To most people, the front yard is something you mow. For Katie Hinson, it’s something you grow.
Back in 2019, Hinson and her husband moved to Seattle after he accepted a job there. She used that time to chase her passion and earned her certification as a landscape horticulturist.
When the couple returned to Chattanooga in 2022, Hinson was ready to put down roots, literally and figuratively, and set out to create a business focused on her love of gardening.
“There are many people doing wonderful things like rewilding efforts, native plantings and stream bank repair,” she said, “but I wanted to focus on everyone’s large yards and how they could utilize them to become beneficial for not only for our local pollinators, but nourishment for their family.”
The result is Umbel Gardens, a raised bed edible foodscape company. Her goal is simple: teaching people how to convert their yards into gardens that produce food. A resident of the Highland Park neighborhood, Hinson says raised beds are especially important in Chattanooga.
“All of our soil has either had to be remediated or has lead in it… I just didn’t feel comfortable planting directly in the ground here,” she said. “Even in a remediated yard, I definitely wanted to build raised beds. You can control more of the inputs in the soil, aesthetics of the design and other components with a raised bed for food.”
Photo by Sarah Unger / Katie Hinson of Umbel Gardens
Her focus for the year ahead is to work closely with annual coaching clients. Together, helping them learn from the previous growing season and move confidently into the next.
They work through common sense questions that can often feel difficult to new gardeners: What can I plant now? How many plants should be used in my space for optimal outcomes? What should I plant by seed versus transplant? Which variety produces the most fruit? How do I stop bugs from eating my vegetables?
“It’s really about working one-on-one through a whole year, together. I go to their gardens, and we work directly in their garden space. I share knowledge, they ask questions, it’s very hands-on and collaborative,” she said. “I don’t offer a cookie-cutter kind of thing, because every microclimate in Chattanooga is vastly different. Everyone’s space is different. The orientation of the sun is different. Houses and gardens sit in different places throughout each yard. I really like to tailor my service to each client.”
For those interested in giving foodscaping a try, Hinson hosts classes throughout the growing season, held at breweries or other spaces around town.
She also offers consultations for those starting from scratch. If someone doesn’t have a raised bed or a garden at all, Hinson visits their space, assesses the site and puts together a customized packet with ideas, materials and resources to help bring their vision to life.
Keep up with Umbel Gardens on Instagram or visit umbelgardens.com.
Q+A with Katie Hinson
She left the traditional lawn behind to help homeowners grow food, rethink their yards and reconnect with the land around them.
Favorite food to eat right out of the garden? Raspberries
One thing you wish more people understood about growing their own food? Growing food helps deepen each grower’s connection to their ecological responsibility. It’s a quiet act of resistance to an unjust industrial food system that benefits your physical wellbeing, local wildlife, and community connection while providing the most flavorful nutrient-dense food for your family.
Talking to plants: folklore or science? Both. Talking is a sign of care that fosters emotional connection. When you develop an emotional connection to something you care for it begins to bloom. The same goes for plants.
Weeding: therapy or punishment? Therapy. The punishment comes when you let the weeds seed.
Tool you can’t live without? Clean, sharp shears.
Biggest beginner mistake? Growing things they don’t enjoy eating.
All-time favorite plant or flower? I love so many plants for so many different reasons (medicinal, native, natural pest prevention, ect.). But one ornamental plant that amazes me each year is the peony. In winter, tiny little red buds at the soil level turn into shoots that look like chicken feet emerging from the soil. By late spring, you have a full 4 foot shrub covered in buds, then the most beautiful blooms follow. Blows my mind every year.
Favorite garden chore? I think of it as garden care, not chores. I enjoy pruning.
Most-hated garden chore? Fixing something that breaks (trellis, irrigation, tools, ect.) That’s why I always encourage investing in quality things that you take good care of.
The one plant to grow for people with zero time? Mint. Never plant it in your raised beds. (Also, Umbel offers Garden Care for those with busy lives and gardens.)
Song that’s in your head while you work these days? “Man I Need” by Olivia Dean
The most rewarding gift the garden brings? A natural space outside your door to re-ground yourself and observe magic daily.
Favorite garden creature? Birds. Different ones visit throughout the year.
Most common homeowner concern? Killing everything. Plants want to grow, and I’m here to help.
Favorite client success story: Last summer I texted one of my Garden Care clients asking if they had gotten any peppers. I visit their garden every two weeks and there should have been peppers by then, but I never saw them. She texted back saying her kids visit the garden every day after school for “snack time.” They eat bell peppers like apples and make basil + cherry tomato roll ups! I think that’s success.
Favorite gardening season? Late spring. Beds are planted, rain waters for you, there is low pest pressure, blooms are forming on summer fruiting plants, days are warm and evenings are still cool.
The most complicated vegetable that’s worth it in the long run: Carrots can be tough to get started. They are best when started from seed directly in the bed, but they need to stay constantly moist to germinate. But if you have nice sandy loamy soil you should be able to have multiple carrot harvests throughout the year.
Fill in the blank: Turning a yard into a garden is really about : Mindset
Photo by Sarah Unger / Katie Hinson of Umbel Gardens
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