get growing 

My goal is to remove the confusion surrounding growing your own food through education and inspiration.

Edible or kitchen gardens, allow us to not just grow our own food but find beauty in the solitude of our own home. The same can be said with perennial and native gardens. Whether you’re looking for a new hobby, improve mental health and moral, support your ecosystem, reduce trips to the grocery store, or add value to your home, a kitchen and/or perennial garden is one of the most rewarding and peaceful solutions to all of the above.

Gardens can come in various shapes, sizes, and styles to accommodate your needs, wants, and budget. With complexities ranging from a low maintenance salad or herb garden, to a more intensive plant plan with structures and formal accents, I empower you to just start.

the components of a kitchen garden consultation:

Do I need a consultation to work with you?

Appropriate setup is arguably the most important step in starting your gardening journey, so all of my client relationships must start with a consultation. If you have general questions, or you are a business, entrepreneur, or non-profit looking to host a private event, please don’t hesitate to contact me directly.

What are the first steps?

Well, you schedule online and select the day and time that best fits your schedule. Once you secure your spot, you will be prompted with a questionnaire. This allows me to get some basic details regarding your dream kitchen garden, your space, and your experience. This form is quickly captures:

  1. Address

  2. What level of gardener you consider yourself

  3. Gardens of interest

  4. General space assessment

  5. How much sun you receive

  6. How much time you want to dedicate to your kitchen garden

Your responses help kick start your consultation and allow us more time to measure, take photos, and chat about your goals when we meet in person. Yes, that’s right, my consultations are in-person. I believe in authentic and meaningful interaction to establish our garden-bestie relationship.

What happens on consultation day?

I show up with bells on (this is almost literal, because consults make me super giddy). We start in your backyard to capture photos and measurements. I asses the entire property for ideal location which may mean moving your existing garden for optimal harvests all season long.

Once I have a solid bearing on the backyard and available space, we dive into the details. Some of my go-to questions include:

  1. Who is gardening?

  2. How often can you dedicate to your space?

  3. How long do you want to eat from your kitchen garden?

  4. What previous failures or wins have you experienced?

  5. What do you love and hate to eat?

    And so on…

What happens after the consultation?

At the end of the consultation we set up a follow up day and time to review your garden sketch and subsequent needs. Your garden sketch will provide you with the size, orientation, and the “lay of the land”. Every client is different, but we may uncover additional needs from our discussion. These needs can range from monthly coaching, planting plans, planting help, or maintenance help while you’re home or away, and I will include the add-on costs of those services during our follow up.

just start.

So that’s it! What are you waiting for? This small investment will bring you years of endless happiness, stress release, mindful moments, priceless lessons, sustainable independence, and a few less trips to the grocery store. All of which are a win-win.

FAQs

  • You receive a custom, hand-drawn, to-scale, sketch of your space with the ideal garden layout. In addition to that you will get a custom-tailored proposal for à la carte services like planting and maintenace, or continuous coaching, retail estimates for your garden space, and add on options such as a seasonal planting plan.

  • Totally fine! Go ahead and still schedule the consult for us to meet and address any current concerns or wishes for your space.

  • Reality check. I know we are talking garden math here, but it doesn’t have to be expensive. I will get creative and think outside of the box in order to help you grow within your fiscal means. Everyone has to start some where (I mean, check out my personal garden progress in the gallery). No garden is too small if it brings joy to those who tend it; that’s my mission. So yea, just start.

To garden is to nurture something to life. To create is the same.

-LeAura Alderson