Is Plan B to Turn Your Lawn into a Garden?

Sent to us by the author.

Two Ice Floes – by Mrs. Cog

If you are one of the many people who have a home with a lawn, but know something wicked this way comes, you may have said to yourself, “I have plenty of room in the yard, so I can grow my own food if I need to.” I have heard this from a number of people lately.

Should this be your ‘Plan B’ for extreme food inflation or shortages, you might want to get a jump start on the work involved because it is not easy and involves a number of factors you may not have considered. I know because we are currently undertaking just such a task.  

After moving to our new mountain homestead last summer we bought a large rear tine gas powered garden tiller to turn the earth. Once we decided on the size and brand, Amazon prime quickly shipped it. How much longer we can expect quasi-affordable prices and prompt and inexpensive delivery service for major power equipment in this day and age is anyone’s guess, so you should seriously consider purchasing this or similar power equipment now.

The small garden bed area we turned and planted the prior year was put right to work this year. But before anything was actually planted the process began with mental plans and rough sketches of what we wanted to do with this year’s planting. This year we decided to greatly expand the garden area by a factor of four or more. The problem was that most of the increase is, or was, lawn; a combination of grass and weeds mowed just like the rest of the yard.

Do not assume you have decent soil any deeper than a few inches below the surface of the grass, particularly if your home was built in the last twenty years or so. Most building contractors truck in just enough top soil to lay down a layer of sod or spread some grass seed. Often the soil beneath is of poor quality, filled with rocks and clay or even building debris. You might want to dig some test holes now or be severely disappointed later.

And while you are thinking about soil conditions you might want to consider where you will source the water you will need for your garden, particularly if you live in an area of the country with low rainfall. If you currently have a well, find out when it was dug or drilled, what is its flow and recovery rate and if your neighbors nearby with gardens already in production have problems with their wells.

If you are on city/municipal water you must assume that as inflation rages and water shortages develop your water supply will become very expensive and the quality will plummet. Plus your garden will not like the chlorine and other chemicals regularly added to city water. Scout around for a second and third source of water.

When considering the area you wish to garden, it is essential to identify the predators likely to get in and how you can prevent their entry. One night of furry frolic in your garden can wipe out a season of effort, and the right fence can go a long way to stopping their access. Deer can fly, bears will do anything to get to fruit, and bunnies are both hungry and tend to vandalize for the pure pleasure of it. Moles and groundhogs can easily tunnel under minimal fence barriers. What creatures might you need to protect your garden from and what type of fencing will accomplish this? What supplies will you need, what are the costs and who has the knowledge and time to install it?

After we had carefully considered, compromised over and then completed the planning of our fence, I sent the hubby out into the garden prior to the last frost to turn the new growing areas……twice. The hubby is a big strong guy and still this was slow, hard work requiring back rubs and Ben-Gay after each turning. Because this lawn area had never been turned before, the soil was hard packed and full of rocks. It is clear that an inexpensive tiller, something normally used for weed control and turning already loose soil, will bog down and even break under the stress of digging into virgin soil covered in lawn. A self propelled counter rotating rear tine tiller is the way to go if it is within your budget.

Before doing any planting I first set about testing the soil. Inexpensive testing kits that read the pH levels as well as N, P, and K (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) are sold at most garden and farm stores. My research informed me that it was important to test several different locations throughout the garden as results can, and will, vary dramatically depending upon a number of factors, including what had been grown there before. Just because your garden was previously a lawn does not mean the soil is uniform in pH and nutrients.

After learning about your soil, in order to know what additional components are needed to balance the soil, you must know what you will be growing, and where, because different crops require different soil conditions to abundantly produce. In order to determine this, a preliminary plan of the garden must be developed.

This means carefully considering what to grow. I would like my family to be able to consume the fruits of our labors. What ingredients did I want us to eat fresh from the garden as opposed to preserved and eaten later? For that matter, what did I know how to preserve/can and what was I willing to learn? Were there particular items that were important for me to grow and replace from our normal weekly grocery purchases? I went through my notes and folder from last year and made extensive lists. Most important of all, what was my family willing to eat more than once or twice a month.

When a garden begins to really produce, what you don’t preserve/can must either be eaten, given away or thrown out/composted. Squash twice a month is nice, squash five times a week is another matter entirely. Some trial and errors are inevitable, but resist the urge to plant large volumes just because it sounds like it would be good to eat, unless it can be preserved. Variety is as important than volume if you wish to sustain your family’s interest in what comes out of the garden beyond the first harvest.

Back in the office I sketched out a map of the garden, complete with surrounding trees and sheds, and made several copies of the basic layout to experiment with the planting plan. On one copy I made notes of which areas received sunlight and for how long during the day. The hubby was clever enough to point out that these times and angles of the sun change throughout the year. The amount of sun and shade at the beginning and end of the growing season can be quite different from the middle of the summer. If your former lawn has trees and/or buildings surrounding the garden area, this could seriously curtail your garden production and growing season.

Next I took another copy of my garden sketch and recorded where (and when, if the growing season is long enough to harvest two crop rotations in one season) I grew various beds of plants and flowers last year. I repeatedly read that rotating the crops each year is perhaps the single most important consideration in vegetable gardening. Certain plant families drain, or sometimes add, nutrients and minerals to the soil, which in turn often requires a different growing location each year.

Also, the pests and other insect problems unique to a particular plant family, like squash, will remain in the soil and attack the plant again the following year unless relocated. Knowing where you planted last year, and where you might rotate the crop to next year, is essential in deciding where to place this year’s seeds and transplants now. In essence each year you are planning two gardens, one for this year and one for the next.

Just prior to the last of the spring frosts I shopped the local greenhouses and garden centers to find out which heirloom varieties of seedlings and starter plants they would carry. I also ordered the seeds I wanted for many other varieties. While in the garden centers I discovered several other items to grow that had not been on my initial planning list, including many herbs and flowering plants that can be used to add some variety and spice to the harvest.

Finally, after gathering supplies to boost the nutrients in the soil, choosing the plants and herbs I wanted to grow and planning where to put them, then acquiring the plants and seeds themselves, I was rocked to discover that the real work had just begun. Even after turning the lawn area twice, many clumps of green grass with attendant roots still lived (and grew) near the surface, in addition to various sized rocks, all of which needed to be removed and hauled away.

Block by block, row by row, I turned the dirt by hand, now relatively fluffy and easy to work, but still slow going as grass clumps and rocks had to be cultivated and raked out of the dirt to be tossed into the wheelbarrow for toting to an area away from the garden but separate from where our primary compost will be placed. Now it was me who required liberal doses of Ben-Gay and back rubs at the end of each day. No amount of working out at the gym can substitute for the type of confusion my muscles felt after working this larger garden for the first time.

With the last frost date behind me I began planting each area as it was re-worked and cleaned up. Day by day, when the weather permitted, I cultivated, fertilized, planted and then moved to the next area. This has been going on for two weeks now and I am almost one third of the way through the 1/5 of an acre that we will eventually plant.

There is no doubt that the time and effort that goes into turning a lawn into a garden is easily twice what would be involved planting a similar area that was previously planted. This extends through the entire growing season as well because freshly turned lawn tends to sprout many more weeds, and even grass, the entire first planting season. This means a great deal more weeding to secure the same size harvest.

The important lesson to take away from my experience is the time to research, the cost of purchasing supplies and tools, and then the time and effort to convert our lawn into an area that will grow food is a labor intensive and serious task. I expect problems and many more lessons to come as I continue to work this project. This first year is largely experimental and I do expect some failures. You would be wise to do the same, particularly if you are a garden novice.

I strongly recommend that anyone who has mentally noted that they can grow on their home’s land if necessary should invest the time to at least address the logistics of their ‘Plan B’. Garden tools are increasing in price, and many are not made with the same quality once available. Putting the time in now to evaluate, and even practice on small sections of your current yard, may yield more than one type of dividend in the future.

fresh garden veggies for salsa

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