Advice from the Owner

Garden in a Box has made replacing the sod so easy and way more affordable. The plants are great and they grow quickly when you follow the instructions. Luckily, our home had a sprinkler system that I was able to easily convert to a drip system using affordable options from the hardware store. I think it's worth it to install a DIY drip system to ensure your new plants get the water they need to really get established without having to manually water or waste water with other sprinkler options. I'm slowly working to replace all the now dead sod with plants that are better for our environment. I love how easy it is now!

Advice from the Owner

I love my chaos garden because it has a lot of character and gusto. When we first bought our house, our backyard was all weeds and invasive plants. We decided that we want to have the backyard to be a native xeriscape; however, we did not have a lot of money to do a complete overhaul. So we said screw it and tilled the yard, threw out a crap ton of (mostly) native wildflower and grass seeds, and said we will see what happens! 1 year into the project, my wife and I are always so excited to go look at all the flowers in the yard. We love watching all the bees and butterflies fly around. We eventually would like to add a path through the grade,n and like everyone else, we will be pulling weeds for the rest of eternity.

Advice from the Owner

We replaced 2 lawn areas with a low water area and a dry/sandy area using drip irrigation. Low water shade tolerant plants were planted under the crabapple tree, and cold hardy agave, yuccas and sedums in the dry/sandy area. Cold tolerate succulents were hard to find and expensive in Colorado. A road trip to Albuquerque saved us several hundred dollars. We provided a ring of irrigation around the tree to keep it watered by the drip irrigation system.

Advice from the Owner

I really enjoy the time NOT spent mowing the grass! We've noticed an increase in bees and hummingbirds around our house now. They really enjoy the different flowers that are growing on our xeriscape plants. The only thing I would do differently is make raised beds bigger and install multiple zones for the drip irrigation.

Advice from the Owner

Our Garden In A Box is so much more inviting than a grass lawn.

We started too late so took one full season to complete but gave us the time to design plan and implement with little issues and huge rewards.

Advice from the Owner

When putting together the components for a drip irrigation system, heat the end of the tubing in very hot water before attaching the water emitter. This makes it much easier to get the emitter into the tube.

Advice from the Owner

I am so excited to give new life to a portion of the front yard. The lawn didn't do well this year due to improper installation of the sod before we bought the house. This beautiful new garden will require less water, attract pollinators and birds, and will add a beautiful splash of color to our black on white house all throughout the seasons.

Advice from the Owner

No grass!

We did break up old sod and amend the ground with enriched soil before planting Garden In A Box plants / sunflower seeds. We tended to water at night - which seemed to keep everything happy and healthy during their first hot summer months. Everything is thriving and we’re excited to see how things shape up next spring!

Advice from the Owner

We planted our first garden in a box May of 2022 and loved every minute put into it. It was pretty awesome to see how very little water is needed compared to our neighbors that water their grass lawns 2x a day. And the best part is we get a ton of compliments on how nice it looks. It brings me joy every time we see bees and giant bumble bees hanging in our little garden. Can’t wait to get more garden in a box next year and have our full front yard as a pollinator oasis!

Advice from the Owner

We love all the butterflies, birds, and bees that now call our front yard home. We initially planted a little sparingly due to budget constraints but four years latter in has really started to fill in and we get compliments on it all the time. Rarely if ever needs watering, now that it's established and let it overwinter naturally before cutting back in earlier March. We had a tarp over the existing lawn for two weeks before rototilling the lawn under (should have done it a week or two earlier). Our first round of lavender plants didn't survive but since learned that you fill the bottom of the hole with pea gravel before planting lavender in our heavy clay soils and every replacement lavender plant has flourished. Can't recommend gorilla hair mulch enough, even though its more expensive it really holds up to the Colorado climate.

Advice from the Owner

I got rid of the former lawn using different approaches in different areas. Some of those approaches were much more effective than others. If I did it again and felt like I had a lot of patience, I would kill then expose then re-kill a patch. Then, I would repeat this process over the course of at least one whole year. I think this would eliminate the grass coming back. Additionally, I think it would significantly reduce weeds. Of the many different ways that I killed grass, I found the lasagna method with cardboard to be most effective over the long run and newspaper second most effective.

Watch the the interview with Jenifer