Traveling the US and living in Ohio, I have found that yards here are usually the same. They are comprised of low cut green grass, manicured trees and shrubs, carefully placed flowers and edged landscaped paths or sidewalks. It's the standard. It's clean looking. It helps focus the visitor's eye on the house and helps create an impression of value as measured in part by curb appeal. As a home owner you want visitors to perceive your home as a place of great value and your neighbors want that too so that it reflects well on their own home value.
So for many years I too played the game. I grew and cut the grass. I pulled weeds, and edged beds. But I saw the destructive side of it all too. Neighbors were using chemicals and encouraging me to do so as well. Chemical fertilizers used to make the grass grow. Broadleaf herbicides to kill off anything that wasn't grass. Running water at all times during the day in the dry season to keep it green. This method of growing grass kills natural things. It is not a natural ecosystem and yet they say its a safe place for your kids and pets to spend hours in? I never bought into that line. Grass yards create a green desert that pushes nature away from the house and out of neighborhoods. But if nature can't live in our yards and neighborhoods and our downtowns, where our living things to go? The majority of land in the United States is privately owned. How can we keep biodiversity for future generations when we have so few wild places left? Then I started to think about the land around my house differently. What if my land could be a place of abundance and shelter for living things free of poisons - the way it was before we took over.
I knew I had to look for alternatives. I started quietly by reseeding my lawn with drought tolerant, slow growing grass seed. This broader leaf grass grows great under all my trees, needs cut less and uses less water. This saved money, gas, water and my precious time. When patches of clover appeared I let them live in the center of my yard. Clover is like a green fertilizer as it produces nitrogen in the ground which helps feed the grass growing around it. Clover is also an important food source for bees and provides a tasty treat for our pet rabbit.
I maintained grass borders for my neighbor to respect their freedom of choice about the quality of their own lawn. Meanwhile we replaced a flower bed with everbearing strawberry patch which provide both beautiful flowers and a berry better than you will find in most stores. We used perennial flowers to anchor our beds and filled in the gaps with flowering vegetables like cucumbers and squash and unique leaves like red Romaine. We planted comfrey not only for its perennial flowers but for its beautiful leaves. Comfrey grows a singular tap root deep in the ground to pull up nutrients most other plants can't reach. It stores this goodness in its leaves which we regularly pick off and rip up to drop around other plants to feed them. We pull dandelion flowers to keep the numbers in check but keep the leaves and use those leaves to brew teas used to water plants to promote root and leaf growth.
I have learned of plant guilds and use this approach to create synergy between plants and avoid making problems. A guild is where individual plants grow better together because of the cooperative elements they provide each other. We plant chamomile next to fruit trees to help stave of fungal problems. We strategically allow strong smelling weeds to grow amongst our strawberry patch to help confuse pest insects and animals looking to have an easy buffet.
After noticing native golden rod growing in a corner of our yard I started transplanting it throughout the open areas. Not only were we doing our part to feed local pollinators in the Fall as they prep for the long winter (honeybees, carpenter bees, wasps, flies, and more) but we were ensuring that these important wild bugs would continue to visit our property the next Spring. Their daily work is vital to our fruit and vegetable yields.
As a few of our older trees fell victim to the emerald ash borer, we replaced them with apple, pear, plum, and mulberry trees. We saved money by buying these trees end of season and as small starters. Over time, they have really taken off. Some trees were brought to us free by the deer and birds that visit our yard and leaving their droppings. Whether they ate our fruit and planted more trees or brought new trees from other places, we were happy to have them. It has taken years of growth and patience but there's nothing like the excitement of seeing those first fruit tree blooms.
By far we have had the most fun growing our cane berries. They grow quickly with lots of pretty blooms and tasty fruit. We were inspired when we found wild black raspberries growing in our wood chips. Brought in by birds and animals attracted to our backyard these volunteers showed me how canes could thrive along our backyard forest edge. To build on this success we laid down more woodchips and planted boysenberry, red raspberry and the most delicious golden raspberry. We have found berry picking to be a quick and easy way to attract both thankful neighbors and wildlife. just make sure you stay on top of the borders of your cane patch and thin them out as they can really take off.
As I look out over the backyard I am impressed with the amount of food productivity and biodiversity we see in such a small space. Everything that grows is either immediately useful to us as food for my family or to the living things in our ecosystem. Relying on perennial plants, natural process, and balanced wildlife populations we see more growing on its own with less of our time and money needed to support it. I now simply tend to my green forest garden removing problem plants, treating issues, maintaining the edges, and reaping it's benefits year after year.
So for many years I too played the game. I grew and cut the grass. I pulled weeds, and edged beds. But I saw the destructive side of it all too. Neighbors were using chemicals and encouraging me to do so as well. Chemical fertilizers used to make the grass grow. Broadleaf herbicides to kill off anything that wasn't grass. Running water at all times during the day in the dry season to keep it green. This method of growing grass kills natural things. It is not a natural ecosystem and yet they say its a safe place for your kids and pets to spend hours in? I never bought into that line. Grass yards create a green desert that pushes nature away from the house and out of neighborhoods. But if nature can't live in our yards and neighborhoods and our downtowns, where our living things to go? The majority of land in the United States is privately owned. How can we keep biodiversity for future generations when we have so few wild places left? Then I started to think about the land around my house differently. What if my land could be a place of abundance and shelter for living things free of poisons - the way it was before we took over.
I knew I had to look for alternatives. I started quietly by reseeding my lawn with drought tolerant, slow growing grass seed. This broader leaf grass grows great under all my trees, needs cut less and uses less water. This saved money, gas, water and my precious time. When patches of clover appeared I let them live in the center of my yard. Clover is like a green fertilizer as it produces nitrogen in the ground which helps feed the grass growing around it. Clover is also an important food source for bees and provides a tasty treat for our pet rabbit.
I maintained grass borders for my neighbor to respect their freedom of choice about the quality of their own lawn. Meanwhile we replaced a flower bed with everbearing strawberry patch which provide both beautiful flowers and a berry better than you will find in most stores. We used perennial flowers to anchor our beds and filled in the gaps with flowering vegetables like cucumbers and squash and unique leaves like red Romaine. We planted comfrey not only for its perennial flowers but for its beautiful leaves. Comfrey grows a singular tap root deep in the ground to pull up nutrients most other plants can't reach. It stores this goodness in its leaves which we regularly pick off and rip up to drop around other plants to feed them. We pull dandelion flowers to keep the numbers in check but keep the leaves and use those leaves to brew teas used to water plants to promote root and leaf growth.
I have learned of plant guilds and use this approach to create synergy between plants and avoid making problems. A guild is where individual plants grow better together because of the cooperative elements they provide each other. We plant chamomile next to fruit trees to help stave of fungal problems. We strategically allow strong smelling weeds to grow amongst our strawberry patch to help confuse pest insects and animals looking to have an easy buffet.
After noticing native golden rod growing in a corner of our yard I started transplanting it throughout the open areas. Not only were we doing our part to feed local pollinators in the Fall as they prep for the long winter (honeybees, carpenter bees, wasps, flies, and more) but we were ensuring that these important wild bugs would continue to visit our property the next Spring. Their daily work is vital to our fruit and vegetable yields.
As a few of our older trees fell victim to the emerald ash borer, we replaced them with apple, pear, plum, and mulberry trees. We saved money by buying these trees end of season and as small starters. Over time, they have really taken off. Some trees were brought to us free by the deer and birds that visit our yard and leaving their droppings. Whether they ate our fruit and planted more trees or brought new trees from other places, we were happy to have them. It has taken years of growth and patience but there's nothing like the excitement of seeing those first fruit tree blooms.
By far we have had the most fun growing our cane berries. They grow quickly with lots of pretty blooms and tasty fruit. We were inspired when we found wild black raspberries growing in our wood chips. Brought in by birds and animals attracted to our backyard these volunteers showed me how canes could thrive along our backyard forest edge. To build on this success we laid down more woodchips and planted boysenberry, red raspberry and the most delicious golden raspberry. We have found berry picking to be a quick and easy way to attract both thankful neighbors and wildlife. just make sure you stay on top of the borders of your cane patch and thin them out as they can really take off.
As I look out over the backyard I am impressed with the amount of food productivity and biodiversity we see in such a small space. Everything that grows is either immediately useful to us as food for my family or to the living things in our ecosystem. Relying on perennial plants, natural process, and balanced wildlife populations we see more growing on its own with less of our time and money needed to support it. I now simply tend to my green forest garden removing problem plants, treating issues, maintaining the edges, and reaping it's benefits year after year.