Imagine Your Yard as Garden
Imagine walking into the middle of your front yard and stopping to snack on a crisp sugar-snap pea. Stand still while surveying your ripening front yard. See how the early morning sun drenches your lettuces, curly kale, strawberries, herbs, beets, and more. Plan what to plant next as you stroll along stone and shell-covered paths between the free-formed beds of edible flowers and flowers to cut for indoors. Think about growing the variety of foods that make a vegetarian diet so healthy!
Gardening is Good for You
Gardening is a wonderful pastime that is good for your physical and mental health. Bending and stretching provides an excuse to practice Pilates core strengthening concepts: feel it in your core, breathe fully, and hold a pose. Being outdoors instead of in a stuffy exercise space is better for your spirit. Hearing the birds, seeing the bugs, and getting your hands dirty help you feel comfortable with your place in nature.
Beginners soon learn that gardening is rewarding and forgiving of mistakes. Seeds planted, watered, and weeded soon turn into plants and the plants soon bear fruit. How wonderful it is to walk to your garden and pick fresh lettuces, cucumbers, and sweet tomatoes for your dinner salad. Plants that don’t work out can be replaced without breaking the bank. When you find the right plant for the right place, it applauds your efforts with growth and fullness.
Why and How to Turn Your Yard into an Edible Landscape
As we become more aware of global climate change and contaminated foods, many of us want to eat local and have more control over the quality of our foods. What could be more local than your front yard and more under control that the plants you propagate?
To begin the process of turning your yard into an edible landscape, analyze your yard for sun and shade. Research your climate zone and seeds or starter plants that will grow for you. Do the plants and flowers that are hardy in your area require sun or shade? Most plants require at least 6 hours of sun to thrive and produce edible fruits.
Check your soil. If it is full of clay and not rich in top soil, you should use some muscle to dig out areas and replace clay or sand with rich compost mix and garden soil available from nurseries and chain stores with garden shops.
Next, buy seeds and plants to arrange in beds according to your whim. Really, now, a front yard garden is your chance to let your creativity shine! Your work of art will be an ongoing experience as you test and try plants to find out what works with your yard and your desires for an edible yard. Be careful not to choose plants that particularly attract wildlife and be prepared to add repellants.
Garden Paths and Benches
Don’t forget to add paths so that you and your guests can wander through to pick and admire. Plant a bench especially for your personal enjoyment. When you aren’t gardening, or are between gardening tasks, relax with a good book – or seed catalog – and smell the basil. Feel content that you are doing you small part for the good of the earth’s and your health.
No time to garden? Look in your front yard for nutritious edible plants that grow wild! Learn more about fast green cooking!
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