Cleary Bros. Landscape help Beach Schoolmates veggies take root in new garden

PIEDMONT, Calif., Nov. 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Cleary Bros. Landscape, Inc. serving the San Francisco Bay Area with residential and commercial landscape construction and maintenance since 1987 in collaboration with Piedmont Parks Department create more than just a vegetable garden for the Beach Schoolmate Program.

The transformation of the steep, rocky hill that extends behind the Schoolmates building along Linda Avenue into a drought resistant fruit and kitchen garden has been in the works for more than a month.  Designed by Piedmont Parks and Projects Manager Mark Feldkamp, the hillside has been planted with a number of drought resistant plants, including succulents, fragrants such as lavender, and Feldkamp's favorite, miniature pomegranates which were already showing tiny fruit.  There are also several espalier apple trees with different varieties of fruit. 

Feldkamp and William Kuhn of Cleary Bros. Landscape, who often collaborate on city landscaping projects, oversaw the installation of the planting. Cleary Bros. also donated all the plants for the kitchen garden.

The students at the Beach Schoolmates program were thrilled to roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty as they put the finishing touches on their new kitchen garden. "The kids have been so excited about this," said Beach Schoolmates Director Sarah Normart. "They've been watching out the window, peering over and admiring the progress of the garden." 

The enthusiasm was palpable as Kuhn and Normart explained to the kids what needed doing. Using plastic spoons as trowels, kids began planting all kinds of winter vegetables, herbs and a few colorful blooming plants as well. Kuhn pointed out that there were strawberries, cabbages, kale, onions, garlic, broccoli, cilantro, and nasturtiums.

"The nasturtiums are actually edible," he explained although it remained to be seen if any of the kids would be brave enough to sample them. All of the students did express excitement about getting to harvest the plants later in the fall.

"The great part of the project is that kids get to discover new kinds of plants and see where vegetables come from," said Schoolmates student Kelsey Webster.

About Cleary Bros.

Cleary Bros. is a family-owned full-service integrated landscape company that has been servicing the Bay Area's residential and commercial landscape construction and maintenance needs since 1987.  Their staffs of certified arborists, water auditors, and certified engineers, have the scale and resources to handle the largest of projects – from grounds maintenance and irrigation repair to renovation and Tree Services. They bring a holistic approach to your landscape, treating the soil, water, and plantings as a connected whole rather than individual components. This philosophy turns the essence of the company mantra into action: Service from the Ground Up ™.

SOURCE Cleary Bros. Landscape, Inc.