Bye Bye, Lawn!
Monday, March 17, 2008
I'd rather have tomatoes.We de-lawned a large swath of our backyard this weekend, making way for three additional new garden beds. For anyone thinking of doing the same, I have four words of advice: Rent a sod cutter. It's a miracle of machine that makes the task so much easier than doing it by hand the old-fashioned way, with shovels and sweat, as we did with our garden bed #1.
Earlier this winter, we considered using the lasagna gardening method to prepare the soil for more planting space. We asked a guy at our favorite garden center for his advice about this, and he looked at us as if we had just dropped in from another solar system. I kind of expected that reaction. The first time I heard the term lasagna gardening, I thought it meant growing things to make lasagna. You know: tomatoes, garlic, basil...
I will pause here so you can finish laughing.
Ahem. So, it turns out lasagna gardening, or sheet composting, would have worked for us if we had started the process last fall. But now in the spring, the garden center guy advised us that there wouldn't be enough time for the grass and other layers of organic matter to decompose fully before planting. Critters in the soil would pull valuable oxygen and nutrients out during the decomposition process, making all that good stuff unavailable to any plants we would put in. Or something like that. In short, we came to the conclusion that removing the sod was probably our best option at this point. My pepper seedlings await.
Enter the sod cutter. We went in with our neighbors (who are also putting in a new garden) and rented one over the weekend. Beforehand, Michael and I watched a YouTube video to see how a sod cutter works. I thought to myself: If it really does work like that and all we have to do is roll up the lawn in its wake, then we've got it made.
After the machine's initial smoke-filled sputters, and an exchange of doubtful glances on our part, Michael pushed the stubborn contraption along through the yard. My sister-in-law and I followed in his path, swooping down like robins to a worm, delighted to discover that, yes, indeed, we could roll up the neatly severed strips of lawn. It worked!
Not only am I excited about our garden expansion project, but I am also thrilled that it will take us less time to mow the lawn this summer. I plan to spend the extra time eating tomato sandwiches. A fresh tomato-filled lasagna sounds tasty, too.
Earlier this winter, we considered using the lasagna gardening method to prepare the soil for more planting space. We asked a guy at our favorite garden center for his advice about this, and he looked at us as if we had just dropped in from another solar system. I kind of expected that reaction. The first time I heard the term lasagna gardening, I thought it meant growing things to make lasagna. You know: tomatoes, garlic, basil...
I will pause here so you can finish laughing.
Ahem. So, it turns out lasagna gardening, or sheet composting, would have worked for us if we had started the process last fall. But now in the spring, the garden center guy advised us that there wouldn't be enough time for the grass and other layers of organic matter to decompose fully before planting. Critters in the soil would pull valuable oxygen and nutrients out during the decomposition process, making all that good stuff unavailable to any plants we would put in. Or something like that. In short, we came to the conclusion that removing the sod was probably our best option at this point. My pepper seedlings await.
Enter the sod cutter. We went in with our neighbors (who are also putting in a new garden) and rented one over the weekend. Beforehand, Michael and I watched a YouTube video to see how a sod cutter works. I thought to myself: If it really does work like that and all we have to do is roll up the lawn in its wake, then we've got it made.
After the machine's initial smoke-filled sputters, and an exchange of doubtful glances on our part, Michael pushed the stubborn contraption along through the yard. My sister-in-law and I followed in his path, swooping down like robins to a worm, delighted to discover that, yes, indeed, we could roll up the neatly severed strips of lawn. It worked!
Not only am I excited about our garden expansion project, but I am also thrilled that it will take us less time to mow the lawn this summer. I plan to spend the extra time eating tomato sandwiches. A fresh tomato-filled lasagna sounds tasty, too.
