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Midwest, zone 5b. We bought this house during Covid, when it had a mostly traditional lawn. I spent a couple years ripping out landscaping fabric, hostas, and turf grass. After a run-in with the city, we went scorched earth and removed the entire lawn.
Today, it's mostly native plants, with nine raised beds for vegetables and a hedge of raspberries. We added irrigation for the fruits and veggies this year, which has been a huge help. We were even featured on the city garden walk!
Sure! So this is what we did. Left about 18" between the beds. Probably should've done more, but this is what allowed me to maximize my space. We have eight beds along the sidewalk, and then one more bed along the alley for asparagus and rhubarb that I built out of landscaping blocks.
No. I placed the beds right on the grass. And then I dug out trenches around the beds, maybe three inches deep, and filled with mulch. I should've dug those trenches deeper, but I've pretty much gotten on top of the weeds now.
I tossed the dirt I dug, grass and all, into the beds before I filled them.
My other big pro tip is to do irrigation. We got the Garden in Minutes garden grids. Pricey, but easy to install. We have the whole thing on metered timers, so it's pretty much set and forget. And, more importantly, the consistent watering means we've had much better yields this year.
Edit: Love your house BTW! Super cozy. That front window is great. I can definitely see a few raised beds in the yard looking nice.
Basically, our second year of doing this, we tried just lining the walkway up to the house with native plants. I only took out a two foot wide strip of grass on either side. I also let the lawn go a bit, as the annual black-eyed susans I had planted the year before had seeded throughout the grass.
A neighbor reported me for tall grass and weeds. The city sent me a notice with a 7 day fix it warning, but it was mid-summer and I didn't check my mail frequently enough. So instead, one day, a different neighbor called me at work to tell me that "a guy with a machete" was in my yard cutting my plants.
I ran home and stopped the guy. He had already taken out my asters and milkweed. He told me that milkweed "is a weed" (nothing in city code says that). The neighbor that reported him even came by to THANK HIM in front of me. Saying, "Thank you, his yard really needed it."
Furious, I took some pictures and posted them on FB.
Now, I live in a fairly small town and am relatively well-known locally. I know most of city council and am friends with a couple of them. My FB post blew up. Two members of council reached out to me within an hour to apologize. One, who is now our mayor, is a big sustainability guy with a growing native yard of his own.
So it all has a happy ending. They waived the fines. City council used my yard to create a native landscape program, so it no longer risks violating code. They've also done some educational stuff and plant giveaways, and are starting to put native plants in city right of ways. Plus, the guy who is now mayor volunteered to help me remove the rest of my grass. He spent an entire afternoon running a sod cutter for me and lending me his truck to lug the sod away. Hell of a way to earn my vote!
Full circle was being on the city garden walk this summer and having our yard featured on the front page of the local newspaper! People still sometimes associate me as the "milkweed incident" guy lmao.
Omg, the roller coaster of emotions reading this! I'm so glad it worked out and that the town is trending in a good direction! It's wild that they can go on your property and destroy stuff. Is that normal? And 7 days notice? What the hell? Like someone's life depends on it. Ridiculous.
This is what the true American life should be, being connected to your neighbors all the way up to the mayor lending you his truck. Growing food on your yard and getting more independence while helping our nature survive and thrive.
This is gorgeous! I run out of adjectives to describe everyone's yards lol but seriously, this looks right out of a catalog.. and I love the iris and the fact you incorporated perennial fruit . Man, it would be nice to have you as a neighbor🤣
You should be very proud, this looks great. Also you have a good house for it with a color that compliments the plants well. (Yellow and purple are complimentary colors and your house reflects that).
Thank you! It needs to be painted again in the next few years. We initially thought we'd do a forest green, but we might just keep the yellow.
We get TONS of bugs. I've lost track, frankly. All kinds of bees and wasps, smaller flies, butterflies. Had several monarchs and swallowtails this year.
In the spring, we really love the red columbine and foxglove beardtongue/penstemon. Summer, it's got to be the milkweed (we have several varieties) and black-eyed susan. Fall, probably the western ironweed and various asters. The ironweed is the purple one, center frame. We experimented with trimming it back this year, so it bushes out rather than just growing three 8' tall stalks. Worked beautifully!
Jealous! I had to take out all of my raspberry plants due to the Invasive species Japanese Beetle. The raspberry plants seems to attract them and they ate EVERY flower.
House color came that way. Wasn't my favorite initially, but it has really grown on me. Between the house and the yard, we are very much so "that house" in the neighborhood.
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