This Olympic Swimmer’s Garden Has Everything but a Pool

That’s the one thing you’d expect to find in the backyard of a 12-time Olympic medalist. But Natalie Coughlin—at 36, the most decorated American female athlete in Olympic history—has no pool. “It’s the last thing I wanted,” she says. “I don’t know what to do at a pool other than swimming—it’s like bringing your work home.” Coughlin instead enjoys relaxing in this seating area with its backdrop of lush low-water and low-maintenance plantings.

What Coughlin’s yard boasts instead of a pool is a rich edible garden carved into the hillside behind her home in Lafayette, just over 20 miles east of San Francisco. Coughlin and her husband, swim coach Ethan Hall, fell for the home’s secluded feel and expansive views in 2007. But Coughlin also had her eye on what was essentially a blank slate in an almost 30,000-square-foot backyard. So, in the fall of 2015, Coughlin turned to Stefani Bittner, the owner of Bay Area landscape company Homestead Design Collective, for guidance and new ideas. The sloped yard posed a challenge, so Coughlin and Bittner carved vegetable beds and stairs into the hillside—making the untouched landscape more manageable while also emphasizing the views of Lafayette Valley.

Bittner installed a raised keyhole bed to maximize space and provide waist-high and arm’s length access to salad greens, herbs, and smoothie ingredients. The result is a tiered garden with what Bittner describes as a “treehouse feel” bursting with cut flowers, fruit trees, rose bushes, vegetables, and spices like turmeric and ginger.

After Coughlin reported a losing battle with hungry birds, rats, and other critters, Bittner built custom-made cages of redwood and gopher wire to protect the beds. The cages are fitted with latched doors, so harvesting is still a cinch, and they can be lifted and removed entirely if needed.

Coughlin keeps a bag of kitchen scraps in her fridge and brings it out to her flock of six Ameraucana, Maran, and Red Sex Link chickens whenever she has a moment. “Fresh eggs are even better than what you can get at the farmers’ market,” she says. Plus, she adds, caring for them is pretty simple: “Protect them from predators, make sure they have plenty of food and water, and clean their coop at least once a week.”

Many of the colorful cut flowers and fragrant herbs found throughout the garden have a dual purpose, including the anise hyssop and flowering oregano seen here. Coughlin brings them inside for a beautiful bouquet on her dining-room table, and also steeps the cuttings fresh or dried to make comforting teas.

Although she’s no longer competing, Coughlin is as busy as ever. In the past year, she and her husband have welcomed Zennie, their now six-month-old daughter, to their family. She cofounded a wine label, Gaderian Wines, and she published a cookbook, Cook to Thrive . Flavors in the book are inspired by her grandmother’s Filipina heritage, cooking with her mother, and her travels around the world. When it comes to healthy eating and her diet, Coughlin preaches moderation rather than depriving yourself of comfort foods entirely. “I’m the type of person who can’t be told I can’t have something,” she says. “I’ll obsess over it.” Her philosophy? If you exercise, drink plenty of water, eat lots of vegetables, and make sure you’re getting quality meat or vegetable protein, a little ice cream is perfectly okay.