Growing Vegetables, Fruit, and Herbs in Your Garden

Rooftop kitchen garden. It is possible to grow quite a variety of herbs, vegetables and fruit in a small space!

About 25sf of planters and pots supply produce from apple and cherry trees, raspberry and blueberry bushes, strawberry plants, a grape vine, as well as greens, tomatoes, peppers and a dozen different herbs.

Collecting some vegetables, herbs and fruits for the day's breakfast and lunch menu. Photo by Raquel de Favori ©2017.

Tomatoes ripening in the roof garden.

Growing your own berries is not difficult at all. Ask the nursery about purchasing a male and a female plant, and for netting to place over the plants so that the birds don't take the berries before you!

Grow your berries in a sunny spot

Grapes don't have to overwhelm your garden; a lattice fence or even a parapet railing can support them in a sunny spot adequately sheltered from the wind.

The sweetness of growing your own cherries.

Spring 2017 : Some designs underway

BEFORE.  East 50s terrace garden with spectacular views : LEED Gold building terrace garden. The very light-colored flooring deflects heat (though the pavers shown here will be replaced with porcelain tiles, the tone will remain about the same).

This Spring we are working on some fantastic landscape design / build projects for our clients, from a roof terrace for an art collector in the East 50s, to a Japanese-influenced backyard garden for a family on the Upper West Side, and a brownstone 2-level backyard garden -- with a footbridge from deck to back garden, on the upper level!

DESIGN RENDERING.  An Upper West Side backyard has been one part of a interior/exterior renovation which must pass through multiple rounds of approval : the building's board; the Landmarks Preservation Committee; and the Department of Buildings. Some gardens are designed and built within a few months of our first meeting a client. Others can take a year to come to fruition!

Our clients love outdoor space in NYC and want to make the very most of it. Some love a view from the 27th floor, but would like to block out just one or two aspects of it and protect themselves from a southern exposure's heat and direct sunlight. Another client's ideal harks back to a grandmother's garden, and includes a screened enclosure in the garden to enjoy the outdoors while avoiding bug bites. For a third, the garden is primarily meant as a serene view, but nonetheless has 3 distinct spaces for enjoying contact with nature and entertaining friends and family.