Back To The Garden

I cannot recommend Back To The Garden highly enough.
I originally hired John to help out with my ever expanding native plant garden. He was extremely knowledgable about local natives, meticulous in his gardening, respectful of finances and a joy to work with.
After working with John for a while, it became readily apparent that his knowledge expands well beyond native plants. He also has a background in permaculture and edible gardening as well as an extensive understanding of how to collect water in the soil.
John comes to my garden weekly, always with enthusiasm and new ideas. He is an expert pruner, has carefully planted and transplanted many native plants, dug swales (around existing plants without disturbing them!), installed irrigation and created rain garden features in two spots and rid my garden of the usual weedy suspects. He often goes the extra mile, collecting supplies that might be helpful (e.g., bales of straw after Halloween) and using existing, onsite resources for projects.
I am a very hands on gardener but I completely trust John with any project in my garden. He treats my garden as he would his own and it is readily apparent that John loves his work! A friend hired John to help design and install a native plant garden, along with drip irrigation. She has been extremely happy with his services as well.
I cannot recommend this business highly enough — both for garden projects or mindful maintenance. If you are ready to move beyond mow and blow to someone who will really care for your garden, give John a call.

We recently decided to get rid of our lawn (and water sucking shrubs) and Back To The Garden was an incredible resource in making it all happen. Not only did they remove the existing sod but they found another use for it on another project (talk about sustainable!).
John also converted our existing sprinkler system into a modern (and efficient) drip system for drought tolerant plants. He designed, implemented and tested the drip system as well as programmed the timer for me (which of course I could never figure out). John took a few extra mins to make sure I understood how it worked.
John was always right on time and let me know exactly what was going on. He was also super friendly to work with. Often times we would look outside and John would be chatting it up with our neighbors that were interested in the work he was doing. I would recommend Back To The Garden 10x over and hope to work with John again.

We were very pleased with the work that John (Back to the Garden) did in our yard. He thoughtfully and efficiently pruned our plum tree that was in need of TLC. John is very methodical in his approach towards his pruning and fine gardening services. His passion for the environment and native plant knowledge shines through in his work and it is very refreshing to witness. He is also an extremely neat worker and didn’t leave a trace when he finished his job.
I highly recommend Back to the Garden to anyone who is looking for fine gardening services, pruning/​fruit tree care or anything having to do with native plants in the Bay Area.

I found John on Next Door Sunnybrae when I was searching for a fruit tree pruner for my apple and plum trees. He did such a great job that I asked him to purchase and plant an orange tree for the backyard. A great thing about John is that he really cares about your plants! He wants to see them thrive and will advise you on how to make that happen. It is an added plus that he is a Bay Area native and already had a lengthy career as a park ranger so he knows our varying soil and climate zones well. When I spoke with him, it sounded like he is interested in doing just about anything that pertains to landscaping, trees and yard design. I will definitely use him in the future.

We’ve hired Back to the Garden for 2 projects since we bought our home in San Carlos in 2013.
Project 1: Swimming pool demo, fill, and planting
Project 2: in ground drainage (trench, basins, and pipes) from roof gutters and patio
John (owner) arrives with a plan and talks it through with you before anything is signed or done. Additionally, he sticks to his estimates very well. The rates are competitive and the extra value is their direct knowledge of California environments and a consultative approach towards doing the right thing (plant selection, project timing, soils, animal and wildlife concerns, etc.).
Bonus points for:
–direct knowledge of native plants and drought minded recommendations, this company actually cares about the environment.
–always cleaning up (if you’ve ever had work done where things are left a mess at the end of the day then you know what I mean)