Church Breezeway Garden

Bringing back nature to a neglected urban space

In the Spring of 2021 our church bulletin contained the following notice - “Volunteers needed to help maintain gardens”. I thought that sounded like a good way to use my gardening skills and spend a few hours giving back to the community. Little did I know, but probably should have anticipated, it would turn into something more than pulling a few weeds. I volunteered to renovate a neglected raised garden atop a rock wall (see photo). The 3’ x 120’ space featured a few brave hostas and a lot of poor soil. I started by amending the soil with hundreds of pounds of a compost/manure mixture. I then created a design to divide the 120’ length into 12 - ten foot sections, delineating each section with small evergreen shrubs.

Today the space features four seasons of interest, from daffodils, crocus, and bluebell bulbs bursting forth in the spring, to colorful annuals, perennials, and tropicals in the summer and fall, while evergreen boxwood and arborvitae shrubs provide winter structure.