NATALIE CAUDILL/DMN

Without a suitably sunny spot for a garden, Melanie Grimes looked to home's side yard for a good growing spot.

This is the second story in a series about urban vegetable gardens.

When Melanie Grimes wanted to grow more vegetables, she had to address a tough issue that many gardeners face: too much shade.

Without a suitably sunny spot in either her front or back yards, she looked to the side yard between her house and a side alley. After careful planning and design, Ms. Grimes captured unused space by raising a retaining wall and leveling the steeply graded ground. The new area forms the foundation of an all-natural food-growing paradise.

"I like to think of the landscape in rooms, and this is my vegetable gardening room," says Ms. Grimes, a professional mediator who has grown vegetables in containers and has been deeply involved in her property's landscape projects.

The side yard's conversion to useful space was completed in January. It includes six small, raised, cedar- framed beds, a decomposed-granite path and two 300-gallon rain tanks that she uses to water the vegetables. The area is enclosed by a fence of expanded metal, a meshlike construction material common to commercial and industrial applications but rarely seen in residential fencing.

Since the beds – which cost about $1,200 total – are situated adjacent to the fence, vining crops like peas and beans can grab onto the fence, using it as a trellis.

Ms. Grimes will allow the metal to oxidize naturally, eventually softening its color.

Photos by NATALIE CAUDILL/DMN

Melanie Grimes' side-yard garden space was completed in January. It contains six raised beds.

The clever use of natural materials conveys a vibe that's rough yet sophisticated. It's clear that the original design was thoughtful, given its efficient use of space and how it accounts for the gardening tasks necessary to keeping a vegetable garden going.

"I wanted the paths wide enough for a wheelbarrow," Ms. Grimes says. Rusty E. Allen, designer and owner of Salvia Garden Design in Dallas, devised the original plan for her front and back yards before the vegetable garden, but he didn't do the installation.

Ms. Grimes also wanted to collect and use rainwater, a goal inspired by her friend Mychele Lord, whose business converts existing commercial buildings into LEED-certified green structures.

The tanks are connected to the house's gutter system to capture rainwater from the roof. Ms. Grimes hand waters using a wand connected by a hose to the tanks. For the rare times when the tanks run dry, a drip irrigation system connected to the home's water main provides supplemental irrigation. The two rain tanks near her vegetable garden cost about $1,000 installed.

"With the rain tanks, it's about using what's available already that we typically waste," Ms. Grimes says. She has four additional tanks set up in other parts of her landscape to water ornamental beds and turf.

Photos by NATALIE CAUDILL/DMN

This Heirloom tomato seems to be doing well in the side-yard garden.

So far she's planted tomatoes, peppers, onions, cucumbers, squash, snow peas, snap peas, green beans, melons, corn and okra.

In the front yard, which has a carefully designed woodland look, Ms. Grimes interplanted strawberries and kale. She mixed these into decorative landscape beds in which one might not expect to find fruits or vegetables. She manages it all organically.

Depending on how well the beds perform in their second year, Ms. Grimes may enlarge the vegetable garden by replacing foundation hollies with additional raised beds. "I want to fully utilize the space I have."

Erin Covert is a Dallas freelance writer.

•Use harvested rainwater to irrigate. Plants prefer it over city water, in Ms. Grimes' experience.

•Set out vegetable starts in early spring as soon as local retailers stock them. Sow seeds, such as peas, beans and okra, as early as their packet instructions indicate. Protecting small plants from a late frost isn't too difficult, especially when the garden area is small.

•Once your rookie season is behind you, plant twice as many of the things you like that grow well.Melanie Grimes'

little black book

Salvia Garden Design

214-563-2859

The Dallas company specializes in "wildscaping" and native plants.

Installation:

Country Life Landscaping

214-368-6955. www.countrylife-usa.com

The Rain Well rain tanks

3201 E. Pioneer Parkway, Arlington

817-676-4440