to picture it. At first, I thought of a dark, narrow alley that stored garbage cans and junk. During our first consult though, I immediately saw the potential of her space, which was just opposite her fence and garage, with good sun, a nearby water source and ample opportunities.
Before: An Underused Alley Space Ripe With Potential
While we talked, Gina told me that the alleyway used to be home to horse stables, and her own garage used to be a dirt-floor barn. As a girl who grew up with horses, I felt right at home. She told me that a lot of her neighbors gardened, and she dreamed of the whole alley would be home to growing gardens in the future.
After our consult, I designed a border garden that fit against the fence so that Gina could still access her garage, and we came up with some plans to add trellises to each bed to increase her growing space. In just over 50 square feet, I showed her how she could use intensive planting and trellising to grow even more food than she thought possible. We talked through design elements, materials and water before we decided on a plan forward.
I love designing gardens, and a lot of my clients say they prefer to handle the installation themselves. Gina’s family owns a construction outfit, so she understood the benefit of hiring out the “worst-first-step.” In less than a week, we completed the installation. My friend Mondo, an accomplished landscape professional, worked to excavate, level and gravel the garden area before my friend George, a talented carpenter, delivered three beautiful 100% cedar beds. Mondo filled the beds with soil the day before Boise was hit with almost a foot of snow in town. Scroll through the progress shots below to see how this all came together.
It took less than three weeks from our first meeting to get this garden designed and installed. Now, we wait until the snow melts, the soil settles and planting begins. I feel honored to get to transform underutilized spaces into beautiful kitchen gardens for people around Boise, learning about their garden experience and their homes throughout the process. I’m also grateful for the hardworking people I’ve connected with to create these gardens. Their talent and work ethic continues to impress me.
The finished garden, just waiting for plants and final trellises.
I’m on a mission to make gardening part of your home’s design, your lifestyle and our community’s culture. I hope that you’ll contact me if you’re thinking of putting in a garden this season, or thinking of revamping the garden you already have.