When I first began the journey of removing the grass from my front lawn
and installing 5,000 pounds of rotted buffalo manure in 2009, I had no idea where it would lead. In the first year I learned a lot of hard lessons and soon realized that a
vegetable garden requires more water than all the rest of my garden combined.
Building a sustainable vegetable garden became a
priority more than ever.
With the help of Aquascape, Inc. I
had a rain water cistern and water fountain installed in the front lawn to help
me supply fresh water to the vegetables. This season I began composting kitchen
and yard waste heavily, added more composted manure, and mulched the vegetable
garden; all things to do for your
garden which will help conserve water. Thanks to Organic Mechanics Soil, I was also able to add worm castings
in the vegetable garden zones where I did not rotate crops in the hopes the
added nutrients will help the plants build positive microbial root activity.
This season I christened the garden with a name; "Jardin de Vegetal" and have
worked to make it easier to plant and more ornamental to boost the front lawn
attractiveness factor. In the rough hand-drawn design below you can see how I
laid out a "sun ray" design around the front patio and walk way in my plan.
It was very simple to create. First, I drew out a rough design for the garden
(see above plan), then I dug in soil amendments. Next, I strung rope in straight
lines to mark out where the plants should go, planted the plants, mulching well.
That was easy!
Below is the list of incredible Burpee Home Gardens plants I used to make this vision come
true. The numbers coordinate with the numbers on the above plan. The alphabet
letters are perennials I laid out in the full-shade section of the front garden
since it would not adequately support vegetable plants:
- 30 Gourmet Blend Mixed Lettuces Plants
- 30 Red Rubin Basil Plants
- 16 Cabbage Plants
- 40 Onion Plants - White Sweet Spanish
- 20 Bush Bean Plants and 5 Burpee's Bush Table Queen Squash Plants
- 5 Burpee Golden Zucchini Plants
- 3 SuperTasty Tomato Plants
- 5 Sweet Burpless Cucumber Plants
- 10 Flavorburst Pepper Plants
- 5 Big Beef Tomato Plants
- 2 SuperTasty Tomato Plants
- 2 SunGold Cherry Tomato Plants
In the top photo you can see how the garden looks mid-summer. Pretty good -
plants are growing strong and I am very happy. To see even more of how the
design and planting worked, please watch the below video.
-- Burpee Home Gardens supplied
the vegetables grown in the garden this season. I write many instructional
stories and videos with their incredible vegetable products and donate a large
portion of the vegetables to the local food pantry when harvested.
-- Corona Clipper supplied the
really awesome planting tools I planted with.
-- Organic Mechanics Soil
supplied the worm castings for the garden areas which were not crop-rotated this
season.
-- Aquascape, Inc. supplied the rain water cistern
for easier watering of the vegetable garden.
This story was originally published on my gardening blog, "The Casual Gardener."
- http://www.thecasualgardener.com,
- The Green Blog - http://www.gardeningnude.com, or
- The Garden Blog - http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com
Filed under: Food & Health, Save Money
Tags: @globalfooter, front lawn, garden, green, green living, lawn, no grass, organic, organic food, save money, vegetable garden
Very nice. Are those marigolds planted along the right edge of the garden? I use them in my garden to deter pests.
Yes, they are Taishan Marigolds - which are quite prolific and wonderful - I've been thrilled with there performance. Bunnies are completely gone! :-)
Shawna
I keep hearing this...
Why do Marigolds deter pests? Which kinds? Only Rabbits??
Does that really work or is it an old wives tale?
Sincerely,
Farmer Bob
Hi Farmer Bob,
It is not completely an old wives tale, although it does not always work. This year it has worked for me.
Most of the time rabbits and other animals like raccoons and deer do not like things that smell bad. While marigolds are quite pretty, they do not have a good smell or taste (at least in my opinion). Yeah, I know - you're imagining me out with a fork and knife sampling marigolds in the garden - and I have actually done it! Tastes horrible.
Because they do not like the smell of marigolds, most of the time they will opt for other plants instead and will avoid the area surrounding the garden which has a "fence" of marigolds. However, let me warn you - a hungry rabbit, is a hungry rabbit. If he's starving, he's definitely going to eat your marigolds and your garden.
My rabbit ate all my green beans down to little stumps until I put in the marigolds. No more munching after that.
Marigolds also function as a partner to attract aphids and other buggy pests which might eat the marigolds because of the bright color, etc. rather than attach themselves to your prized green beans. Hence flowers and vegetables can build a symbiotic relationship. I want to save my veggies, therefore plant more flowers to attract the pests.
Again - doesn't always work, but works a surprisingly large amount of the time for me personally.
Give it a try Bob!
Shawna
Thank you so much for the reply....
I get it.....just like anything else....it might help...it has attributes....but nothing is sure fire...
We made batch two...2010 of Salsa last night...
Food Processor Salsa....One Deep red Beefsteak...2 squeezes lime, tablespoon cilantro, 1/4 onion, half a deseeded Jumbo Jalopeono, Salt, Pepper, Lawry's....Tostito's Scoops....
Enjoy!
FB
Sounds fantastic on the salsa - thanks for the great recipe! Hope you are doing good today!
Shawna
Shawna,
I love your blog and especially this blog post! Every front lawn should look like this. :) I want to invite you to share your garden on YourGardenShow.com. It would be a great place for you to promote your own blog and share your stories with other gardeners in the network. I will send you some more info in an e-mail as well.
Happy Gardening!
Stacie Shepp