Grass-to-Gardens Photo Journey
In 2005 Sustainable Village moved and became care-taker for this grass-covered backyard.
It was great for small children but created a big carbon footprint. A small park was close by though and children get older…
We replaced the old, splintery deck with Trex (95% recycled/reclaimed), and decided to recycle the old deck into raised beds on top of the grass.
Though the redwood's condition was too bad for a deck, it made great beds- still in service now, 14 years later.
Extra Trex helped make more beds,
as did some fabric beds we just put on top of the grass. After a year, we spiked holes in the fabric bottoms and cut most of it out.
Every year we added more beds and had less grass. We used PVC hoops and plastic to keep things growing longer and starting earlier.
At first, we dug out the beds but soon we just started putting a fabric bed, cardboard, and heavy mulch/soil/compost on top of the grass.
Instead of beds, in some places we just planted and cultivated ground covers.
More Garden, Less Grass
In this corner, we decided to use some of our rainwater to fill a koi pond.
Here’s what it looks like now:
Here’s a video taken with a drone before we expanded the pond:
More Examples
Backdoor Pathway
Path to Pond
Bird Zone
Hail Protection
Peonies holding their own in a thick ground cover
Azaleas
Cannabis
Our Favorite Herb - jiu cai 韭菜
Dr. Seuss Lorax Flowers & Goji Berries
Happy Irises
Tomato growing on sunflower stalk
9/18/2022