What happens first when I reach out?

The process starts with a conversation about your property, your goals, and what is or is not working. That helps Orchard Keepers understand the site, identify early priorities, and determine whether the next step should be a site visit, design planning, or ongoing care.

Will you visit my property before recommending work?

After the discovery phone call, most projects benefit from a paid on-site assessment, where the team evaluates plant health, irrigation, soil, existing conditions, and how the landscape is functioning overall. That visit shapes recommendations around what your property actually needs.

When does design become part of the process?

Design becomes part of the process when a property needs more than routine care or small improvements. Orchard Keepers can develop site design plans to guide planting areas, irrigation updates, layout changes, and larger installation work with more clarity.

Does the process include ongoing care after installation?

Ongoing care can continue after installation when the property needs long-term horticultural support. That may include orchard care, garden maintenance, irrigation oversight, pruning, soil support, and seasonal attention to help the landscape establish well over time.

How does Orchard Keepers decide what the land needs?

Recommendations are based on site conditions, local growing knowledge, client goals, and the long-term health of the landscape. The process is meant to reduce guesswork and help clients make informed decisions about care, design, and installation.

Service Areas: Two Decades Across This Coast and Valley

Twenty Years of Knowing This Ground

You can't tend land well from a distance. Since 2004, Orchard Keepers has grown, built, and kept edible landscapes across Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz County, Los Gatos, Saratoga, Portola Valley, Atherton, and the greater South Bay, and two decades in these towns has taught us what no manual can: which slopes hold the fog, where the frost settles, and what ripens beautifully on one street and struggles two miles away. Explore our service areas below.

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Edible landscape design and installation in Santa Cruz County, CA

The coast and the valley are different countries, horticulturally speaking. Fog-cooled gardens near the water want different varieties, different timing, and different care than the warm inland properties over the hill.

Knowing those differences is half our craft, and it's why our service pages are local: your town's growing conditions shape everything we'd recommend for your land.

Black and white illustration of a branch with leaves and flowers.

Every Town Grows Differently

Vegetable garden services and kitchen garden care in Saratoga, CA

Santa Cruz, CA

Our home ground. Orchard Keepers was born here, pruning fruit trees in the fog belt, and our crews have been tending the city's orchards, gardens, and landscapes ever since. Coastal Santa Cruz properties reward the right variety choices with harvests nearly year-round.

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Santa Cruz County, CA

From the redwood edges of the mountain towns to the open coast, the county holds a dozen microclimates in a morning's drive, and we've grown food in most of them. Whatever your corner of the county offers, twenty years here means we've likely tended a property like yours nearby.

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What We Believe

Black and white sketch of a lemon with a leaf attached to its stem.

Our mission is to create healthy, enjoyable, and beautiful outdoor spaces while keeping faith with three commitments.

01

Client Experience

Clear, timely communication and relationships that grow as smoothly as the projects do.

02

Environmental Stewardship

Working with natural processes to reduce the energy-intensive habits that pervade our industry, a commitment recognized by our California Green Business Network membership since 2017.

03

Employee culture

A trained, supported, career-minded team, because the people who tend your land are the heart of everything we do.

Santa Cruz Roots, Tended for the Long Run

A company named for keeping should keep its promises. Schedule a consultation and find out what twenty years of orchard keeping can do for your property in Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz County, Los Gatos, Saratoga, Portola Valley, Atherton, or the greater South Bay.

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