Garden Photo of the Day

Lizzi’s Front Yard Veggie Garden in Washington

Unused front yard space gets transformed into a beautiful and productive spot for growing fruits, vegetables, and herbs

By GPOD Contributor
view of vegetables and fruit tree in front garden

Hi GPODers!

We’re getting an update from a beautiful garden in Walla Walla, Washington that we’ve seen a couple of times before. Lizzi Gualtieri has shared several photos of her stunning backyard that prioritizes fabulous foliage and drought-tolerant plantings, but with plenty of floral interest in the mix (You can check out those submissions here: Lizzi’s Walla Walla Garden and Walla Walla Backyard Two Years Later). However, instead of another look at her fabulous backyard oasis, today we’re moving to the front of her property and getting a great overview of the project that turned a blank and bare space into a thoughtfully-crafted vegetable garden with ample opportunity for bountiful harvests despite a limited footprint.

Hi! You mentioned a bit ago about wanting to see veggie gardens from other regions around the country. Since it’s almost indoor seed starting time, I wanted to share the veggie garden we created in an unused portion of our front yard here in Walla Walla, Washington. They say we’re zone 7a but today it’s more like 6! When we moved here in 2019, our goal was to create a raised bed garden zone with room for espaliered apple trees, a fig tree, raspberries, herb garden and compost bins and we wanted it to look good because it’s in the front yard. We designed and built the space ourselves over the course of a year (COVID! we had a lot of time on our hands) The only portion we hired out was the leveling and the retaining wall. I thought it would be fun to show progress photos rather than just the finished project.

If you’d like to see more photos of my garden projects, I’ve just started an Instagram account: @mywallawallagarden

front yard garden in progress
The process photos are from 2021-2022 when we started by clearing some diseased trees and overgrown shrubs out of the west side yard. We saved the existing raspberries and they lived in pots for a year.

garden after leveling and installation of retaining wall
We had the area leveled and a retaining wall installed and converted sprinklers to drip irrigation.

garden in progress with steel edging installed
We installed 6” steel edging all around and this view is looking from our front walk into the future garden.

wooden garden arbor in front yard
This is photo of the finished arbor which will eventually be covered with clematis and roses. We used 1/2” threaded rod as our climbing support poles.

raised garden bed with built in supports for vining plants
The permanent raspberry bed has supports similar in style to the arbor and also uses the 1/2” threaded rod as horizontal supports. This shot was taken before we put in all of the gravel.

finished garden structures in vegetable garden
Here’s a view of the finished corner espalier. The ‘Celeste’ variety fig tree (Ficus carica ‘Celeste’, Zones 6–8) is planted just beyond.

view of raised garden beds from above
Here’s another view showing the raised beds and one of the compost bins. The beds are 4’ x 8’ with a wide top to sit, stand or kneel on. The space between is enough to get a wheelbarrow through.

espalier apple tree with other plants surrounding
The next few images are from this summer showing how the garden has evolved. Our apple trees are still too young to start bearing, although I’m hoping for apples next year. We planted a ‘Belle de Boskop’ (Malus domestica ‘Belle de Boskoop’, Zones 4–9) and a ‘Liberty’ (M. ‘Liberty’, Zones 5–8). The low hedge around the outside of trees is germander (Teucrium chamaedrys, Zones 5–9) which is an easy care pollinator magnet! On the inside we planted saffron bulbs (Crocus sativus, Zones 5–8) that we harvested late fall.

finished vegetable garden with compost bins
This is looking north from the back of the garden with a culinary sage in the foreground. There is corn, kale, fava beans and snow peas planted along the house with peppers, tomatoes, garlic, cucumbers, squash, beans and cantaloupe. Arugula freely seeds between the compost bins and we have marigolds to attract beneficial insects.

view of vegetables and fruit tree in front garden
And finally the view looking south with the pig fence arches in the foreground. The arches allow for so much more to grow in this relatively small space. We grow more that we can eat or preserve, sharing with friends and neighbors with the exception of the garlic, you can never have too much garlic!

Thank you so much for this incredible garden project with us, Lizzi! It’s amazing the possibilities you were able to envision for this space, and even more impressive that you were able to make those possibilities a gorgeous reality. I hope this year brings another great harvest, and that we get more photos from your fabulous gardens.

Remember that you can see more photos from Lizzi’s garden right now by checking out her Instagram: @mywallawallagarden. And if you’re interested in showcasing your veggie garden like she did, share your photos with the blog! Follow the directions below to submit your garden via email, or send me a DM on Instagram: @agirlherdogandtheroad.

 

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To submit, send 5-10 photos to gpod@taunton.com along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.

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Comments

  1. User avater
    treasuresmom 02/26/2025

    This will be really lovely when all is growing in it.

    1. user-6840613 02/26/2025

      Thanks!

  2. bottlegreen 02/26/2025

    Fascinating to see the evolution of your fabulous garden! I love it when "before" photos are included along with the "after." In this case it was especially great to be treated to the nuts and bolts (probably quite literally!) of the hardscaping and supporting structures. Thank you!

    1. user-6840613 02/26/2025

      Thanks!

  3. gardendevas 02/26/2025

    A beautiful and inspiring project! Well-planned and executed.

    1. user-6840613 02/26/2025

      Thanks!

  4. btucker9675 02/26/2025

    Wow - this is an incredible garden, the planning and execution are so impressive!

    1. user-6840613 02/26/2025

      Thanks!

  5. madcosta_7 02/26/2025

    What type of wood did you use for your beds? Also, how much corn are you able to grow in the beds? It looks great!!!

    1. user-6840613 02/26/2025

      We used non-perforated pressure treated wood with a dark deck stain with metal corners from Gardener's Supply. We also lined the beds with landscaping cloth so the soil has minimal contact with the wood. There are usually about 16-20 stalks of corn- it's a variety called Delectable from Territorial Seed.

  6. User avater
    bdowen 02/26/2025

    Beautiful and inspiring! Loved seeing the stages in the work. I would love to see it in future seasons. My front yard vegetable garden doesn't begin to show this level of design and effort!

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