Kitchen Garden Design & Coaching in Candler Park
What shapes a Candler Park garden
Candler Park is built around its namesake: 55 acres of fields, fairways, and old trees that Asa Candler gave the city in 1922. The streets around the park share that canopy, and it's the first thing a Candler Park garden has to answer to. We read your sun twice, once now and once at full leaf-out, because a yard that looks sunny in March can be mostly shade by June. Greens and many herbs are happy in part shade. Tomatoes and peppers need the sunniest spot you have, and we'll help you find it. Atlanta protects its trees by law, and our designs keep them standing.
The rules are simpler here than in some intown neighborhoods. Much of Candler Park is on the National Register of Historic Places, but in 2024 residents voted not to become a City of Atlanta historic district. That means most Candler Park yard projects don't go through historic design review. The city's standard limits still apply, such as four-foot front fences and six-foot fences in side and rear yards, and we check them for your address before we design anything.
Then there's the soil. Candler Park's Craftsman bungalows mostly date from the 1910s to the 1930s, and some houses are older still. All of them predate the 1978 lead paint ban. Lead collects in the soil along foundations, which is often the sunniest strip on a shaded Candler Park lot. That's one reason most of our gardens use raised beds filled with clean soil over a barrier layer. For anything planted in the ground, we test first.
What to grow when you live two blocks from a great market
Every Saturday, year-round, Freedom Farmers Market sets up outside the Carter Center, an easy walk or bike ride from Candler Park along the Freedom Park Trail. Its farmers cover the staples: produce, eggs, meat, and bread. That frees a Candler Park garden to focus on what's best eaten minutes from the plant.
Think sun-warm cherry tomatoes eaten standing at the bed, peas that start losing their sweetness soon after picking, and herbs by the handful instead of the plastic clamshell. If you have a sunny corner, consider a fig tree, which does well in Atlanta and bears fruit too soft to travel well. In a Candler Park yard, we put these where you pass every day, so the harvest actually gets eaten.
Our Services
Every Candler Park garden we design starts with a one-hour visit to your lot. We'll read your sun, plan your soil test, check the city rules for your address, and show you what will thrive in your yard. You leave with clear next steps, whether you hire us for the rest or not.
Garden Consulting — A one-time, one-hour walk-through of your property with personalized recommendations you can implement yourself. Learn more →
Garden Coaching — Ongoing, one-on-one support to build your skills and solve problems as your garden grows. Learn more →
Garden Design — A detailed, scaled plan with plant lists, soil prep, and a phased implementation strategy. Learn more →
Garden Installation — Full build-out, from soil prep and bed construction to planting, so your garden is ready to grow. Learn more →
Book a 60-Minute Garden Consultation — $200
I'll walk your property with you and read what's already there — sun, soil, slope, water — while we talk through what you actually want to be eating. You'll leave with a hand-drawn sketch of where the beds go and why, and a written plan in your inbox within 48 hours: what to plant, when to plant it on Atlanta's calendar, and what to fix first. Whether you build it yourself or hire me to build it, you'll know exactly what you're building.
Tell us where you are and what you'd love to grow. After thirty years here, we've probably stood in a yard a lot like yours.