Friday, May 27, 2011

Transforming the Garden, aka Get rid of the lawn!

As you probably know, I converted most of my tiny patch of lawn  in the back to a Square foot garden.  Sadly, it looks rather tatty, and needs to be spruced up.  One goal is to eliminate any lawn whatsoever back there.  It's a joke to try and mow, and now that the boxes are there, it would be a pain in the neck.

Here we are before....




A layer of weed cloth, and the edging bricks dug out of the ground. They've sunken in quite a bit in seven. years.





Finished with a layer of mulch. it'll compact once it rains. No more mowing!



















It took from 8:00am until 2:30 this afternoon, but so worth it.  What do you think?

Off to the Butcher Shop!


Until next time, Keep Digging & Eat Well!


The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt
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10 comments:

  1. I think you are a smart man. On the other hand, I see room for another rectangular or triangle box on the left, and a square box top center ;-)

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  2. I think that it looks great! That is exactly what we did here. The small backyard was turned into a raised bed veggie garden. At first I had mulch down like you do. When we got married three years ago, "The Italian" put stone down for the wedding reception at our home.

    I agree with Granny. I think that you will probably have room for another bed or two. There is always next year for that.

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  3. First Granny, Thank you! Looks are deceiving. The area on the left is too small the distance between the edge of the bed and the flower bed is only about 4' going down to abou 18". there would be no place to walk, and the roses would shade any bed at the top though perhaps that could be a lettuce/cold crop bed. Hmmmmm

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  4. Looks very nice. I would like to do that with my whole front lawn but I can't get Phil to go for that yet. I have claimed the back yard though.

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  5. I'm loving my small semi-shade bed for the lettuce, 3'x4'! I put hoops and bird netting over it, so the only thing that bothers it are the slugs. I think I might be able to keep lettuce growing there even in the summer heat.

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  6. I have mulched paths in my veggie garden and they are so practical...but i agree with Annie's Granny...you could fit another bed in there.

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  7. I think it is a job that was well overdue! "Banish lawns", I say. They take far too much maintenance (and water). I had a defining moment of my own this week: got rid of my lawn-mower (Freecycled it to a new owner), since I no longer have any grass at all.

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  8. I think it's a great idea to get rid of the lawn. I'd LOVE to-but I have toooo much!
    Your garden is looking wonderful!

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  9. Robin, seems the votes for "more beds" is stacking up!, Maybe next year or this fall.

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    Thanks Becky, The front here is still kept up for appearances. The CITY would frown on what I did in the back, they classify the mulch as "hard surface" and therefor a drainage issue.

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    Granny the chorus is growing!

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    Hazel, thanks, sure you can all gang up on me! ;) Ok Ok, I'm thinking about it.

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    Mark, my feeling exactly - congratulations on being mower free! I can only aspire to that!

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    Thank you Sue! On both counts!

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  10. my goal is to be able to push mow this place in 20 mins or less. we have 15 acres but i'm working to get rid of all this stupid grass!
    ;-)
    ps hee hee hee thought you'd like my marketing comment.. hee hee hee tell all your fellow corporate monkeys i said hi and the next time they roll out a big marketing campaign have a little laugh for me.

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