Eat Your Yard
When I first had a space that needed gardening, it was about keeping it weeded and looking good. There's a lot of work involved in maintaining a swell looking yard, and it made me think, here we are living in the market basket of the country, but turning over our yards mostly to just looking nice. Yeah, it's restful to see the green, but keeping it ornamental, keeps us separate from it, too. We look at it, and mostly, don't use it. And if you have a gardener as most people do in this area, well-tended yards take on about the same function as fresh paint on a house. Curb appeal.
Nothing wrong with that, but how about maintaining your curb appeal, but also putting your yard to work for you? I started doing it several years ago. Now, most of the year, I can find something growing right outside the door that my family and I can eat, juice, or use to season our food.
For those adverse to mowing and blowing, keep your gardener, but have him leave you an area that you take care of. If you have room, plant a few dwarf or semi dwarf fruit trees in a part of the yard that you will access frequently. Why? Out of sight, out of mind. They're nice to look at, and if you place them where you will see them, you'll use them.
It is incredible how much fruit you will get off of one of these trees that never grows beyond a manageable size. Even kids can reach most of the fruit when it's ready to pick.
If there is a bedding area near your kitchen or family room door, consider planting it with salad greens and herbs. These are the things you'll use everyday, and they take up little space. If they are growing right outside your door, you'll take care of them better, and they will feed you better. If you have another small area that's in a sunny spot and it is currently hosting a bunch of nameless plants that do nothing, think about using it for seasonal vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers, beans, and the like.
A lot of ground covers deliver well on both form and function. Rosemary and thyme look good, smell great, and taste unbelievable when you use them straight from the garden.
Here in SoCal, put in a dwarf Meyer Lemon, and plant herbs like rosemary and thyme as ground covers. Harvest from them year round, add a little fresh ground pepper, a dash of salt and some olive oil and use the blend to season roasted chicken and vegetables or whatever. It's crazy delicious.
I understand that a lot of people don't get the appeal gardening. For me, it's as mind clearing as taking a hike or doing a good workout. The payback is what springs from the ground after putting in my work are things that my family and I can consume that are fresher and often better tasting than the best stuff you can find at a farm stand.
Start small with a couple of things. Maybe you'll get the bug. The gardening bug, that is. Oh, and regarding pests, soil and fertilizer, if you are going to give this a try, and you have never tried this before, spend a couple of bucks extra and visit a place where they know their stuff and have the time to help you. That means, not a big box home improvement store.
A couple of other notes: snails are voracious eaters. Protect your plants and seedlings from them. There are safe products available that will help to control them.
Sometimes, the easiest thing to do is to plant in raised beds. It's essentially an open box that is lightly anchored into the earth. Fill it with good soil, fertilizer and plants, and it's almost fail safe. Here are some plans that almost anyone can build. For the side boards, if you want to save yourself some bucks, use cheap redwood fencing: http://www.sunset.com/garden/perfect-raised-bed-00400000039550/
Nothing wrong with that, but how about maintaining your curb appeal, but also putting your yard to work for you? I started doing it several years ago. Now, most of the year, I can find something growing right outside the door that my family and I can eat, juice, or use to season our food.
For those adverse to mowing and blowing, keep your gardener, but have him leave you an area that you take care of. If you have room, plant a few dwarf or semi dwarf fruit trees in a part of the yard that you will access frequently. Why? Out of sight, out of mind. They're nice to look at, and if you place them where you will see them, you'll use them.
It is incredible how much fruit you will get off of one of these trees that never grows beyond a manageable size. Even kids can reach most of the fruit when it's ready to pick.
If there is a bedding area near your kitchen or family room door, consider planting it with salad greens and herbs. These are the things you'll use everyday, and they take up little space. If they are growing right outside your door, you'll take care of them better, and they will feed you better. If you have another small area that's in a sunny spot and it is currently hosting a bunch of nameless plants that do nothing, think about using it for seasonal vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers, beans, and the like.
A lot of ground covers deliver well on both form and function. Rosemary and thyme look good, smell great, and taste unbelievable when you use them straight from the garden.
Here in SoCal, put in a dwarf Meyer Lemon, and plant herbs like rosemary and thyme as ground covers. Harvest from them year round, add a little fresh ground pepper, a dash of salt and some olive oil and use the blend to season roasted chicken and vegetables or whatever. It's crazy delicious.
I understand that a lot of people don't get the appeal gardening. For me, it's as mind clearing as taking a hike or doing a good workout. The payback is what springs from the ground after putting in my work are things that my family and I can consume that are fresher and often better tasting than the best stuff you can find at a farm stand.
Start small with a couple of things. Maybe you'll get the bug. The gardening bug, that is. Oh, and regarding pests, soil and fertilizer, if you are going to give this a try, and you have never tried this before, spend a couple of bucks extra and visit a place where they know their stuff and have the time to help you. That means, not a big box home improvement store.
A couple of other notes: snails are voracious eaters. Protect your plants and seedlings from them. There are safe products available that will help to control them.
Sometimes, the easiest thing to do is to plant in raised beds. It's essentially an open box that is lightly anchored into the earth. Fill it with good soil, fertilizer and plants, and it's almost fail safe. Here are some plans that almost anyone can build. For the side boards, if you want to save yourself some bucks, use cheap redwood fencing: http://www.sunset.com/garden/perfect-raised-bed-00400000039550/
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