Comments on: Victory Gardens and Grassless Lawns

By: max191

max191 — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 09:57:59 +0000

Interesting blog. It would be great if you can provide more details about it. Thanks a load!
regards
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By: DLS

DLS — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 19:32:39 +0000

"Add a fruit tree and a vegetable patch, and a yard comes to life."

[salute]

Dwarf fruit trees allow you to add more than one tree if you wish.

Don't forget the berry plants and grapes along the fence lines.

By: DLS

DLS — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 19:32:39 +0000

By: JSpencer

JSpencer — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 03:35:44 +0000

Great subject Robert! I've always thought mowing lawns bore too much resemblence to digging holes and filling them in again, and the practice makes less sense now than ever. A few years back I decided to let an acre west of my home (which I had previously been mowing) go back to it's natural state. I also planted several white pines and few deciduous trees out there. The result is quite pleasing and very low maintenance. Queen Annes lace, yarrow, and various wildflowers are on the increase, and I started a honey bee colony out there last year and added another this last spring. Next year (if I get caught up with the never-ending maintenance this old place requires – which is a pipedream if there ever was one) I hope to get a larger vegetable garden going. Who knows, maybe chickens are next…

By: runasim

runasim — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 01:01:34 +0000

i love this new trend. The manicured lwns of suburbia always struck me as lifeless and artificial . I'd much rather see some wildfloers and patchy grass than these symbols of robotic thinking.
Add a fruit tree and a vegetable patch, and a yard comes to life.

By: Ron Beasley

Ron Beasley — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 00:53:21 +0000

Lawns were at one time a status symbol. You were telling the world that you were wealthy enough that you didn't have to grow food on every square inch of land you had. I guess we really are returning to the middle ages.

By: Neocon

Neocon — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 00:17:13 +0000

Plants get their carbon by taking carbon dioxide from the air and water from the soil, and then–in a process called photosynthesis–using energy from sunlight to change this carbon into food compounds.

“Lucky for us, the waste product from photosynthesis is oxygen and, yes, lawns and grasslands produce large quantities of it to replenish the air around us,” Dwelle says.

By: DLS

DLS — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 00:15:41 +0000

Note also that veggie gardens and dwarf fruit trees and berry plants are an alternative kind of “green roofs” that would enliven cities or at least make them more interesting to look at.

By: DLS

DLS — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 00:04:17 +0000

Plenty of us are not obscessed with the large lawns that along with SUVs, McMansions, and big box chain stores are loathed to a psychotic degree by activists.

Now growing fruits, vegetables, stuff you can harvest and yield things you can enjoy consuming, that I did when I was growing up (we had a veggie garden and I got a fruit tree to take care of) and later. It's fun as well as rewarding. We even had a veggie garden program going at my junior high school in Evil Suburbia.

By: pacatrue

pacatrue — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 23:37:15 +0000

After having a large green lawn in my first home, I now no longer desire large green lawns (if I ever get a home again).

One remarkable thing is how even something like the size of one's lawn gets tied to certain political groups. Somehow large gardens for the home has become tied to liberalism while large lawns are considered conservative. It's really very odd and one more reminder how most of our political thoughts (including mine) aren't due to any political philosophy but just liking what our friends (or whoever we identify with) like.

By: PattonGuy

PattonGuy — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 23:24:42 +0000

I have always wondered why we are so damn obsessed with large, green, green lawns. They don't seem to serve much purpose. Grass can't shade your house, and no useful (for humans) fruits come from all the grass pollen. Personally, I would like my parents to change some of the lawn, at least, to something nicer. Of course, I've cheerfully taken money from my parents to mow the lawn, so I guess I'm a bit hypocritical in that regard.