FROM THE GROUND UP

Take a background in biology, add some serious building skills, sprinkle in a lot of love, and what you end up with is a garden. Over the past four years, Ashlie Thomas, a health coach and graduate student in nutritional science, and her husband, Tyler, a fourth-generation builder, have approached gardening with zeal. Together, they’ve transformed their oak-studded yard in North Carolina into an oasis overflowing with fruits and vegetables

- ELIZABETH JARDINA

She had the vision. He had the skills. When Ashlie and Tyler Thomas started gardening in 2019 on their plot of land in Graham, NC, it was an easy partnership. "I knew the science and theory of growing things," says Ashlie, who has degrees in biology and chemistry. "And he had that practical knowledge."

Though they had little planting experience at the time, they dove right in. Tyler built 11 raised beds, allowing the couple to control the soil and dodge the root systems of the mature oaks on the property. With knowledge gleaned from books, their local agricultural extension, and the gardeners in their families, they began experimenting with culinary herbs, melons, and more. Today, they grow an abundance of crops, including a variety of leafy greens, roots and tubers, and a whole host of fruits.