Getting Green-ish Thumbs

We’ve been lived in our house for a few years now. It’s an older house with what we consider “good bones.” We have fixed and replaced and changed things inside the house. But we have not yet tackled the “yard”… at least not seriously.

Sure, we have tried to tame the wilderness and fight back against the encroaching jungle. We even made some attempts to make it look like people actually live here. In fairness, though, we haven’t had the time, the means, the knowledge, or even the skills to take this on properly. And there were always more important and/or urgent problems to handle.

For example, renovating the bathrooms — the original bathrooms were from a long bygone era! — or replacing a several decades-old roof simply had priority over “the yard.” Add to that the fact we, as a family in general, and I in particular, lack the seemingly prerequisite green thumbs.

Still, deep inside me, there has been this wish to have a nice — as in wow, look at those pretty flowers/bushes/whatever over there — yard, but also grow stuff on purpose that I can eat.

Ok, let’s unpack the first part: “grow stuff on purpose”… “stuff” definitely grows in my yard. In fact, it grows like crazy here. I have no idea what most things are, but I’m told that most of them should not be there … hm. Apparently, I’m really good at growing all kinds of weeds, including tons of poison ivy and oak, to which — and I found this out the hard way — I’m seriously allergic. So it seems that “growing stuff” is not the problem, but rather that I’m not growing stuff with purpose and plan.

I should probably also mention that our yard has lots of trees. Really tall trees! Most trees are 40ft - 50ft or taller. That means shade and tons — like a zillion tons! — of leaves in the fall. Now, for various reasons (e.g. ants, rotten base, etc.), we’ve had to take down a few of the trees over the years. But there are still quite a few left.

So back to growing things on purpose: I/we are slowly coming up with what we think is a reasonable plan for the front yard. First: no lawn! At least not a traditional lawn. Why? I hate mowing lawns … and I think they use too much water and require too much maintenance. But that’s me. If you have a lawn and you love it, good for you.

My solution for our yard: clover. We have now sown clover seeds all over the front yard, and it’s slowly turning green. Clover does not require mowing, uses a lot less water, does not grow tall, can survive modest foot traffic, and is pet friendly. In other words: the clover appears to check all the boxes. Of course, this is the first time we’re trying this, so we’ll see how this experiment goes.

The clover will give us a “green canvas” that we then can use as a backdrop for accent flowers, bushes, and trees. It also buys us time to develop a proper plan for the front yard. Or, we can simply tackle one section at a time as we’re doing now.

Now back to unpacking the second part of the original problem statement: “growing things that I can eat.” I tried to build two raised beds a few years ago, and their skeletons are still visible in the backyard. It turned out that my carpentry skills — as rudimentary as they are — were still light years ahead of my plant-growing skills. Humblebrag moment: those beds are sturdy, perfectly straight, and absolutely level even though our yard is sloping significantly.

Unfortunately, my efforts to “feed my family off the land” had to be supplemented with food from the supermarket. Who am I kidding? After weeks and months, there was basically nothing to harvest. I think I was able to maybe scrape together one plate worth of herbs and potatoes.

So, my wounded ego, myself, and I (the three of us!) essentially withdrew from the backyard. How could I have failed so miserably? What did I do wrong (hint: everything!)? All my neighbors have these fantastic yards. They grow things on purpose, and they grow them well.

Anyway, it’s now a few years later, and here I am again: I will attempt to once more to grow something that I can eat. This time, though, I’ve been planning (and scheming) and drawing and reading, and (hopefully) learning.

The new plan is to build new raised beds and a few compost bins. I already started to “clear the land” last fall — most of the backyard was covered with ivy growing there long before we ever moved here. It was an excruciating process to get rid of that ivy, and one thing is certain: I will never intentionally plant ivy anywhere ever.

I have also chosen a design (see resources in the projects section) for the new beds. The old ones we’re not deep enough (given the poor soil underneath) and not convenient to work with. I still have to deal with the slope — approx 1ft for every 8ft of length — which means that one end of the new beds will need to be dug into the ground.

The new beds are 8ft by 4ft and a little over 2ft tall (more details in the projects section). Sure, it’s a bit ambitious, but I’m aiming for a “big enough” to give me ample space, but not so big that I’ll die trying. I guess we’ll see.

Aside from finalizing initial plans, my next step is to prep the area and maybe build the beds. As I’m writing this, it is still winter here, so there’s still time to get things ready.👨‍🌾