Los Gatos Edible Garden

A real kitchen garden in deer country, built into the slope rather than against it.

The project

Fenced against deer, terraced into the slope.

A blank graded pad on a Los Gatos hillside. Deer on every side, full sun, and the whole site running downhill. The clients wanted to grow food on it.

A full deer fence with custom diamond-braced double gates settles that part. Water comes off the property's own well, feeding the irrigation. Inside the fence, raised beds sit at a working height you can reach without kneeling, on crushed-gravel paths, planted with lettuces, herbs, peas and tomatoes.

The slope became the asset: stepped terraces take the planting down the hill, stairs connect the levels, and a young orchard is terraced into the grade below. A vine-covered arbor strung with café lights makes the social end of it. I led the design at Farmscape and saw it through construction.

A mulched slope below the fenced kitchen garden, raised beds along the top — Below the fenced beds, the slope is mulched and planted.

Young fruit trees staked along the fenced slope — The young orchard, terraced into the grade below the beds.

Young planting along a mulched terrace edge beside the deer fence — Young planting on the terrace edge, inside the deer fence.

Stepped timber terraces carrying the planting down the hillside — Stepped timber terraces take the planting down the hill.

Gravel garden path running between the timber raised beds — Crushed-gravel paths run between beds set at working height.

Custom diamond-braced double gates in the deer fence, opening to the raised beds — The custom diamond-braced double gates in the deer fence.

Raised beds in their first season, gravel paths between, lights strung overhead — The raised beds in their first season, under strung lights.

Stairs and a gate in the deer fence, stepping down the slope to the young orchard — Stairs and a gate connect the levels down to the orchard.

Before — the bare graded hillside pad as the project began — Before — a blank graded pad on the hillside.

Project credits

Design team — FarmscapeLara Hermanson (principal), Sharon DeBell — design through construction administration

Design & buildFarmscape

ForemanKenny Shearer

PhotographyFarmscape

← All work Sausalito Residence →