2025 Benicia & Vallejo Demonstration Food Forest Garden Tour: April 26
By Nicole Newell, Sustainable Landscaping Program Manager
Every year, as the first blooms of spring peek through the soil, excitement fills the air in our Solano County community. It’s time for our 9th Annual Food Forest Garden Tour in Benicia & Vallejo — an event that not only showcases stunning gardens, but also inspires us to make the most of our precious resources. This enchanting day draws gardening enthusiasts and nature lovers alike, all eager to explore the beautiful landscapes crafted with care and creativity.
The day starts with a talk on permaculture — designing in a way that works with nature — at 9 am at Avant Garden in Benicia. Attendees can pick up maps of participating gardens and visit Benicia gardens from 10 am-1 pm and Vallejo gardens from 1-4 pm (there will be an opportunity to pick up maps at Vallejo People’s Garden from 12-1 pm for those who can only attend in the afternoon). The tour is self-guided and you can visit gardens at your own pace.
This year, we are more committed than ever to promoting sustainable practices that beautify our environment and offer an opportunity to build connections with each other within our beloved community. Wander through vibrant gardens during this self-guided tour, each a testament to the wonderful ideas that can sprout from a healthy foundation of soil. From compost systems to drought-resistant plantings to creative ways of growing food, you’ll be amazed by the resourceful and creative permaculture techniques on display.
The garden tour offers more than just beautiful views: it’s a celebration of community, creativity, and conservation. As you visit each garden, you’ll have the chance to interact with passionate gardeners who are eager to share their secrets and insights. Each garden has a name and tells a story — a narrative of nature, patience, and building relationships — qualities we all can draw inspiration from!
We hope you’ll join us for this special event!
How It Will Work
You can choose to tour for the whole day or for half a day.
Benicia Demonstration Food Forest Gardens will be open 10 am-1 pm
Vallejo Demonstration Food Forest Gardens will be open 1-4 pm
Itinerary pickup:
9-11 am: Itineraries will be available at Avant Garden in Benicia (400 First St.). This itinerary will include all of the demonstration food forest gardens in Benicia (open in the morning) and Vallejo (open in the afternoon).
12-1 pm: Itineraries for the Vallejo garden sites (open in the afternoon) will be available at the Vallejo People’s Garden behind the Global Center for Success (1055 Azuar Dr/BLDG 733).
Highlights and What’s New
Every garden is an opportunity to learn about permaculture, native planting, water conservation, and much more. By attending the tour, you will leave with practical knowledge that can transform not just your own garden but also the way you interact with the environment. Here are a few new projects and educational talks that will be highlighted during the garden tour:
An Introduction to Permaculture
Anne Freiwald will open the garden tour at Avant Garden in Benicia with a talk on permaculture. After the talk she will be available to answer any questions about the Permaculture Design Certificate Course beginning on Aug. 25.
Interns
Interns from our Benicia Youth Wellness Program will be at Avant and Swenson gardens providing opportunities to learn about local food and gardening. There will be a local food demo and taste test. Interns from the Vallejo Environmental Leadership Fellowship will be at Vallejo People’s Garden in the afternoon.
HOA
Visit this lawn conversion project designed by Michael Wedgley from Soilogical and installed by the Bay Vista Homeowners Association. This project not only serves as an example of environmental stewardship, but also as an inspiring model for HOA communities everywhere. This project will show resilient plants that are adapted to our local climate and require far less water than traditional lawns.
Solano Resource Conservation District
Pollinators require specific environments to thrive, and Solano RCD will be providing education at the Pollinator Pathway garden on how to create and maintain monarch habitats; they also will be promoting the Bay Area Butterfly Festival on June 1 and will have 6 pack of Milkweed plants for sale for $10.
Vallejo People’s Garden
Suzanne Briley from Vallejo People’s Garden will be giving talks on Creating Spaces for People and Wildlife, looking at ways to have garden spaces for ourselves while supporting wildlife. Talks and tours will be from 1-2:30 pm and 2:30-4 pm.
We are still planning so there is more to come……
Together, we can grow more than just plants: We can cultivate a thriving environment for generations to come. Join us on this journey and be part of a movement that makes every garden a step towards connection and sustainability! Remember that every little change you make at home can contribute to a larger, more sustainable world. Whether it’s growing your own herbs on a windowsill or planting a pollinator garden in your backyard, the creative possibilities are endless!
While the tour is free to attend, we welcome donations to help keep this important work alive. This is our first food forest tour since the Solano County Water Agency discontinued funding for our Sustainable Backyard program, which supported the creation of many of these gardens. Your support ensures that we can continue installing new food forests, provide hands-on educational workshops, and empower more people to create sustainable, water-efficient landscapes in their own communities.
This also ensures that we will continue to have gardens to open for annual tours so they can continue to inspire others! It costs around $7,000 to create one food forest garden from design through installation. Our goal is to raise that amount in connection with the tour.
We invite you to mark your calendars for this transformative experience. The tour will take place on Saturday, April 26. Bring your family and friends, pack your passion for gardening, and get ready to be inspired.
Have questions? Feel free to reach out to nicole@sustainablesolano.org
Thank you to Magic Cabinet for sponsoring this year’s tour!
Mature front yard food forest has mostly fruit trees and native plants that attract pollinators year-round. It has a laundry-to-landscape greywater system.
A 4-year-old food forest and pollinator garden installed in 2020 that includes a swale that captures roof water and mediterranean trees and plants mixed with native pollinating and nectar plants to attract bees and butterflies. This site is home to a Monarch Waystation that grows a variety of plants to support Western Monarch Butterflies.
A 9-year-old established food forest with two swales that are dug out and refreshed every 2-3 years, laundry-to-landscape greywater to fruit trees, and chickens. The drip irrigation system was removed four years ago and the garden is thriving! Annual beds are hand-watered once a week during the growing season. Greyhawk Grove is a “high-traffic-survival-of-the-fittest-have-three-young-children garden”. There may be lemonade and baked goods for sale by children, as well as products from the garden to give away (dried calendula, lavender, herbs, eggs, fruit, etc.).
Southern slope food forest focused on pollinators, shrubs and native plants. It also includes fruit trees, perennial and edible plants, swales and a laundry-to-landscape greywater system.
An evolving food forest garden and greywater system installed as part of Sustainable Solano’s 2022-23 
This homeowner attended our tours and was inspired to transform his yard! This garden, designed by Michael Wedgley of 
This front yard lawn was replaced in 
Two separate gardens, one is a peace garden with mostly flowers, cactus and trees and the other is the vegetable garden, called Johnson Ranch. The vegetable garden was revived through the 
Morningside Botanical Bounty food forest was created as part of the 
Pollinator food forest garden filled with a variety of California native plants that support the habitat of butterflies, bees, moths, wasps, hummingbirds and so much more. This garden was installed in February 2023 as a collaboration with a variety of organizations including Vallejo People’s Garden, Vallejo Project, Solano Resource Conservation District and Monarch Milkweed Project. Alanna Mirror wrote three songs inspired by the installation, featured in her 
Vallejo Project’s Unity Garden initiative restored an abandoned lot that was once filled with sand and garbage and turned it into a multi-level food forest with internationally influenced farming techniques, a mealworm farm and chickens. This garden is focused on urban agriculture.
