Thursday, May 2, 2019

Lawn no, garden yes! Garden no, lawn yes! Lawn no, garden yes! It's a cycle...

We've lived in this neighborhood several years now, gosh, fourteen to be exact. During that time I've watched neighbors tear out their lawn and plant a garden, then put their house on the market and move. The new owners tear out the garden and lay down turf. Then a few years go by and they tear out the turf and plant a garden. Around and around they go.

This new vegetable garden is on a corner property which once housed a very creative raised veggie garden. This is now...

And this was then, photo from a 2011 blog post (more here).


In between the two vegetable gardens there was lawn. Years of lawn, just a green carpet. A beautiful green carpet that was managed by a service that would show up and mow, blow, and fertilize. The vegetable versions are so much more interesting and feed nature as well as the owners.

See those tiny sprouts between the lettuce and the wood, they're peas. This makes me wonder if there isn't something else going in between the bamboo and the wood. Something for the peas to climb.

Also I should mention the lawn wasn't removed, just built upon. Gotta love that.

The blueberry bushes, and raspberries just starting to come up behind them, are the one constant. Even when there was lawn the berries were allowed to stay. Everyone loves berries...

I look around and wonder which patch of lawn is the next to go, and will it be replaced by veggies or ornamentals? I don't like to think about the opposing part of the cycle, when plants are torn out and replaced by a green carpet.

Weather Diary, May 1: Hi 70, Low 41/ Precip 0

All material © 2009-2019 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

18 comments:

  1. Curious about these cycles, I'm glad you are paying attention! It's nice to see the veggies back, for sure. Much more interesting and as you say, feeds many mouths. Hopefully this veg garden is here to stay.

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  2. I wonder sometimes what will happen to this garden if we ever move. We're the only house in this neighborhood with such a large garden which leads me to think any new owner would not value it. I love that they built that big veggie bed on top of the grass. I've tried to talk my son and his fiance into doing that and they just don't seem to understand it.

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    1. Ya I sometimes let my mind wander and think of the "what ifs" here too. It's not a happy series of thoughts.

      What's not to understand about the veggie bed?

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    2. I've tried to tell them that if they just cover the grass with enough soil and mulch the grass will die, but they insist on digging it up.

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    3. I've had varying degrees of success with covering grass as I've slowly converted our yard from grass to garden. I love the idea, but in practice I've had major regrets if I don't cut the sod out first.

      In our yard, I found I had to get a solid 6"+ layer of cardboard/mulch/etc before the grass actually died, and often as not the weeds survive and get even harder to dig out after they develop roots that deep. And onion grass.. ugh... I've spent hours and hours digging out those darn nodules!

      Even so, I love it when I see people giving the cover'n'plant a whirl. At worst, they'll have some extra weeding ahead, but they'll have veggies and flowers and a new hobby as well!

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  3. A timely post as we are considering downsizing and leaving behind this garden of nearly 30 years, knowing my years of work could disappear in a matter of days beneath an excavator. So hard to let go!

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    1. Ugh, I bet. It took me years before I could drive by my old house and garden. Some say it's best to never go back.

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  4. Most all of my neighbors are mowers. Not much garden. The 90 year old lady that did garden died a few years ago. Her rows of peonies, daffodils etc are just mowed down every summer. When I saw them just mowing down the peonies I went over with my shovel and helped myself to a few of them. Most of her trees have been cut down because people don't like leaves. Drives me crazy.

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    1. I'm so glad you rescued a few of the peonies!

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  5. I strongly suspect that the people who bought our former townhome pulled out my jungle and replaced it with lawn, even though they exclaimed about how pretty it was...Someday I hope all home buyers will arrive knowing that lawn isn't the ticket. At least you're not seeing the newbies rolling out artificial turf in the numbers we are here.

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    1. Artificial turf is still fairly limited in its use here, thank goodness. So you've never been tempted to drive by your old place?

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  6. Have seen lawns replaced here, but not reverted to. The old lawn is brown and dry, and they put in new sod and that becomes--brown and dry too. What was wrong with the original brown dry lawn that they must replace it with a new brown dry lawn?

    Those veggie gardens are more "work" than mowing a lawn. We must pity those who consider playing with plants "work". They are missing great adventures.

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    1. Hmmm, lawn replacement with more lawn. Weeds? Dreams of keeping the new lawn green that quickly fade?

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  7. Well, I am taken with the green bamboo edging I have to say. Since all remaining lawn here is a path, I can relate to this narrow track of grass. I have continued to shrink my path in favor of , you know, more planting space .

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  8. Gardens are ephemeral and are often gone as soon as their gardener. It's sad in a way but it's just the way of things and it makes our time enjoying our gardens even more precious.

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  9. My brother in Minneapolis had to turf over his garden when he moved from his house in Minneapolis, and we had to do the same when we sold our last house. But a couple of days ago, I met a young couple carrying a bucket full of plants from a neighbor. They told me that they were digging up their lawn, and that I had been one of their inspirations.

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