We love living in a healthy environment and want to keep that way for generations to come. We are experts in water conservation and using our precious water resources the best ways possible. Installing rainwater tanks to catch run-off from your property’s roofs and other hardscapes is a great way to reduce the demand of pumping fresh water in to irrigate the landscape. These systems are sized from 55 gallons – 50,000 gallons and beyond, all sized according to the site demands.

Watch Nature Neighbor's video with Josh Carmichael on Edible Gardens here!

View our Information Press Article "Edible Landscapes" here!

We create not only delicious but also beautiful edible landscapes full of herbs, flowers, fruit, and vegetables year round. From food forests to raised beds we use our permaculture practices to create abundant harvests from your garden in every season. You will be making up some fresh Cilantro Chimichurri for your next barbecue along with Mojitos using just-picked mint and limes from your backyard.

We like our clients and our plants to both be happy. That’s why design our landscapes using not only the best performing plant species for our Mediterranean climate, but also finding the microclimates in the garden for each to thrive for many years to come.

View Josh Carmichael's article The New California Garden here.

View KSBY's article and video on Monarchs and Milkweed featuring Josh Carmichael here.

We build using techniques that always make Mother Nature happy. When moving stormwater away from buildings and parking areas we use vegetated swales and rain gardens that will allow the water to slow, spread, and sink into the earth to recharge groundwater basins. Doing this not only looks better than using pipes with asphalt and concrete basins but doesn’t carry pollutants into our creeks, lakes, or oceans as the plants will treat the water before it flows away.

Watch Nature Neighbor's video with Josh Carmichael on greywater systems here!

We also have our Greywater Packet available here!

We love living in a healthy environment and want to keep that way for generations to come. We are experts in water conservation and using our precious water resources the best ways possible. Greywater is a great source of reusable water. This is waste water that is captured from sinks, showers, and washing machines and has been legalized for irrigation use in California since 2009. Most of these systems are gravity flow and very simple to install into a new or existing home. They are great ways to water a fruit orchard without paying for extra water costs. 

View the KSBY interview and article on Carmichael Environmental's greywater!

View the New Times SLO article "Shower to Flower" featuring Carmichael Environmental and Grey water systems.

We believe that in our climate outdoor living spaces are some of the best assets on any property. Creating seating areas around your gardens will give you the time and space to sit and relax or host any size gathering you desire. A design tip is to create a main outdoor dining patio and then have satellite patios for specific uses like a fire pit or lounge area. 

Garden walls are built to functional and beautiful. They create wonderful edges in the garden that double as seating, soil retention, slope stabilization, or to create more flat usable living space. We use many natural building materials like Superadobe, straw bale, and natural stone with an Earthen Mortar that can be planted into. We also can build with concrete block or stone to match existing structures or aesthetics on-site.  

Connecting point A to point B is one reason for a pathway through the yard, but as we see it these are the connections between the “rooms” of your garden. We design our outdoor living plans to have all of the functions that a home’s floor plan has inside. Each space is connected by a pathway that lures the visitor comfortably around the corner or through an archway looking forward to what the next garden destination has to offer.

Home is where the heart is and the kitchen is usually the pulse of it. Everyone seems to gather here to create a feast, share a drink, or tell a story. Having an outdoor kitchen and dining space allows this happen in a beautiful surrounding—your garden. We use a background and connection with the culinary world to create highly functional and fitting designs to give you the room to invite even more people over to your next party.

Now is the time for planting your winter vegetable garden. We use seeds and starts to create a diverse and delicious assortment of herbs, flowers, and veggies to use in your kitchen from winter into spring.
View each photo for step-by-step descriptions on how you can do it.

Water features are always a unique element that adds many benefits to any outdoor space. From small fountains and Koi ponds to natural swimming pools and Pondless Waterfalls there are so many custom ways to bring the sound, sight, and coolness of water onto your property that are a joy for animals and people alike.

Summer has begun and there is still time for planting your summer vegetable garden.  We use mostly starts to create a diverse and delicious assortment of herbs, flowers, and veggies to use in your kitchen from summer into fall.

Raised beds provide a place for veggie and flower gardens with easy access and watering and can add more levels to your garden.  We love posting updates and ideas to maintain your raised beds and to prepare them for our winter and summer gardening.  Let us know if you are interested in getting any installed at your home and we can plant an abundant, edible garden for you to watch grow.

We specialize in Lawn to Landscape projects focusing on converting the typical, water-demanding lawn space into a drought-friendly and beautiful landscape.  From a mulched, native garden to water-efficient, native lawn grasses to a natural drainage bioswale, we can alter your lawn into an incredible and practical masterpiece.

Useful Links:
Save Our Water Rebate Program
Storm Rewards Rebate Program

For privacy screening, shade, or security, we construct custom fencing, arbors, and trellises to surround your gardens and create more intimate spaces in your outdoor oasis.  We build functional and beautiful vertical and overhead features that give your space more edge to grow fruiting and flowering vines year round.   

We love to add boulders to complete the balance of natural hardscape and landscapes while adding texture and levels to your yard.  Beyond their beauty, boulders are also great nooks for beautiful plants, especially native and Mediterranean species.

Plants are great investments of natural capital for your garden as they give a long term return on their costs. As wood and concrete elements start to depreciate after installation by breaking down with weather, plants continue to mature over time and have very long lasting effects. They are great just for food and flower production but also as screening, fencing, or shading. Yet another use is as walkable groundcovers in pathways to replace the need for stone and other hardscapes. Plants are very cost effective and beautiful infrastructure components for any garden space. 

The Crawford Residence in Los Osos was finished in September and features an entire backyard makeover.  We installed a native sedge lawn with trellising vines, several boulder areas with succulent plantings from the owners collection, a flagstone path to a patio area and a planter bed, and a small food forest.  We even installed a new gate and made a beautiful wood and metal framed trellis in the front yard!  We cannot wait to see the plants establish and grow over the year.

We use green technology and products with a clean installation process to optimize and accentuate  your oasis with great lighting, effects, and irrigation to really make everything pop.