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 (L-R) Le Gordon Bleu volunteer chef, Bransen Locks, Chance Poe and Brian Locks celebrate at the community garden kickoff event. Photo: Design Landscape.When Brian Locks, vice president and co-owner of Design Landscape in Las Vegas, heard that a well-known food bank wanted to turn a dirt lot into a sustainable garden, he took action.
“As soon as we heard about that, we jumped on the idea and got over there,” he says.
“We met with Three Square food bank and the family who was going to be donating the materials.”
Design Landscape specializes in tropical and desert landscapes, synthetic turf, putting greens, paver patios and walkways, xeriscape conversions, lighting and irrigation. This project allowed them to expand into desert gardening.
To simply plant the fruits and vegetables in the arid Southwest soil wouldn’t be viable, so Design Landscape had to come up with another solution. “The soil out here isn’t very good in the desert, so it was crucial that we put the raised beds in, bring in some nice top soil and give it a chance for the fruits and vegetables to take well,” Locks says.
Design Landscape built the planter boxes for the six raised beds out of Trex, a composite decking material made from wood and recycled plastic.
It took the seven-person crew about a week to construct the planter boxes offsite and then bring them over, but they also had to worry about irrigation.
Locks says it took another week to design and build an irrigation system that would relocate water 700 feet.
The benefits of helping
Three Square’s website describes the organization as a food hub where food can be collected and distributed.
Locks says that Three Square is a well-known presence in the community, so working together has helped Design Landscape’s image in the Las Vegas Valley.
Not only has the association benefited Design Landscape, but the charity work brought tangible business as well.
Locks says a couple people have since inquired about building sustainable gardens in their backyards.
“I know an executive chef who was talking about building a couple of these gardens at their house,” he says.
But aside from any positive press the company might receive from the good deed, it all comes back to helping those around them who are less fortunate.
“Hunger has impacted so many families,” Locks says.
“As a Las Vegas-community resident, I have seen first-hand the tremendous impact the Three Square organization is having on the fight against hunger, and the ability for our company to share the same vision that ‘no one in our community should be hungry’ and support those efforts is very rewarding.”
The author is an intern for Lawn & Landscape.
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