If you have a lawn, you probably wondered often enough why you keep up with such a useless, time-consuming and expensive piece of outdoor landscaping when you could instead have a healthy and productive organic vegetable garden. Now that even the White House is starting a garden, it could be the right time for you as well!
Many people who would like to turn to organic vegetable gardening are put off by the idea that it must be a difficult and time-consuming endeavour, and that a lot of tilling and other back-breaking work is involved. In fact, if you follow some basic permaculture precepts and let nature do its work, it will be very easy work. Unless your lawn is contaminated by a lot of pesticides, you won't even have to remove the grass.
First, use chalk or some other system to mark off the area of your future organic vegetable garden. You may make it as big as the one of the White House, which can feed a dozen people or more with its eleven thousand square feet, or smaller, according to your needs. Once the area is delimited, water it well.
After that, you need to add a first layer of organic material that will let the grass die off and will form a healthy and fertile base for your herbs and crops. This layer should consist of earth, lawn cuttings, some gravel or sand, and organic compost. The latter is available commercially if you don't yet have a compost heap. Cover everything up with cardboard.
Next you need to build a simple raised bed, made of planks, which you will put on top of the newspaper or cardboard. In due time the paper will decompose and become part of the organic base, but at first you will need it as a barrier between the early plants and the high-quality soil that you will now add.
The frames of the raised beds for your vegetable garden need to be filled with more organic compost, this time mixed with normal organic soil and some vermiculite for aeration.
You should now leave everything as it is for at least a couple of weeks, ideally for a month. In this time, your old lawn and the organic materials on top will decompose, with the help of earthworms that will return to the previously sterile earth, and everything will turn into a fertile mixture for your seeds.
Now is the time to plant baby plants known as seedlings, or alternatively seeds. If you don't have any available from a windowsill you can get seeds and seedlings from shops, from neighbours, or over the internet at specialized organic vegetable gardening retailers.
Regarding the herbs and vegetables to pick for your lawn turned new garden, go wild and take whatever you prefer. Don't be afraid to leave out some common plants and go for lesser known crops, the variety of plants available to the home grower compared to the supermarket is staggering.
If you have kids, make sure to involve them in the new garden from the start. They will love it and it will also be a great educational experience for the. Besides, you are going to spend more time with them and get help tending your organic vegetable garden.
While you're at it, you should start a compost heap. You can use a plastic composter, which are often available for free from local government, or build a couple of wooden frames to start two compost heaps. This will allow you to supply your organic vegetable garden with fresh soil and nutrients by recycling kitchen waste and lawn clippings.
Many people who would like to turn to organic vegetable gardening are put off by the idea that it must be a difficult and time-consuming endeavour, and that a lot of tilling and other back-breaking work is involved. In fact, if you follow some basic permaculture precepts and let nature do its work, it will be very easy work. Unless your lawn is contaminated by a lot of pesticides, you won't even have to remove the grass.
First, use chalk or some other system to mark off the area of your future organic vegetable garden. You may make it as big as the one of the White House, which can feed a dozen people or more with its eleven thousand square feet, or smaller, according to your needs. Once the area is delimited, water it well.
After that, you need to add a first layer of organic material that will let the grass die off and will form a healthy and fertile base for your herbs and crops. This layer should consist of earth, lawn cuttings, some gravel or sand, and organic compost. The latter is available commercially if you don't yet have a compost heap. Cover everything up with cardboard.
Next you need to build a simple raised bed, made of planks, which you will put on top of the newspaper or cardboard. In due time the paper will decompose and become part of the organic base, but at first you will need it as a barrier between the early plants and the high-quality soil that you will now add.
The frames of the raised beds for your vegetable garden need to be filled with more organic compost, this time mixed with normal organic soil and some vermiculite for aeration.
You should now leave everything as it is for at least a couple of weeks, ideally for a month. In this time, your old lawn and the organic materials on top will decompose, with the help of earthworms that will return to the previously sterile earth, and everything will turn into a fertile mixture for your seeds.
Now is the time to plant baby plants known as seedlings, or alternatively seeds. If you don't have any available from a windowsill you can get seeds and seedlings from shops, from neighbours, or over the internet at specialized organic vegetable gardening retailers.
Regarding the herbs and vegetables to pick for your lawn turned new garden, go wild and take whatever you prefer. Don't be afraid to leave out some common plants and go for lesser known crops, the variety of plants available to the home grower compared to the supermarket is staggering.
If you have kids, make sure to involve them in the new garden from the start. They will love it and it will also be a great educational experience for the. Besides, you are going to spend more time with them and get help tending your organic vegetable garden.
While you're at it, you should start a compost heap. You can use a plastic composter, which are often available for free from local government, or build a couple of wooden frames to start two compost heaps. This will allow you to supply your organic vegetable garden with fresh soil and nutrients by recycling kitchen waste and lawn clippings.
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