Dig up the lawn

I put in two fruit trees and am getting ready to compost the removed sod. The trees sit in close to the house so they will shade us, not our garden, from the afternoon sun.

Digging is a lot of work. The part of yard planned for the garden has between one and two tons of rock buried in it, within the root horizon of large vegetables. By the time my garden is in, probably some time around 2012, I should be pretty strong.

Yesterday I put in compost and rhubarb. It’s too late in the year to move the rosebush, so I’ve filed a reminder to do it next January. I must say, it’s a great feeling turning boring lawn into productive garden! We probably won’t be able to harvest this year, but next year: pie city here I come!

So far I’ve been improving the yard in an ad hoc way. I need to take some pictures and make some sketches and plans.

I hacked a bit out of the lawn this week. In go compost, roses and rhubarb. Eventually the front yard will be beds of flowers and food, maybe a couple of benches, and in the very front, ground covers and a walk. It’s going to be beautiful!

The back yard edges relentlessly toward a more shady, secluded, mature, natural aesthetic. It does this almost on its own. I tinker a little here and there, and weed selectively in the growing part of the year.

I want to get some smallish nut or fruit trees for the southwest corner.

Lawns are boring. They require too much water, fertiliser and effort, and they provide neither nourishment, nor proper rain infiltration, nor wildlife habitat. When I see your manicured green lawn, am I envious? No, I am amazed that you’re voluntarily spending precious minutes of your life keeping arbitrary plants green and short.

The only reason I still have a noticeable lawn is that I’ve been too busy to devote time to replacing it with something proper. I’m going to cut that sucker down by about 90%, leaving just enough to be maintained easily with a sharp push mower. Starting probably in 2007, I’m going to plant up the yard in vegetables, herbs, and nut trees. Finicky grass will be replaced with tough yarrow, shepherd’s purse, chamomile and the like in my future postage-stamp of a lawn.

That’s right, lawn: prepare to get swashbuckled!