Well lesson learned. Stretch before engaging in strenuous garden activity. My legs still hurt because I was digging and hacking away at the dirt this weekend.
I have plans for my front yard. And I have a theme. When I tell people of my theme, they smile and say, “Mari you’re so funny.” But I’m serious. I want an edible front yard. This means getting rid of the flower that starts with a “C” and comes back again and again. It may mean getting rid of the mums too. It definitely means getting rid of the grass. What little grass is left as weeds have taken over.
I will have tomatoes. They take up a lot of space but they aren’t pretty. Yummy, but not pretty. They vined all along the fence last year, even along the fence facing the sidewalk. No one bothered my tomatoes, and they were so nice and leafy. Maybe too leafy. This year, less leaf more fruit.
I’m trying to get peas going. I had a few last year. They produce a small pretty flower and a very tasty pea. This year seems rough going as the peas I planted in the front don’t seem all that willing to grow. Could be because I used old seed, or it hasn’t been all that rainy, or because I haven’t fertilized the front yard yet.
To replace the grass I’m going to go with creeping thyme (any thyme really) and mint. I’ve had thyme growing between some of the spaces in my walkway and I believe peppermint can survive some light traffic. Other possible ground covers are oregano, pennyroyal, catnip (maybe), and sweet woodruff. I haven’t had much luck with sweet woodruff (used in May wine). I have plenty of thyme from last year, that I can transfer to the yard. We’ll see. Hopefully when I go to cut these things down there’ll be a sweet smell!
Something new I’m trying is Swiss Chard. It is a very colorful vegetable. I’ve never eaten it before. So this is a veggie I’m growing for looks.
And not to make this post too long, I’m planning on growing other things as well. Squash, beans, maybe spinach, blueberries, basil, and possibly strawberries. I don’t know how it will all turn out. The only thing I can do is hope for the best.
There is a line of plants marketed as “Stepables” which are ground covers that tolerate foot traffic. The Garden District carries some of them.
http://www.stepables.com/
Chinese pea pods are a wonderful climber with lovely flowers. As you know the whole “fruit of the vine” is edible and they are much more prolific than regular peas.
This is a fabulous idea. I personally love it. Look out for squash varieties though because they will take over!
Herb,
I looked at the Stepables site. There looks like a few variations from the mint family that look like good ground cover.
I didn’t see corsian mint at the Garden District last time I wandered by.
We have grown chard a couple of times. Epicurious.com has several recipes that look interesting, like the Swiss Chard and Herb Tart.
An edible front yard. What a fabulous idea. Would something like that work in a northern exposure (i.e. partial shade) yard?
Peppermint and thyme seem to do ok in my yard (east and west facing)but they have lept over to sunner yards (my neighbor’s). So yes they do grow in partial shade, but they want some sun. Impatiens that don’t like too much sun, they are great and the flowers are edible. Daylilies (make sure they are daylilies and not general lilies as they are posionous) also partial shade with edible flowers. Blueberries seem to tolerate shade.
Unfortunately, a lot of edible things want to be full sun. The only thing is trial and error. I’m sure many of the things I grow who produce more and would be better if I had more sun. Short of going to the rooftop and gardening there I have to work with what I got, small yard and no full sun.