From tiny seeds…
Three garden makeovers for $300 each
A year ago, ReadyMade challenged readers to reimagine their outdoor spaces on a
razor-thin budget. Three teams submitted plans that won them $300 to fund a garden
makeover. Frankly, we’re impressed by what they’ve grown.
Bedroom Set
Christina Amini and her wife,
Elspeth Stowell, wanted to
enjoy their patio area more, but
as renters, they couldn’t build
immovable fixtures. So with
neighbor Sarah Keizer they
designed a garden with modular,
movable parts. A sense of fun
reigns supreme in their space,
with a “lawn chair” covered in
Astro Turf, a fire pit made from
an old wheelbarrow, and the
“raised bed”—a real bed frame
filled with soil and planted with
a “quilt” of lettuce and chives.
Amini scored chairs at San
Francisco’s Building REsources
salvage yard and kept costs
down by scrounging (a sofa
from Keizer’s garage, tables at
the curb on trash night). If Amini
were to change anything, it
would be the size of the raised
bed, which is less portable than
she planned: “The full moves,”
she says, “but it’s really heavy!”
rebar, and the bottles have
been slumped, or heated until
they sag, for a drippy, melted
effect. Rausch picked up a
wooden Jack Daniel’s barrel at
an antiques shop (at $75, it was
his largest single purchase), and
installed a spigot. The barrel
collects rainwater from the
studio’s gutters, which Rausch
uses to hydrate the revamped
garden. The LEDs’ after-dark
glow, “like bright candlelight,”
Rausch says, subtly lights the
intimate evening space.
WHO
Christina Amini, 32
WHERE
San Francisco
DAY JOB
Editor
WH Y
Improve a yard
without violating
a lease
Shower Power
In Gainesville, explains Annie
Thomas, “it’s either monsoon
or drought,” so gardeners need
irrigation. She and her husband,
Alexis, had been considering
putting raised vegetable beds
into a corner of their yard
left bare by a swimming pool
installation, and they’d always
wanted an outdoor shower.
A hose-fed shower whose
graywater irrigates their garden
patches accomplishes both
missions. The couple poured
a concrete pad, built a privacy
screen from a metal roofing
sheet, and coiled a black garden
hose in the sun, which warms
enough water for a quick rinse.
The shower and garden beds are
edged with 489 inverted wine
bottles that Thomas collected
from friends, restaurants, and
wine stores, and half-buried for
a neat look that helps prevent
soil erosion in damp areas.
WHO
Robert Rausch, 42
WHERE
Florence, Alabama
DAY JOB
Design center
director
WHY
Make a dark
outdoor area
usable at night
Southern Comfort
The building that houses Robert
Rausch’s GAS Design Center
provides a home to design
interns who regularly eat meals
on the back patio. But after dark
the outdoor area, which has no
electricity and no light, became
a wasteland. Rausch came up
with a fix—a modern twist on the
old Southern tradition of bottle
trees. His are festooned with a
strand of solar LED Christmas
lights. The “trees” are welded
from leftover construction
WHO
Annie Thomas, 40
WHERE
Gainesville, Florida
DAY JOB
Science teacher
WHY
Take back a patch
of lawn wrecked
by construction
