A Formerly Weedy Lot Now Brims With Edibles and Honeybees
Photographers transform their barren backyard into an oasis filled with fruit, vegetables, honey, eggs and more
Mitchell Parker
July 19, 2015
Houzz Editorial Staff. Home design journalist writing about cool spaces, innovative trends, breaking news, industry analysis and humor.
Houzz Editorial Staff. Home design journalist writing about cool spaces, innovative... More
A weedy dirt lot is probably the last thing you think of when you’re hungry. But photographers Adam Voorhes and Robin Finlay envisioned a lush backyard full of edibles for their barren backyard in Austin, Texas.
They turned to landscape designer B. Jane for help. She got to work creating shade and an entertainment space and adding plenty of food-producing plants. The homeowners are now flush with tomatoes, okra and other vegetables, as well as pecans, citrus, wild olives, prickly pear cactus (which they grill or add to margaritas), eggs from three roaming chickens and honey — lots and lots of honey. Voorhes harvests about 3 gallons of honey a year from his nearly 30,000 backyard bees. Hungry yet?
They turned to landscape designer B. Jane for help. She got to work creating shade and an entertainment space and adding plenty of food-producing plants. The homeowners are now flush with tomatoes, okra and other vegetables, as well as pecans, citrus, wild olives, prickly pear cactus (which they grill or add to margaritas), eggs from three roaming chickens and honey — lots and lots of honey. Voorhes harvests about 3 gallons of honey a year from his nearly 30,000 backyard bees. Hungry yet?
When Voorhes and Finlay bought the property, they replaced a chain-link fence with cedar planking. They also added an arbor and a water-catching system. Jane did the pavers, metal edging, design and plantings. “We wanted to mesh midcentury modern with agrarian,” says Jane, of B. Jane Gardens.
Here, trailing rosemary frames pavers that extend from the patio, where the couple keeps a grill for outdoor entertaining. Voorhes says the outdoor clotheslines dry laundry faster than their drying machine.
Planters in the corner hold lime, lemon and grapefruit trees.
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Planters in the corner hold lime, lemon and grapefruit trees.
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Four garden beds contain mostly tomatoes, okra and vegetables. “We try to stick to what’s hard to get in good quality at the store,” Voorhes says. There are also basil, arugula, chard and Brussels sprouts.
Shredded hardwood mulch around the beds keeps the weeds down. A pea gravel path leads to a greenhouse that Voorhes built from a kit. He uses the space for seed starts and for growing tomatoes and basil through the winter.
What to Know About Adding or Renovating an Edible Garden
Shredded hardwood mulch around the beds keeps the weeds down. A pea gravel path leads to a greenhouse that Voorhes built from a kit. He uses the space for seed starts and for growing tomatoes and basil through the winter.
What to Know About Adding or Renovating an Edible Garden
Before Photo
Before: Here you can see the weedy dirt lot surrounded by a chain-link fence that defined the backyard when Voorhes and Finlay (seen here being jumped on by their dog, Catfish) moved in.
After: Looking from about the same viewpoint, we see two large pecan trees that provide shade for the Saint Augustine grass, allowing the homeowners to get away without watering it most of the time. During dry months, they fall back on their rain tanks.
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Voorhes built the chicken coop, which Finlay has dubbed the “Chicken Taj Majal.” Chicken droppings provide fertilizer for the lawn, while their constant pecking helps aerate the grass. The plant nearest the coop is blue mist flower.
A welded and powder-coated water feature attracts blue jays, cardinals, jackals and bees. The hope was that it would lure the birds away from the tomatoes. “But it doesn’t really work,” Voorhes says. “It just gives them water to drink before they head right back to the garden beds.”
Five downspouts feed water into two large rain barrels, one a 1,000-gallon tank, the other a 700-gallon tank. All the water is used for the gardens.
Prickly pear cactus, seen here, gets grilled, used for margaritas or turned into jam.
New to home remodeling? Learn the basics
Prickly pear cactus, seen here, gets grilled, used for margaritas or turned into jam.
New to home remodeling? Learn the basics
Voorhes has been keeping bees for several years now. The bees work well for pollinating the yard and producing honey, which Voorhes mostly gives away.
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Thank you, kkl5! I'm looking into it now.
Their plants come potted, not bareroot so you can plant in summer (they won't send if this isn't true.) If one has a problem, they will refund or reship the plants. The fact that they come in pots with real (and appropriate actual soil) makes them more expensive because of shipping, but your success (and plant size) makes it worth it.
what was the source for the water tanks?