Sally Dinwoodie, El Cerrito

Quilt Square #5

With her converted driveway garden, Sally Dinwoodie proves that you can create access to fresh food from right outside your front door. After buying her house in 1988, she and her family were eager to make the most of their small lot. They removed their cement driveway, revamped the soil, and started a garden, taking advantage of their good sunlight exposure. Now, they have over 25 fruit trees and even an array of herbs like thyme and oregano growing right where cars and trucks used to be parked. They have faced some challenges in the lifetime of their garden such as uprooting and relocating entire trees due to construction and a fungal disease on her pear trees, and neighbors stealing the perfect persimmons hanging near the fence. Despite the obstacles, these urban orchardists have been able to feed their family sustainable, fresh food from their former driveway for years.

Photos and map: Chris Tong

Map of driveway planting palette

Top Left: Driveway sideyard ( no longer a ‘driveway’): herb planter boxes- oregano, thyme, tarragon, chives, mint; in the window: heat loving basil. Further down the path: a fig tree and an Anna apple.

Top right: Driveway garden looking south, east perimeter showing Meyer lemon, persimmon, lime and Santa Rosa plum tree; behind the metal scrim: an espalieed Asian pear.

Bottom Left: Front yard looking north: Asian pear in the back and an espalied one in the foreground behind the screen.

Bottom right: Driveway looking east : in front is a dwarf Meyer lemon, behind a Fuyu persimmon dwarf, and a dwarf lime; on the fence: ollalie berry vine. Against the gate: Santa Rosa plum tree.


replanted driveway