Contributed by Ellen Vande Visse, Good Earth Garden School
Have you resolved to eat a healthier diet? Have more control over what’s in your food? Save money this year?
Here is a highly effective way to do all of these at once: Transform your turf into groceries. A simple garden can be a 5-gallon bucket or a 4’x4’ bed. “A garden area of 10’x10’ yields $2,200 in savings,” testifies Roger Doiron of www.SeedMoney.org.
“Oh-oh!” you’re thinking. “Does this mean wrench my poor back to rip out sod?”
No. Choose one of these easier ways: 1) Build up, not down, 2) Lasagna gardens, 3) Containers, 4) Edible landscape
First, decide where to create a bit of growing space. You’ll want to locate it where there is mostly full sun and easy access to a water faucet. Second, how big do you want this mini-plot? You’ll be amazed at what a single 4’x8’ garden bed will yield an abundance of mouth-watering lettuces, greens, broccoli and carrots.
Build up, not down: Plop an enclosing frame on top of your lawn. A wood-framed box or a section of culvert will do. Just avoid using railroad ties, treated lumber and old tires, because they can leach toxins into your vegetables. Construct your garden bed frame as little as 8” high, or make it about 36” high for wheelchairs and no-kneel gardeners. Lay three layers of cardboard on the bottom to smother the grass. Remove the plastic tape on the cardboard. Then heap up a mixture of ¾ soil and ¼ compost, and you are ready to plant. Or simply plant right into a bale of well-wetted straw. It works!
Lasagna Garden or Hugelkultur: This is another way that you can build up a new garden bed instead of digging down. You can make this with or without a bed frame. Sprinkle white flour or lime on the grass to define the borders of your plot. Mow your area short. Next begin the lasagna layering. Lay down three layers of overlapping cardboard to block sunlight from sod and weed seeds. Cover this with 2”-3” of compost or composted manure. Saturate your lasagna layers well with water as you go. Layer up with 24” of organic matter - a combination of compost, rotten hay, leaves, lawn clippings, manure, coffee grounds and kitchen scraps. Now top this off with 2”-3” of compost or straw for a vegetable bed. Cap with wood chips if this is to be a bed of fruits, edible flowers or medicinal herbs. Beneficial soil microbes will immediately begin decomposing away the turf and converting your layers of organic materials into nutrient-rich soil.
Containers: Containers are a space-saving way to harvest a surprising amount of tasty herbs, luscious vegetables and fresh salads. Containers can be things like buckets, large horticultural pots or whiskey barrels. Make sure your containers have some drainage holes. Fill with a mix of ¾ soil and ¼ compost. Grow food you can trust in there.
Create edible landscape: Re-purpose an edge or centerpiece of your property to become perennial food-yielding space. Wouldn’t a strawberry bed be a delicious and low-care grazing area to have? Imagine starting grocery patches in the form of raspberries, gooseberries, honeyberries (Lonicera) and currants. Edibles like these mean less lawn area to mow. Also consider planting clusters of medicinal native herbs. Yarrow, wormwood and mint are hearty, and their textures are attractive. Enjoy stepping out the door to your own pharmacy and tea shop.
Tear up the turf: Okay, this is an option too! If your place is blessed with soil, digging a garden is well worth an investment of your time. Once you cut the sod or smother it and spread compost, your plot keeps on giving and giving.
Plan now: It’s time to declare freedom from mowing and a boring landscape. Convert some of it to a lush grocery garden. Choose your method and reap the Big Three: a healthier diet, control over what’s in your food and money saved.
Ellen Vande Visse operates Good Earth Garden School and offers educational workshops through www.goodearthgardenschool.com.
