Comments on: HOW TO: Eat your lawn

By: grets

grets — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 04:33:44 +0000

This is such a great idea! We are currently renters, living in a duplex on a small city lot. We have a small patch of vegetables in our front “lawn” (tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, bell peppers and strawberries) I am really looking forward to taking it to the next level when we finally settle into a permanet residense. How great would it be to be totally self-sufficient when it comes to produce!!! No salmonella on my tomatoes! :)

By: matt

matt — Wed, 16 May 2007 14:02:29 +0000

The spirit of this is right on the money. As some of you have said though, probably not for everyone. Personally, the work pictured isn’t that attractive to me (chicken wire is not my thing). That said there are many ways to make a lawn more green while keeping it attractive. There are quiet, efficient electric lawnmowers. There are alternative fertilizers. There are strategies for planting that involve no mow grasses and sedges. There are designers who can help find a gentle form of expression without sacrificing aesthetic. There are native perrenials… and on and on and on.
For me, somehow some of the descriptive language in this piece creates a picture, maybe from my youth, of a “mean guy with a crew cut down the street who wouldn’t let any of the neighborhood kids walk on the lawn, fertilized hourly and was very proud of the mower patterns that showed in his lawn and thought the green folks were dirty hippies” etc. That’s just not how my neighborhood is.

By: Inhabitat » EDIBLE ESTATES Needs A Home In NYC!

Inhabitat » EDIBLE ESTATES Needs A Home In NYC! — Wed, 16 May 2007 04:42:05 +0000

[...] Salinas, Kansas to the pages of the New York Times, Edible Estates, has had a big year. The combination of increased awareness around resource consumption, rising [...]

By: Inhabitat » Blog Archive » GRASS WHEEL

Inhabitat » Blog Archive » GRASS WHEEL — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 06:28:45 +0000

[...] The wheel is of simple construction–just plywood, mesh, fishing line, and sod–but it’s loaded with meaning. On one hand, it’s a playful protest to the lack of public green space in Halifax. On the other hand, using sod for their material offers a deeper critique on urban greenery. Sure, the grass feels good on the feet (you wouldn’t want to landscape this thing with cacti), but only in North America would a lawn with the personality of a military haircut be considered a traveling “garden.” Does rolling out a grass carpet really make a place more “natural?” [...]

By: Ames Tiedeman

Ames Tiedeman — Mon, 26 Jun 2006 02:16:09 +0000

Do any of you use a Robotic lawn mower?

By: Max

Max — Sat, 14 Jan 2006 09:33:00 +0000

Between a lawn as front yard and an edible wilderness are many grades. If you need the lawn for kids to play for example, why not create a border around it, with dwarfing fruit trees and schrubs, soil covered with herbs. If your kids love to play in the front yard I bet they will be even happier if they can pick an apple or a handfull of berries whenever they want.
Or pick a few spots in the lawn where you create little islands with one small fruit tree and a few schrubs underneath it. There are many ways to keep the frontyard light, open and ‘tidy’ and yet bring at least some nature into it.

By: Nitin

Nitin — Sat, 31 Dec 2005 07:08:00 +0000

Edible Landscaping in VA is a great source for low care fruitful landscapeing

By: Bob

Bob — Fri, 30 Dec 2005 17:16:00 +0000

Well, few cities would have laws against this, I can honestly only think of two, both of which are so snooty that the people in them wouldn’t do this anyway, but no, and I mean NO homeowners gestapo, er… association would allow it, heaven forbid, a free thinking person who wants to do what they want with their yard!

I’ve had to (formerly as a landscape designer, the kind with a pencil and paper, not a shovel) deal with dozens of homeowners associations before, some are so strict that they tell you what you can/can’t do with even your BACKyard, one was just shy of a cult, stating what color you can paint the inside of your house and how you can arrange your furniture.

But I agree with you Scott on point 1 and VERY much so on point 2, no one wants an ugly front yard, lawn or not, but no one wants to WORK on them either, you wouldn’t believe the number of homes I’ve installed low/no maintenance lawn at, mow once a month, water lightly every week, sure they die back every winter, but no one has to mow them.

Retaining walls, especially interlocking blocks, black weed mesh, and peagravel walkways, go for a terraced look, looks modern and clean and allows you to plant in “layers”
I’ve done it a lot with flower gardens, this isn’t much of a change.

By: Scott Messinger

Scott Messinger — Mon, 19 Dec 2005 18:17:00 +0000

Interesting idea, but obviously not presented in a way to convert many suburbians. It’s not attractive and it’s maintenance intensive.

If you really want this idea to take off, I suggest the following:

1. make use of attractive landscaping materials. Use landscaping timbers or retaining walls to create an orderly appearance. Avoid the use of chicken wire. Make the yard look like a regular yard with lots of plants, rather than an overgrown lot. Remember, this is a FRONT yard. Appearances are not everything, but they do matter to most people.

2. Emphasize gardening techniques that require little maintenance. Few people will give up their lawn for something that requires more work, even if it helps the environment and gives them fresh vegatables.

3. Provide ideas about how to work within city and home owner’s association laws.

By: man with kids

man with kids — Mon, 19 Dec 2005 16:23:00 +0000

I love this idea, but where do my kids run and play?

By: metro dweller

metro dweller — Sun, 18 Dec 2005 21:48:00 +0000

What about laws against such? In metro Kansas City, an earlier version of “alternative front yard”, not mowing, rank weeds, native plants, returning woodland, finally was deemed an “Urban
Wilderness Area”, through 12 years court battles with city.

It’s not edible, but beautiful, clean and natural.