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.
Start by marking off the area for your organic vegetable garden with string. The White House’s vegetable garden is about thirty feet by thirty feet square, which is enough to feed a large family. But to start, you could do with a quarter of that space. Water the area thoroughly.
Next you need to add an area of ground mulch that contains some slow-release nutrients. A good mix is half-finished compost, grass clippings from the lawn, manure, rock phosphate, and sand. Finish off by covering the whole area with four to five overlapping sheets of newspaper.
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.
Now fill the frame or frames with organic compost and topsoil. In the beginning you will have to buy the compost, but after your organic vegetable garden has gotten underway you will be able to make your own. Add some porous pebbles or vermiculite to the mix for aeration.
Next, let everything be for a month or so. The lower layer will decompose, insects will arrive, the grass underneath will die off, and the whole area will naturally turn into a healthy and fertile ground for your organic vegetable garden without any need for tilling, ploughing or other hard work.
For planting, seedlings that have been grown in a greenhouse, inside the house or at a nursery are preferable to putting seeds in the earth right away. But both methods can be used. Organic herb and vegetable seeds are easily available through online stores.
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.
It’s recommended to involve any kids that live in your area in the planning of the organic vegetable garden. This should of course include your own children, but also any other kids in your neighbourhood that your family is on friendly terms with. They will be engrossed in the activity, and you will get some help to transform that lawn into a 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.
More cool stuff onorganic gardening is available at OrganicHerbalGardening.com – click a link and you will be in the right place to start for all herbal gardening related queries.
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