Tenth Anniversary: Our Favorite Natural Gardens
Learn more about our top picks for natural garden of the decade. Then, vote for yours!
March 2009 Web
By Natural Home Staff
Get more information about the natural garden of the year choices. When you're finished, vote for your favorite!
RELATED CONTENT
10 Years of Living Wisely, Living Well Our favorite houses and gardens of the past decade are inspi...
This home is built with weedy, whole trees that would have otherwise gone to waste....
This Louisiana cottage incorporates reclaimed, local materials while still maintaining its historic...
Jon O’Neal’s 2,600-square-foot prairie home, designed by locally famous Lawrence, Kansas, architect...
By collecting rainwater and reusing graywater from their home, two brothers have created a lush, fo...
Gardens
1. From Eyesore to Enchantment
In Laguna Beach, a drainage ditch is transformed into a paradise through a couple’s love as well as their passion for the environment. Although considered a poor location, due to a metal drain that collected water from the surrounding hills, Chris and Heidi Prelitz bought the plot with a goal of an eco-friendly home and a lush garden. Chris, a general contractor with a passion for sustainable building and permaculture, built retaining walls, terraces and beds to prevent erosion on the steeply sloped land. Through observations of natural water flow, Chris designed paths and stepping-stone stairways while creating a wall around the storm drain and a basin for the fruit trees made of broken concrete.
2. Garden for Good Life
With 320-acres of land, most people would attempt to clear and conquer it, but for recent landowners Nancy and John Schaeffer, the challenge was how to live in harmony with all the land's natural beauty. The couple, along with the assistance of their students, set out to build an off-the-grid house and surround it with organic vegetable gardens that enhance the ecosystem rather than compete with it. Sustaining the earth has always been John’s central focus, and this project was no exception. The couple concentrated their green efforts on landscaping and gardening first.
3. Pasadena Paradise: The Perfect Garden with Creative Urban Results
Pasadena, California, homeowner Jules Dervaes, his son Justin and daughters Anaïs and Jordanne, take a trip behind the house to eat organic food. The family of four raises three tons of food each year—enough to supply three-quarters of their diet and maintain a thriving organic produce business to boot. Jules is a strong believer in feeding the soil to produce quality organic crops. Every week during growing season, he dilutes one-quarter to one-half teaspoon of a commonly available kelp fertilizer in a gallon of water and sprays it directly on the plants.
Page: 1 |
2 |
3 |
Next >>