Growing a Greener World

– Growing a Greener World is made possible in part by: - The Subaru Crosstrek.

Designed with adventure in mind.

Built in a zero landfill plant.

So you can roam the earth with a lighter footprint.

Subaru.

Proud sponsor of Growing a Greener World.

– And the following: Rainbird.

Corona Tools.

And Milorganite.

(upbeat music) - I'm Joe Lamp'l.

When I created Growing a Greener World, I had one goal, to tell stories of everyday people.

Innovators, entrepreneurs, forward-thinking leaders.

Who are all, in ways both big and small, dedicated to organic gardening and farming, lightening our footprint, conserving vital resources, protecting natural habitats, making a tangible difference for us all.

They're real.

They're passionate.

They're all around us.

They're the game changers who are literally growing a greener world, and inspiring the rest of us to do the same.

Growing a Greener World.

It's more than a movement, it's our mission.

(upbeat music) People garden for a lot of reasons.

To enhance the look and value of their home, to grow food and connect with nature and to create intimate and relaxing areas.

But plenty of people think you need a lot of room to do that.

But the fact is you don't, you can create great green spaces with very few feet, even if you have no soil to plant in.

But the trick is there are a few things you need to know to get the best results.

Susan Morrison and Rebecca Sweet are two garden designers working near San Francisco, California.

They're experts at packing a lot of punch into a small gardening space.

In fact, they coauthored a book on the subject.

They believe that any garden large or small, can benefit from using just a few basic design techniques on a much smaller scale.

- Small space gardening is a concept that anybody can use, whether you have a small garden, or a large garden or no garden.

Even if you have a balcony or a courtyard.

Everybody has those awkward spaces, whether they're along a fence line, or a patio, or a side yard.

That are small and difficult in which to create a garden.

- I think there's a perception that you can't do a lot in a small space.

But in fact, you can do just about anything that you can do in a large garden, including grow vegetables.

Even some fruit trees will work in a small space.

And because the area is already intimate, if you like to garden, if you're a plant collector, then you're really able to appreciate those plants in an up close and personal way.

- With some creative layering techniques where you layer up, instead of out you can create such a lush garden in just a foot or two.

You can use airy plants that are tall and see-through, and those types of techniques really visually trick the eye.

And it makes you think that the bed is deeper than it actually is.

And you can really create whatever type of garden you want.

You can have a lush perennial garden.

You can have just the vegetable garden.

The point is don't give up.

- You know, it's reported there are about 90 million gardeners in this country.

Now that includes gardens of all different shapes and sizes from large suburban vegetable plots to small urban spaces.

And these days that includes rooftop gardens and small apartment balconies, where green spaces are more important than ever.

(uplifting music) When you add even a few plants to a small balcony, you're improving the environment because you're filtering out some noise and other pollutants from the air, and you're also improving your lifestyle, just because it looks so nice.

And if you want to improve the growing space on your balcony, add some panels like this.

Now these are made of bamboo.

So they're really strong and they're really light.

And really light is important when you have to carry these up a few flights of stairs, it's not going to break your back.

But in addition to that, just look at all the privacy it adds.

That's really great, but you know what?

It's even more important than that.

When you add plants to your balcony, you're inviting wildlife.

In fact, it's an important component of what's called the Urban Green Space Corridor.

You see in an urban setting that lacks green space, sometimes wildlife like birds and other insects, have a hard time making it safely from one point to the next.

So when you have a few plants out here, well that creates a very safe stopping point.

And another important thing that you can do in an urban setting is add a water feature, because they're really lacking in this kind of environment.

But these days it's so easy and it's inexpensive.

All you have to do is plug it in, but they come in all different shapes and sizes.

You can set it inside of a container or just make it free standing on top of a table, but whatever you do, it's going to help the wildlife.

And if you're really into butterflies and hummingbirds and who isn't?

Add a lot of flowers on your balcony, especially the tubular ones, because they just love that.

And this one right here, that's Nicotiana, also known as tobacco plants.

Now these come in a lot of different colors.

They go great in a container, and they're really easy to take care of.

But a few plants on a balcony is going to add some important green space to an urban setting.

It's going to help the wildlife.

And it's not bad for us either.

- A lot of my clients have smaller gardens and a common situation that we run into are long narrow planting beds.

When it's a traditional garden, the typical go-to solution is to plant out.

But if you've got a small narrow bed, you have to rethink that.

And instead the solution is to plant up.

And what that means is, thinking of your narrow space in three layers.

On the top layer, you want to focus on vining plants, on small trees, or on any sort of a shrub that can be trained into a vase shape, or that grows that way naturally.

And that's what's going to give you color and height in the back of the bed.

The middle layer is the one that we really think of as being the most important layer.

And that's where you're going to want to focus on plants that are three or four feet tall and have an open and airy habit.

The reason this layer is so important is because of the way our eyes perceive depth.

If we can see two or three things in a space where there really should only be room for one, it gives the impression that the space is bigger than it is, and that just gives the garden an overall more lush feel.

And the third layer is the bottom layer.

That's the perfect spot for small mounding plants that don't get more than one or two feet tall.

Foliage plants are great for the bottom layer because not only do they balance out some of the flower color, higher up in your layered bed, but they're going to give you multi-season interest.

And in fact, choosing plants for this layer that are evergreen or semi evergreen, is going to make your layered garden last throughout the season and throughout the year.

(upbeat music) - You know, there's another problem area that just about everyone has in their gardens, large or small, and that's the plain blank wall.

Now, sometimes a plain wall is a good thing, but if you're trying to add interest to a small space, a plain wall can be a little boring.

The most common solution people try is to just grow a vine all over the wall.

But really doing this just turns the brown wall into a green wall.

A better solution, and one that Rebecca and Susan use in their designs is a focal point wall.

Just think of this outdoor wall as you would a wall in your home and decorate it.

You can do this with a combination of plants, a collection, artwork, or splashes of color.

You can even repurpose found objects into decorative pieces.

Anything that makes the wall more personal.

By doing this, you not only create a more interesting space, but you make the whole garden more a reflection of your own personality.

(upbeat music) - So as a designer, I get asked probably, with every new client I get asked, "What do I do with the side yard?"

It's such a challenging and narrow space and one that I think baffles pretty much everybody.

Take my yard for example, I have two side yards, one on either side.

The problem that most people have with their side yards, including me, is that you have uneven lighting, because they're narrow spaces, you have your house here, and if you have a two-story house, forget it, your side yard's in the shade almost the whole day.

And another problem is the side yards need to be utilitarian.

They need to lead from the front to the back.

The pathways need to be wide enough.

So how are you going to really create a garden in such a narrow space?

So there's a lot of ways that we can solve these problems.

One of which is to choose plants that naturally grow taller than they are wider.

And when you choose those plants, try and pick those that have airy and delicate and fine foliage versus those that have big hulking leaves.

Because what happens is when you have a small space and you choose a plant that's big and bulky, it actually makes that small space seem even smaller.

The lighter area foliage opens it up and you can see beyond, and it makes the space look bigger.

- Okay, if you're like me and you have a side yard, it's probably the last thing that you get to, but we've learned by now.

There's a lot of things that you can do in a small narrow space.

And this homeowner has made the most of that.

They have these great raised beds on both sides, full of wonderful plants and some vertical height.

And that's really important and an easy way to do it.

Just add some containers there and it doesn't hurt to have roses with great fragrance as you walk by.

Then we come up on this picture window.

Now it's nice, but without the window boxes, all they see is a blank wall.

But with all of that color, come on, it's beautiful from inside as well as the outside.

And then we walk and we see this wisteria, can you imagine this in full bloom?

But in the wintertime, because it's deciduous, there's extra sunlight going in here, which adds warmth.

But in the summertime, because of the leaves, we get the shade that we need from that afternoon sun.

And then we all have those garbage cans in those buckets.

And maybe the compost that we don't want to see all the time, but we want to get to it, right?

Well, build some storage bins like this, open it up, get to it when you need it.

But when you don't, it's out of the way.

But in a small narrow space like this, not only do we have function, but we have beauty too, and anybody could do that.

- And lastly, don't forget that you can grow plants flat along a fence by using a trellis system or in an Espalier system, which is just the French technique of growing trees or shrubs in intricate designs along a fence.

(soft music) - So we've seen some great ideas for gardening in small spaces.

But what if you had no space at all?

Well, Baylor Chapman knows that dilemma all too well.

She's a floral designer and green business owner in San Francisco's mission district.

(people chattering) - My floral and garden design business is a Certified Green Business in San Francisco.

I was really looking for better ways to grow and receive flowers that were organic.

And that's hard to do.

So we started looking for a space to grow flowers.

And again, it's a city.

There are not many places to grow.

There are rooftops.

And there are some small garden plots.

And ran into a neighbor and a friend who owns a production company and has a big parking lot.

So the center of the parking lot is used sometimes, but not so much.

Sometimes there are huge trucks in here, but we thought we could use the perimeter.

We could beautify the neighborhood and grow our own unique, organic flowers.

Some of the extra benefits that have come about because of our parking lot garden are sightings of little lady bugs, bees, and even hummingbirds.

And another added bonus is the neighbors.

Because we're in again, a very industrial neighborhood.

Yet, people are stopping and looking and peering through the gate.

What are you doing in there?

Which is pretty fun.

So I've met people across the street and behind us, the car dealership, the car repair shop.

Whom I wouldn't have met before.

- Baylor's commitment to container gardening goes far beyond her parking lot garden.

She utilizes containers in new and unique ways in just 500 square feet of space on her city loft.

- When designing my deck space and the plants here, I really have to consider budget.

I do consider the I environment as well, and I want to consider a unique vessel.

So that leads me to various places in San Francisco.

One is a scrap metal place where we go and check out what's there.

And sometimes they save certain pieces for me.

They've saved these copper panels, which are kind of fabulous.

I have one as a decorative piece, and one is filled with succulents that Sophie who works with me made me for a gift.

Another thing we do is I go to Building Resources in San Francisco and they had these fabulous shutters that we picked up and planted our succulents in.

They also had these really cool, I think they're siding or they're ceiling panels from an old building.

And we use them with the recycled wood or repurposed wood we got from there these old pieces that were kind of hard to work with, but we built these planter boxes.

And then we put casters on the bottom, so we could move around the studio.

You just have to think about a container or a pitcher or a bucket, anything.

Just if you can put a little soil in it, it'll work.

Even the shutters that we've used, or I go and get old grates that you can grow a vine up.

If you have a small space, think about your wall.

Think about going up instead of just planting on the ground.

- No doubt, there are tons of ways to work with a small awkward outdoor space.

And certainly all those techniques can work really well to maximize the beauty at a minimum of square footage.

But greening up an undersized space doesn't have to just be about making the most of a less than ideal situation.

In fact, have you ever considered using small space garden design techniques on purpose as a creative way to reign in a larger garden space?

Now might sound counterintuitive, but check out this garden that we found in Atlanta, Georgia where small might just be the new big.

- When we moved into the property, we realized it was a big expansive space.

And the idea of creating small, creating small intimate venues was really kind of a cool idea.

- The physical centerpiece of Bobby and his partner Jim's backyard is the swimming pool, perfectly scaled with ample decking all around, but you'd never know it because stepping out of the house, you literally can't see more than a few feet in any direction.

That may sound cramped, but it's just the opposite.

First of all, it feels intimate.

It's a nice big space, but it still feels like an enclosed room.

And what you've done with that Encore Azalea hedge, right?

- That's exactly what it is.

- You've got literally a green wall there.

- Yep.

Yep.

You see paths going different ways, but you've got this hedge that doesn't really allow you to see what's beyond it.

And I've had a few people say, "You need to trim that down," And I'm like, nope, I don't need to trim it down.

Walk a few more feet.

And then they walk around, and they see the sitting area that we're in now and the pool and they go, wow.

And then as you traverse the yard, you're pulled into these little rooms into these little spaces and you can explore on your own.

And it's really nice when you're entertaining and you want a different venue.

So if I want something by the reflection garden, I go over there and have a glass of wine or whatever, a cup of coffee.

Or if you want to do the round garden or the breakfast nook area, or even at the formal dining area, you can do that.

Or even where I'm sitting now, you know, we've got plenty of seating, plenty of spaces.

And a lot of people comment on how many spaces we have and I've seen guests come over and they'll sit in one spot for a few minutes and then move to a different spot, you know?

And I'm like, you, you do, you have fun, you know?

- Well, let's meander through here because you created that, that desire to stroll.

- Right.

- And then discover what's around the corner.

You're doing a great job of that.

(Bobby laughing) Because look at this, you got a vegetable garden right here.

- Exactly, exactly.

So.

- And I have to say... - Yeah - It's just not kind of a raised bed or an in-ground garden.

This even feels like a room because you've created walls with your edible plants.

- Well, yeah, I have.

And what we've done here is we have created just a little space.

I, you know, it's a half an acre lot, a little over half an acre lot.

And I wanted to squeeze in a vegetable garden cause it's fun.

It's fun.

So I've got a little bit of everything in here.

- And I like here also, I have to just point out some things that I'm observing, because I love this, you know, you've got your lawn area right up against this hard scape, but you've just used some pavers and stacked them up and then brought in soil.

So you kind of have a raised bed right here, but it almost just looks like a floor in there.

Cause you've got your pavers going in and just a single pathway with your edibles on both sides.

And again, the walls with your Roma tomatoes to give it that intimate enclosed space.

- Right - I really love that.

- Thank you.

Thank you.

- So the backside of the vegetable garden room and we have another room on the other side of the wall.

- Right, right.

- Rose of Sharon on the back there.

- Right.

- Some privacy, some color.

Something for the pollinators.

- Absolutely.

- Can't go wrong with that.

And anybody can do that.

- Yeah, and it's a beautiful bush.

I love it every year.

(water rushing) - Good for you that you've got cucumber looking this good at this time of year in a hot humid area.

- Absolutely.

Yeah.

- But here now on the other side of that, you know, you don't even know from the other side that you've got a little breakfast eating area right here.

- This is great for coffee in the morning, you let the umbrella up and you just have a nice, nice, nice cup of coffee or a croissant or whatever you want.

And again, new pavers were put down this year and it keeps it nice and contained.

And even when I have a lot of people over, this is a nice little spot for, you know, people just hang out.

We've got plenty of seating in the yard.

So I think I counted one day and I can seat like maybe 70 people in the property outside.

- Wow.

- So that's really cool.

- I'll take this reserve seating right here, sir.

I like that.

But the amazing part is that those 70 people could be divided into smaller groups of 2, 3, 4, 5, all tucked away in their own outdoor rooms in this landscape that's practically a never-ending series of hidden vignettes.

I love the use of the laurel as a hedge and evergreen shrub that gets tall enough to create that wall.

- Yes.

- And you don't even know that we're coming into another room.

- Right?

Right.

- You think that is kind of the end of it but it's not, because the path leads you into this area.

Like my gosh, look at this.

- Yes - Holy cow!

(Bobby laughing) You don't even know this is here, which is one of the beauties of having these intimate spaces and the way that you've set them up.

Now Bobby, here's what I know you did by design.

You're on the road or against the road.

You've got some road noise.

- Right.

- But that water, without that water, it would be a lot louder here.

- You are exactly right.

And that is intentional.

And that's why it's placed right where it is between the pool water and this water.

And then the music that goes on during the weekends and everything.

We can dim a lot of that noise out.

Block a lot of that out, so.

We call this the round garden.

Yeah.

I truly believe you don't need a large, large space to create that intimacy.

You can have a small space, some of the most beautiful garden spaces that I have seen have been very, very small and very, very intimate.

It's not about how much space you have, it's what you do with the space that you do have.

And they've been charming.

They've been intimate, and they've been absolutely wonderful and beautiful.

So there you go.

- But for me, a tour of Bobby's backyard was like nothing I'd ever seen.

I recognized all the small space design tricks, of course, but I'd never seen them all put together like this.

In a space that didn't need it, but was all the better for it.

(upbeat music) How nice is that?

And again, it's a room.

- It's an intimate little space and everything.

So when you want to do s'mores in the winter time, you've got a spot to do it in.

- Man.

- So it's really nice.

- Come over to Camp Bobby's house.

This is crazy.

- It's fantastic space.

So.

- Love that.

All right.

Where next?

Love the use of the Radio Flyer.

The classic red wagon.

- Yes That was a fun project, yes.

- The climbing hydrangea.

- Yep.

Absolutely, yeah.

- Oh my gosh.

Bobby.

- Yes.

This is what we call the reflection garden.

It used to be the formal garden, but it's not so formal now.

- This is like paradise.

- Yeah.

If you look around you'll see a giant mirror, which gives the name of reflection, but it's a great space.

Especially on again, a spring or summer or fall afternoon to have a glass of wine, listen to some music.

We've got speakers pumping out throughout the property and everything.

And you've got a giant mirror here.

- The mirror doubles the space of this room visually.

- Yeah.

It really does.

It tricks a lot of people because they think there's more, another room over there.

So.

- It totally looks like it just goes on and on.

- It does, it does indeed.

Yes.

- Everybody does this too, don't they?

- Yeah.

They do.

- A room within a room in a room, Bobby.

- A room within a room, absolutely.

- And you know, this is probably, maybe a 50 foot space or so.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- But it doesn't need to be this big, because anybody with a much smaller space could still have the water feature.

- Right.

- Definitely do the mirror.

- We try to utilize every ounce of space that we pay for, you know?

And when you make an investment like this, a lot of people have beautiful, beautiful spaces that they just don't utilize on their properties.

You pay for the house, you enjoy that.

The yard is such a big part of that.

So.

- I'm listening to you.

And I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm like a kid in a candy store.

My eyes are going everywhere because Bobby, I have to commend and you and Jim, the way that you have made the most, not only have a small space.

But on top of that, you've utilized layers and textures and colors carried a pattern and a theme throughout like the Mahonia, the Laurel, - Right.

Chase tree.

- Yeah the Chase and Vytex.

- Vytex, yeah - And then gosh, the hydrangea the variegated varieties, the hostas.

- Yeah.

You just, ah, you don't want to leave here.

You know, left to her own devices, Mother Nature will put plant material everywhere it can possibly fit, even a tiny crack in concrete.

So clearly where there's a will, there's a way, but whether you have just a porch or patio or a balcony, or maybe it's that awkward side part of your yard or a vertical wall, or even a parking lot, that's vacant and it's not being used.

Hopefully some of the ideas that you saw today will give you some inspiration to make your corners of the world just a bit greener too.

Or maybe you have that big yard and you don't know quite what to do with it.

Well, maybe some of these small space design ideas will allow you to take your full size landscape and give it even a bigger personality too.

If you'd like some other inspiration and ideas, we have that information on our website under the show notes for this episode and the website address.

That's the same as our show name, it's growingagreenerworld.com.

Thanks for watching everybody.

I'm Joe Lamp'l and we'll see you back here next time for more Growing a Greener World.

– Growing a Greener World is made possible in part by: - The Subaru Crosstrek.

Designed with adventure in mind, built in a zero landfill plant.

So you can roam the earth with a lighter footprint.

Subaru.

Proud sponsor of Growing a Greener World.

– And the following: Rainbird.

Corona Tools.

And Milorganite.

(outro music) - Continue the garden learning from Growing a Greener World, Joe Lamp'l's online Gardening Academy offers classes designed to teach gardeners of all levels from the fundamentals to master skills.

You can take each class on your own schedule from anywhere.

Plus, opportunities to ask Joe questions about your specific garden, in real time.

Courses are available online.

To enroll go-to growingagreenerworld.com/learn.

(electronic music) (APT music)