36 Years ago Russel Morash, a producer at WGBH in Boston, came up with the concept for a weekly TV program about gardening for the do it yourselfer. Named ‘Crockett’s Victory Garden’, it featured gardening guru Jim Crockett as he walked viewers through the day to day operations of the Victory Garden located at the WGBH Studios. 1974 was a challenging time when the country was grappling with the oil embargo, leading to a brief time when thought was given to energy conservation and sustainability. The show tapped in to a desire many people had to become closer with nature and learn more about growing their own food. The wildly popular show yielded a book of the same name:
The book, one of the first large illustration jobs for my father George, chronicled the 12 months in the Garden. Readers learned the steps to plant, grow, and harvest their own vegetables in a detailed format. Groundbreaking in it’s time, the Victory Garden was built outside of the WGBH studio door, replacing a former town dump and parking lot with 4 large raised beds. This book is still an excellent resource today for those looking to start their own vegetable garden.
But why bother growing your own food? Just a few reasons..
1. Becoming an informed food buyer: A movement for local, environmentally sustainable farming practices is finally growing more mainstream as movies like ‘Food Inc.’ and writers like Joel Salatin bring to light the abhorrant practices 
of large scale, multi national growers and producers of food. Whether it’s engineered tomatoes, the use of harsh pesticides and fertilizers, or poultry and cattle living in filthy conditions and being fed things considered completely unnatural to the way these animals eat, an informed food buyer has control over the food we put in our bodies. Joining your local CSA (community supported agriculture), buying meat from local, organic farmers, and growing your own food puts you in charge!
2. Cost: Both financial, environmental, and maybe even moral.
3. Educate: What’s better than teaching your children where real food comes from and what it is? To watch a seed 
planted grow into a 3′ tall plant and yield edible fruit within months? To learn about the cycle of soil, sunlight, rainfall, plants and compost? We can all learn from getting our hands dirty and ‘learning on the job’ from year to year. Another great book with easy, space saving techniques for gardening is the ’square foot method’ by Mel Bartholomew. Books like these provide the basic knowledge for both ‘brown’ and ‘green’ thumbs to build upon.
“May your garden, like mine, give you “victory” over the high cost of fresh vegetables as well as the joy and good health that comes from living close to nature.” -Jim Crockett
This year consider starting your own vegetable garden. Replace a small patch of lawn and start small for year one, then gradually grow it in size based on what you can handle. We also have the expertise and contacts to help you with design or installation, just send us an email!
We were finally able to make some headway on phase 2 of the Ulrich terrace project early this fall. Phase 1 was the addition of the reclaimed wood pergola and broad, repurposed brick landings to the upper grade of the driveway. Phase 2 dealt with the area in between the driveway, lawn and terrace. It is a crucial space because it joins the organic curves of the driveway and lawn with the rectangular edges of the terrace, pergola and steps. I decided to carry the cobble edging and peastone of the driveway through to the terrace, and group some unique granite pieces to soften some harsh edges.
The granite stones were generously donated by one of our friends and frequent subcontractors, W.T. Leroyer. Will had a pile of unused stone that he has stockpiled; we spent some time picking through looking for 5-7 interesting boulders which could be used in this area. Placement entailed the combined artful eye of both designer and contractor, along with Will’s adept use of a small excavator. 
Cary Simmons wraps the outer edge of the terrace with a small break and different paving pattern for wedding ceremonies. The outer arc of the pavilion frames beautiful views to a fountain and pond in the background. An abundance of drought tolerant trees, shrubs, and perennials surround and embrace the terrace area. Many of the trees will soon provide much needed shade, as well as some structure to the landscape.
Lisa’s side has room for her desk, extensive library, smelly incense, and a chair for sale that has remained unsold but provides a great place for me to read the paper. We love visitors. Some recent visitors who have stopped by and sat in Lisa’s chair are my twins, Seamus Farrell, and The Haus.
I’ve had a chance to get out and take some photographs of recent work. The rain last fall and this spring has really helped the plantings grow; in some cases we’ve been looking at 3 years of growth in less than a year! Below is a ‘before’ shot of an Essex project from last year. This project began when the client contracted LDa Architects to renovate and create an addition for the house on this site. The challenge to the architect was to capture a part of the original structure’s charm while expanding the space to accommodate an active family of four. An addition spanning the space between the house and garage was built to connect the two existing buildings and to house the master suite, mudroom, and exercise room while maintaining impressive marsh views and access to the landscape.
The challenge to me, the landscape designer, was to redesign the approach and entry to the new home, while considering both the scale of the structure and the unique landscape context of a tidal salt marsh.
This existing home had some major water problems, with water flowing directly down the sloped driveway to an access door adjacent to the attached garage. A new entry and addition off the back by Art Dioli of Olson, Lewis, Dioli & Doktor Architects provided an opportunity to overhaul the landscape as well. A slightly revised driveway layout allowed us to minimize the slope, and the installation of a permeable paver driveway also helped to reduce the amount of surface runoff. The pitch of the drive also diverted water to a catch basin at the left of the drive, safely carrying excess storm runoff to a constructed rain garden in the rear of the property.
This project, completed in the spring of last year, addressed a major drainage problem right by the front door. Formerly the garage to the home, the grade rolls right into a low spot by the back door. With nowhere for the water to go and downspouts adjacent to the area, large storm events would result in water creeping under the french doors.
The best way to find what you need is to ask around! It took some time and connections to finally get my hands on what I needed, but the patience paid off. Through an established network of friends, contractors, and architects I was able to scavenge the posts, beams and joists necessary to complete the project. The stout 6 1/2″x6 1/2″ posts were sitting in my friend Brians’s garage untouched since he had moved into his ca. 1700 home. The long 7″x7″ support beams and 2″x7″ joists were salvaged from a construction project by Geoff Blaisdell of Roger Burke and Associates. Geoff had stockpiled these knowing that they could be repurposed somewhere down the road. 
Once I had the pieces secured, Geoff and I headed to downtown Ipswich to catch up with Tom Beard of T.S. Beard Architecture for some guidance on assembly. With Tom’s advice and some input from my father in law, Dick Blechman of Millstone Development, a schematic plan was put together and we were finally ready to build. The labor force consisted of Dick, my father George, and me. On day #1 I dug and poured the concrete footings and installed 4 simpson post bases several days before. On day #2 the labor team notched the beams and joists and assembled the pergola.
What is compost?
