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10 Ideas to Steal from Pine House Edible Gardens – Gardenista

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Even though it’s officially spring, it’s too early to plant my vegetable garden, as there’s still snow on the ground. But that hasn’t stopped me from plotting and replotting it in my head. This year, I’m taking design cues from Pine House Edible Gardens. I’ve long admired the vegetable gardens they create. They’re colorfully lush, highly productive, and ever so beautiful. Lonna Lopez, a designer at the Oakland-based firm, shares some of the secrets to their bountiful success.

Photography by Caitlin Atkinson.

1. Go tall!

You don’t need acres of land to have a productive edible garden. Lopez and team grow vertically when they can, to make use of all available space. They incorporate trellises, archways, and obelisks into beds, and utilize fences to encourage vining plants to climb. This frees up space in the beds for more veggies, herbs, and blooms.

Above: In this spacious Orinda, CA, garden, Lopez and team placed two wire obelisks inside a bed for cucumbers. In addition to making room for zinnias and herbs, growing cucumbers vertically helps prevent mildew. On the right, Texas tomato cages support and help contain prolific ‘Sungold’ cherry tomatoes. At the end of the garden, Lopez trained a fast-growing cup and saucer vine along an archway as a cutting flower.

2. Don’t forget fruit trees.

“We like to incorporate fruit trees into our vegetable gardens,” says Lopez, who plants them in borders surrounding the raised beds. “It helps to put them in places where there are already lots of pollinators to maximize the impact. Plus, in areas like California, we like to focus the areas in your landscape where you might need to water.”

In this compact Oakland Hills, CA, lot, a Fuyu persimmon tree planted at the garden’s entrance welcomes visitors. At its base Lopez planted a living mulch: silvery dusty miller, hot pink ranunculus, nasturtium, and the native annual Menzies baby blue eyes (Nemophila menziesii).
Above: In this compact Oakland Hills, CA, lot, a Fuyu persimmon tree planted at the garden’s entrance welcomes visitors. At its base Lopez planted a living mulch: silvery dusty miller, hot pink ranunculus, nasturtium, and the native annual Menzies baby blue eyes (Nemophila menziesii).

3. Build seating for gardening.

As my back and I have gotten older, we’ve come to really appreciate tall, raised beds, and Pine House Edible Gardens has built some beautiful ones. My favorites feature a ledge where you can sit to weed and harvest, rest your pruners or a basket, and store your water bottle. But take note: these caps take up space, so they work best when you have room for larger beds.

In this 40 by 50-inch plot, the team created two-foot-high raised beds out of redwood, capped with a six-inch wide ledge. Here, Lopez planted native Echinacea in front of a cucumber which climbs up a rectangular trellis screen, while pollinator magnet Agastache ‘Blue Fortune’ anchors the back.
Above: In this 40 by 50-inch plot, the team created two-foot-high raised beds out of redwood, capped with a six-inch wide ledge. Here, Lopez planted native Echinacea in front of a cucumber which climbs up a rectangular trellis screen, while pollinator magnet Agastache ‘Blue Fortune’ anchors the back.

4. Put heat-loving plants next to walls.

To grow warm season crops like pumpkins, melons, and butternut squashes, plant them where the fruit can grow next to a sunny wall from raised beds, sheds, or fences. The walls will absorb heat from the sun and help the fruits ripen faster.

Above: Lopez encourages a ‘Champion’ pumpkin to trail down the wall of the raised bed interplanted with oregano and leeks.
Above: Above: Lopez encourages a ‘Champion’ pumpkin to trail down the wall of the raised bed interplanted with oregano and leeks.

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