We had grass. It was nice. It took water, a ton of water.
Which is pretty lame since we live in a lovely desert.
If we were zoned for a goat, I'd be down. But we are not.
It just didn't make sense. All this room, all this water. For what?
We also live 3..or 4 doors down from Todd and Mary Beth. They are some serious garden rock stars. They help co-run Claremont Food Not Lawns with Aleli who also rocks everyone's socks off at Pomello Farm.
Aleli,uniting Mr. & Mrs. Foxe in Marriage
Todd also helps put in front yard or back yard gardens in, and maintains it~ Check out Farmscape.
So with the help of some fellow horticulture and sustainability lovers, we collaborated, and turned our lawn into a rockin' food producing garden. Much gratitude to all who stayed long hours helping us move dirt and mulch! Because we are such lazy Foxe's we not only used our lawn transformation weekend to do just that, but we also shot a TV reality promo for a project Mr. Foxe had been working on. So basically as we moved mulch, there were actors, hosts, and camera crew running in the background. phew.
So back to what we did...
We collected cardboard boxes, and we covered every inch of our grass with it. We then got a truck load of mulch and spread said mulch around, brought in special amazing mixtures of soil, and shaped out our garden beds.
Of course, there was a design, hard work, and then our b'earth garden was born.
Steps to turning your lawn into a garden.
Collect cardboard!
Tell your friends, neighbors, shop keepers, local bike shop (shameless plug), that you need their cardboard boxes. Even try the smelly old mattress dumpster in back of Del Taco near you.
Open them up, and lay them on your lawn. It's fun! Like a giant puzzle!
When the cardboard is put over the grass, it SMOTHERS the grass. Kind of like a child smothering a cat. The biodegradeable cardboard elimiates light causing cholorophyl to break down, photosynthesis to stop, causing dead, smothered grass. Brilliant!
Mulch!
Luckily, a few days before our scheduled lawn transformation day, there was a huge windstorm, that took out a ton of trees. Tom Day Tree Service dropped off a huge truck load of FREE alive, hot, steamy, eucalyptus smelling mulch.
Did I mention FREE?
Why is Mulch wonderful you ask?
Well. It acts as an excellent weed (or grass) barrier. It limits the amount of sunlight that reaches the unwantables. It also helps retain moisture. This is wonderful during the hot and dry months. The mulch acts as a sponge and keeps water from evaporating. It not only keeps existing water locked in the soil, it helps the water not run off from watering and rain and prevents soil erosions. The nutrients in the soil are not washed away either, in fact the mulch adds to the soil nutrients, as it breaks down to join one day join the soil (so sweet, i know). Mulch also attracts earth worms. Earth worms are really good for your garden. This subject deserves it's own post...
So we shoveled, and wheel barrowed, and shoveled for days...actually a few weeks. Finally our mulch pile in our driveway had been spread. When it was gone, I was sad. I wanted more. I crave more!~ There are still places I want to mulch, and I didn't know how this mulch would make my chickens so happy!
Soil!
We new we needed some delectable dirt. So Wolfinbarger came our way. We got an amazing mix, and we started designing and forming our garden beds. Dirt for the beds, mulch for the walkways, created our design.
In the center of the garden is a side profile of a pregnant woman, her head is at the fig tree.
Can you see it?
Ready to plant, in October in Southern California.
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