In a nutshell, the “grow food, not lawns” movement encourages people to use all of their yards to grow sustainable food crops instead of the usual configuration of small garden plots dominated by large areas of grass.
The movement came about as a means of dealing with several social and environmental issues including the food deserts in parts of our country; the increased use of fossil fuels to transport food; the declining bee populations; and the high use of water resources, for little return, that occurs with the standard lawn.
In theory concept is very simple: pull up your lawn and start planting food crops and edible flowers in its place. In practice, it’s a little more complicated.
Legal Issues
As home gardening, has become more popular, there have been several instances of people running afoul of the law and being forced to remove their gardens. A Florida couple, who had a front yard garden for seventeen years, was forced to remove it after a neighbor complained to the city. The zoning board stepped in and cited the couple for “failure to maintain ground cover.” There have been several cases across the country with similar issues concerning front-yard gardens and ground cover. In most cases the gardeners have gotten together to change the laws but, in the meantime, many have been forced to remove their gardens or face hefty fines and even loss of their property.
Before you plant you should always check with your neighbors and the neighborhood association, if you have one, as well as your local zoning board to determine if there are any legal obstacles to growing food in your front yard. If there are, until the laws change, you should keep the garden in your back yard, out of sight.
Planting Zones
Once you have established if you can grow, the next issue is what to grow. If you shop your local home and garden stores you will most likely find seeds and plants that will work best in your part of the country. Unfortunately, many of these places may also use seeds and plants that have been genetically modified. If you want heirloom plants, or if you want to get away from the big manufacturers like Monsanto, you might need to purchase seeds from an online vendor.
However, before you buy those fruit trees, for example, you should make sure they will grow in your area. For example, Arizona might be too hot and dry for a olive tree, but an avocado tree would thrive. Conversely, California is perfect for olive and avocado trees. If you are interested in growing olives anywhere you need to figure out where they will survive, a easy way to eliminate your area if you have sustained cold below 20 degrees. However, if you live in a temperate climate then finding online retailors like Willis Orchard is your next and last stop before you starting watering your own trees! You can find plant hardiness zoning maps online. Also, the online retailer should indicate the zones in which the plants you want will grow.
Tending the Garden
Once you have determined that you are allowed to have a garden, and which plants you want to use, the last thing you need to be concerned with is planting and tending your garden. Depending on how big you go, you could spend an entire afternoon digging up the bed and planting.
Once you have planted the garden, you will need to spend a little time each day tending to it. This includes weeding, pruning and fertilizing to make sure you get the most out of your garden. However, the time you put into your garden is well worth it. Not only does it get you closer to the earth, save you money on food costs, at the end of the summer you’ll have lots of fresh fruits and vegetables to pack into school lunches.
So, this spring, instead of renewing your contract with the lawn care service, consider turning all, or most, of your lawn into a sustainable fruit and vegetable garden.