I was pruning my basil this morning and caught myself thinking how often the garden teaches the same lessons over and over again, just in different forms.
Basil thrives through restraint. Never strip too much at once. Guide it slowly. Shape it carefully. Leave enough for recovery.
Prune above the node and the plant responds by branching outward, becoming denser, stronger, more alive with time.
People are similar. Growth rarely comes from chaos or force. Usually it comes from small corrections, consistency, patience, and learning where to cut back before exhaustion takes over.
I think there are far more lessons in the garden than most people realize, if we just slowed down long enough to listen.
Some gardens nourish twice.
First through beauty, then through harvest.
The future of the edible garden isn’t just produce.
It’s ecosystem.
Never realizing that helping my grandmother grow strawberries and rhubarb in England as a child would one day become a full circle moment.
#shrooms #mushrooms #organic #nongmo
The Night Garden
Everything changes when the sun goes down.
The reflections deepen, the plants become silhouettes, the air slows, and the garden starts to feel alive in a completely different way.
The best gardens aren’t just designed for the day
Project: La Jolla
Landscape design + Install: Leon Else / AVANT GARDENS
Monday morning at the apiary.
I think somewhere along the way, luxury became mistaken for excess. But to me, real luxury is walking barefoot through a garden at sunrise, hearing the hum of pollinators in the air, picking food grown from your own soil, and feeling connected to something living, breathing, and real.
The bees are a constant reminder of that. Small creatures sustaining entire worlds through quiet, consistent work most people never even notice.
Cultivated Living - not built around more, but around a deeper connection.
The Reset
Twice a year the edible garden resets itself in preparation for the next season.
I’m nearly finished preparing for summer. I do everything in stages so the garden never fully stops, continuous growth, staggered harvests, and healthier production throughout the season.
This stage is less glamorous, but it’s one of the most important parts of the entire cycle. Soil replenishment after heavy feeding from the cool season crops. Irrigation checks and repairs. Re-aligning trellises before the weight of summer vines arrives. Re-mulching beds. Restocking seeds, fertilizers, clips, sprays, and backup irrigation parts before the chaos begins.
Because once the summer garden starts… it moves fast.
Tomatoes can double in size within weeks if conditions are right. I can blink and suddenly there are 100 cucumbers needing to be picked.
And honestly, it’s hard work. Really fucking hard work. Our edible garden is vast, and transitioning it properly can take the better part of a month. There are definitely moments where I’m standing in the middle of it thinking, fuck my life, this is brutal.
But I know what’s coming…
The abundance. The harvests. Watching clients’ faces when I arrive with what feels like a grocery store’s worth of organic produce every single week, that part never gets priceless.
That’s why I personally oversee every part of this reset alongside my team. Because what you do during preparation ultimately determines the return the garden gives you during the season. Which is like life tbh.
Right now the garden feels quiet. Almost empty. But beneath the soil, the seeds and roots are already at work.
And any day now, everything will explode into life again. And I’ll be running around chasing my own ass tryin to keep up 😝
Leon Else / Avant Gardens
The older I get, the more dangerous it feels to ignore what pulls at you.
I’ve realized the real tragedy isn’t failure.It’s slowly becoming someone you were never meant to be.
So I created this and put it on my wall to remind myself daily that no matter how hard it gets, I will never abandon who I am, what I love, or the life I know I’m meant to build.
Original writing + painting by me.
Tomatoes hanging overhead beneath the canopy.
Light passing softly through the vines.
A little world of its own.
Isn’t the true luxury to cultivate what nourishes you right outside your door?
Some trees are planted.
Some trees are passed down through time itself.
I’m seeking a hero ancient olive tree, moving from orchard to orchard, examining shape, movement, age, and soul, because this tree will be the defining focal point of the entire space. It must embody a story from every vantage point, no single front, but a narrative unfolding in every direction.
At over 175 years old, these trees have witnessed more than we can fathom. You can’t rush something that took nearly two centuries to grow. After all it’s seen, you’re not simply choosing a tree, you’re anchoring the future in something deeply rooted in the past.
These are more than trees. This is heritage.
@avantgardensla
A world within.
Privacy by design.
Within the noise of the city,
a garden can become a place to shut the world out.
To recharge.
Reset.
Return.
Project: GD
Leon Else / Avant Gardens
The best gardens are experienced twice.
Once in sunlight.Again in shadow and light.
A day garden.A night garden.
Project: La Jolla
“The Hidden Garden”
Landscape Design + Install: Leon Else / Avant Gardens
“The right time is now.”
The best time to plant was yesterday.
The second best time is now.
Gardens are an act of belief.
You plant for what something will become, not just what it is today.
Year by year, the story deepens.
Project: SP
Landscape Design + Installation by Leon Else / Avant Gardens
