Design a Backyard Grocery Garden That Feeds Your Family 

A step-by-step course for suburban homeowners wanting to grow their resiliency, eat healthy, and worry less about grocery bills. You’ll learn how to size, design and scale a productive suburban garden that’s tailored to your space and your family’s needs. Taught by a gardener and designer with years of real-world experience growing most of her family’s food, this course shortens your learning curve to turn big dreams of food self-reliance into a realistic, achievable garden design that sets you up to succeed. By the end of the course, you’ll have a personalized garden plan that delivers steady harvests of fresh produce, all for less than a trip to the grocery store. All course members have access to 'Office Hours' sessions for feedback and help

Comprehensive Curriculum

From your initial design brief to your finished design, including detailed layouts and your crop rotation plan

Expert Guidance

Grounded in real-world data and experience from over a decade of backyard food production

Phased Growth

Example designs and tools to get you started quickly PLUS recommendations of how to scale up over time

What people are saying

feedback from 5+ years of online tutorials

”
This is hands-down the most comprehensive and methodical garden design tutorial I've ever seen!
@dravidianlabs5007

(Content: 'Complete Garden Design Tutorial')

”
You have an incredibly clear presentation style, very useful graphics, and your planning is immaculate
@ConstructiveInterference656

 (Content: 'My Most Productive Garden Bed Design')

”
You're sharing wisdom that would take me years to learn
[@joshuaBeneda

(Content: 'Scaling Up Food Production in the Suburbs')

”
You have a great way of explaining complex topics, making them easy to understand for everyone
@PureEarthGardens-r9t

(Content: 'Building Your Soil Over the Winter')

”
I appreciate all your work and expertise and am very grateful to have discovered your site. You have a wealth of knowledge! I've learned a lot through this process, and your support has been invaluable.
Lori C.

Custom design client

”
What a wealth of experience and wisdom here. Thanks for sharing!
@SAMathlete

(Content: 'Design Principles: How I Lay Out Any Vegetable Garden')

About the Creator

Hi, I'm Rachel, and I'm passionate about helping backyard gardeners like you to grow your own supply of fresh, healthy food.  My diagnosis with M.S. in 2019 kicked my own backyard food production into high gear as I began to grow my own anti-inflammatory diet.  Today, I produce over 90% of the fruits and vegetables for our family — and about 20% of our protein — right in our own backyard.  I've learned a LOT along the way that I'm excited to share with you.  Join me in this course, and let's embark on a journey to transform your backyard into a thriving food source!

Course Curriculum

7 Chapters · 41 Lessons

  1. 1

    Creating Your Garden 'Design Brief'

    1. Let's Get Started! Free preview
    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Introduction to Chapter 1

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Who, What, and Why?

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Your "North Star" Guiding Statements

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      Concerns & Limitations

    6. (Included in full purchase)

      Skill Building & Scaling Plan

  2. 2

    Garden Placement & Available Space

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Introduction & Real-World Case Study

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Social Context & Legal Constraints

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Modeling Water Movement & Frost Pockets (free tool!)

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Onsite Observation

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      Modeling Sun & Shadow Movement (free tool!)

    6. (Included in full purchase)

      Prevailing Winds (Free tool!)

    7. (Included in full purchase)

      Contaminants, Wildlife, & Weeds

  3. 3

    Sizing Your Garden [Custom TOOL]

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Introduction to Custom Design Tool

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Annual Crops: Calculating Your Servings

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Annual Crops: from Servings to Square Feet

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Estimating Space for Perennial Crops

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      Estimating Total Area (Including Chickens & Access Pathways)

  4. 4

    Placing Elements Within Your Design

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Introduction to Case Study

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Zones of Use

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Matching 'Inputs' and 'Outputs'

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Stacking Functions

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      Let's Diagram Your Garden!

  5. 5

    Designing Your Crop Rotation & Standard Growing Blocks

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Introduction to Chapter 5

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Overview: Rotations & Blocks

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Example Crop Combinations / Blocks

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Rotation TOOL and How to Use It

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      TOOL: Defining & Sizing Your Standard Growing Blocks

    6. (Included in full purchase)

      Sequencing Your Rotation: One Cycle

    7. (Included in full purchase)

      Sequencing Your Rotation: Multiple ‘Sub-Cycles’

    8. (Included in full purchase)

      Scaling Your Rotation

  6. 6

    Detailed Bed Layouts and Crop Spacing

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Bed Dimensions & Access

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Creating Microclimates

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Trellis Placement & Plant Layering

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Planting for Staggered Harvests

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      3D Modeling Practice Exercise: PART 1

    6. (Included in full purchase)

      3D Modeling Practice Exercise: PART 2

    7. (Included in full purchase)

      3D Modeling Practice Exercise: PART 3

    8. (Included in full purchase)

      Bonus Content: Narrated Timelapse of Full Example Garden Layout, in SketchUp

    9. (Included in full purchase)

      Living Mulches, Pollinators and Pest Confusion

  7. 7

    Bringing it All Together

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Bringing It All Together

Ready to Start Growing Your Own Healthy Backyard Diet?

Our 2026 Late Spring Cohort opens soon, to help you unlock a steady supply of healthy food from your suburban backyard!

Pre-Order Now Free preview