Transform Your Yard - Garden Menu

Fruit trees are a crucial element in any urban garden. You might think you don't have space, but we think you do! We suggest planting dwarf and semi-dwarf varieties with low chill needs to make the most of your space.  In the Bay Area, we've had success growing: Apples, Pears, Plums, Apricots, Peaches, Pluots, Cherries, Figs, Avocado, Kiwi, Persimmon, Lemons, Limes, Oranges, Mulberries, Pomegranate, Pineapple Guava (Fajoa), Paw Paw, and more. The sky is the limit!

We plant fruit trees with appropriate companion perennials that will maximize your yield by fixing nitrogen and mining important minerals.  Consider diverting your shower or laundry water to irrigate your fruit orchard!  If you plant fruit trees on your property, future generations will be awfully grateful.  

Millions of pounds of reusable food scraps are transported each year to landfills around the world.  Installing a compost system is a great way to halt the massive inefficiencies of the waste industry and create incredibly rich, nutrious soil for your garden.  No longer will you stare disparginally at at a pile of veggetable scraps, when you know that in several months you will be able to harvest your own soil.  Adding compost to your garden is an excellent way to encourage growth without buyting expensive fertilizers.  You will be suprised how much "waste" you can transform into rich, beautiful soil!

Installing a greywater system from your laundry machine is the easiest and least expensive way to reuse your laundry water. Laundry machines are equipped with an internal pump that enables an easy install without gravity reliant plumbing design.  Laundry water is delivered into mulch basins below the soil surface where nearby fruit trees can easily access the water.  A three way ball-valve enables you to send laundry water to the sewer if you need to wash with bleach or another non-biodegradable soap.  Installing a laundry-to-landscape greywater system, will lower your utility bills and enable you to control where your waste water is directed!

Rather than send your shower water down the drain into the sewer system, reuse it in your garden!  A shower greywater system enables you to choose whether your water will be sent to the sewer or to mulch basins around fruit trees in your garden.  This saves you irrigation costs and conserves valuable water.  When diverting water to your backyard, use biodegradable soaps.  An automated switch allows you to switch to the sewer instantly if you need to use more intensive hair or body products.  In California, water shortages are expected to increase, installing a greywater system is an excellent way to take back control of your water!

Get your tomato started early!  Whether it's a small cold-frame or a large walk-in structure, a greenhouse is an incredibly useful element in the garden.  Creating a climate controlled shelter enables you to start seeds early in the rainy months, grow sub-tropical species and give your seedlings a head start in the spring. 

Potato towers are an time and space saving way to grow your own delicious potatos.  Rather than digging in the ground looking for the elusive tubers, a raised tower enables you to harvest above ground when your potato plants start to die back.  Just relase the support system and the potatos will fall to the ground for easy collection.  Growing potatos vertically is also great solution for lead contaminated soil.  After using a potato tower, you probably won't want go back. 

Ducks make great garden companions!  Unlike chickens who notoriously scratch vegetable gardens to pieces, Ducks are much more delicate.  They meander through your tall kale and bean plants, hunting slugs and snails that would otherwise wreak havoc.  A well known permaculture saying:  "You don't too many slugs in your garden..., you have too few ducks."  Planting Justice will build a shelter for the ducks to protect them from raccoons.  In addition, to maintaining pest problems in the garden you will be able to harvest large, delicious duck eggs.  

Cob oven's are a wonderful gathering point in your garden.  Your friends will be begging you to host pizza parties.  Cob Oven's are a very attracive and  community.  In addtion to home baked bread, pizzas and fun neighborhood gatherings, cob ovens are an excellent way to use creatively use your own Bay Area clay.  We aim to design gardens that are both highly productive and highly enjoyable places.  Adding a cob oven is an excellent way to spend more time in your backyard!

Catch and store your own rainwater!  As California faces serious water shortages the importance of storing and reusing residential water supplies is ever growing.  Take a stand now to reduce your dependence on Municipal water supply.  Whether diverting roof water into large cisterns for storage, backyard ponds or into mulch basins around fruit trees, you will be impressed how much water you can harvest from your roof.  

Alameda County allows you to build an non-permitted 400 square-foot shed/studio in your backyard!  Rather than spending thousands of dollars in building supplies, let Planting Justice construct your building with natural materials harvested from local sources.  Whether it be cob, strawbale, waddle and dawb, bamboo, adobe, super adobe, rammed earth, there are so many different options to create a beautiful retreat space.