An Unconventional Start

Welcome to Planted in Pleasanton!  For the purposes of this blog I will start from the beginning.

I lived in Pleasanton as a child moving away when I married. About five years ago, my husband and I returned to Pleasanton purchasing a house with an oversized yard. 

Our backyard is really a hill that consists of a small lower yard that I will refer to as “the lower yard”.

There are stairs leading from the lower yard up to another large flat area that I will refer to as the “upper yard”.

At the time of our purchase, the upper yard was nothing but wild oat hay mixed with weeds, sapling wild trees and three purposely planted trees that were either diseased or too close to the fence.

One side of our hilly backyard was covered in juniper and the other side in ornamental grasses with a few other plants that covered the side of the stairs. Red rock and very old black landscaper’s plastic was unsuccessfully used throughout both the upper and lower yards to suppress weeds.  

We purchased the house with the intent to invest in an in-ground pool for the upper yard. After all, it had the space.

However, we had the unfortunate timing to purchase our house just as the housing market was crashing. Like so many others, our house’s value plummeted making an investment in a pool no longer a good idea. So, what do we do now with the upper yard until the housing market rebounds?

Well, it was my thought to put in a vegetable garden and this is how our edible garden started; with two raised vegetable beds surrounded by weeds. Since then, our edible garden has evolved to four raised beds, a small vineyard, a small orchard, and of course, the ever present weeds.

Our garden may not be the best looking garden in Pleasanton, but, it is our own special space that we truly enjoy. Our plans for a pool have not been abandoned just downsized from our initial dreams for a large family pool to now a small pool, or even just a hot tub, that will someday be built to compliment the garden.