A Kitchen Garden in Weston

Facilitating hands-on learning in food production, soil stewardship, and ecological gardening while creating spaces for outdoor living and family connection.

The client for this project envisioned a home landscape that would connect her family to the land through food production, ecological stewardship, and immersive outdoor spaces.

RDG designed a potager-inspired kitchen garden with 11 raised beds, enclosed by a cedar-and-mesh fence with crafted arched gateways that double as vertical trellises for climbing crops. The garden links seamlessly to the greenhouse via a bluestone patio, while surrounding beds integrate edible perennials like rhubarb and asparagus with pollinator-friendly natives such as fall aster, bergamot, and butterfly milkweed.

Elsewhere onsite, a new patio and outdoor kitchen expand opportunities for seasonal gathering. Here, existing rock outcrops and a mature magnolia are celebrated, and plantings weave together ornamentals with blueberries, woodland strawberries, lingonberries, and schizandra vines.

Sustainable methods emphasized soil health: sod reuse, cover crops, and winter-killed mulches reduced disturbance while building fertility. As first-time gardeners, the clients received guidance on crop rotation, succession planting, and ecological maintenance—practices that continue to deepen their relationship with the landscape.

  • The gardens have drawn us outdoors and connected us intimately to the land. They have provided us with a degree of self-sufficiency which we so appreciate during these times of climate and political instability.
    — Client

Client

Private Residence
Weston, MA, 2019–2021

Partners

  • R.P. Marzilli — landscape contractor
  • Botanica — plant procurement/installation support
  • James Quinn — consultant

Key Features

  • Potager-inspired kitchen garden with 11 raised beds (525 SF growing space)
  • Expanded pollinator habitat with native perennials and fruiting shrubs
  • Deer-resistant fencing designed for aesthetics and vertical growing space
  • Outdoor living spaces with edible ornamentals

Services

  • Residential landscape design
  • Edible and pollinator garden planning
  • Soil stewardship and cover crop strategies
  • Client education in ecological gardening practices