A Kitchen Garden in Weston

Designed to foster 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

Team Members

    Partners

    • RP 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