Farm Dreams

Homesteading, Organic Gardening, How to Farm, Preparedness, Self-Reliance

Turning a Lawn Into A Garden

The Aspiring Farmer Blog

This is something we probably should have "googled" before we got started. But we didn't. More and more that seems to be the case, and I'm proud of us for that. Back when we first moved out here (and a long time prior to moving) we'd pretty much "google" everything we did. Just to be sure our idea wasn't completely insane and/or wouldn't kill us. Now we're a little more comfortable and kind of free-wheel it a bit when it comes to projects.

The new garden we just dug up is one of those free-wheelin' projects.

One day a friend of mine was talking about using a tiller to dig up some land. A light went off in my head. Could we use it to tear up a big chunk of our lawn and make a bigger garden? Sure, he said.

Three days later we were out tilling up the lawn. Leaning hard to get down under all that crab grass and thick sod that had been growing for who knows how many years. After about three passes with the tiller it was pretty well dug up.

We waited a day and then raked off all the dead grass. I noticed the tiller misses a few spots, so I took a pick axe and a shovel out there and dug up all the stubborn chunks.

We added a 'yard' of compost, which is 1200#'s. Our total space is about 1,600 sq. ft. so our application of compost was probably a little high, but the soil isn't great, so we'll see how it does. Other than that we didn't do anything.

We went out in the forest and sawed some cedar posts out of dead trees. I cut the posts 4' long and we buried about 1.5' in the ground and packed it in with clay that we dug up from deep below. We put up the corner posts and two more posts in between.

The cedar posts are now holding up a short chicken fence around the perimeter. The chickens were loving the worm field-day and awesome new dust bathing area. Sorry guys, this needs to grow us some food.

Who knows if we're too late, but we're going to plant it and see how it goes. Squash, turnips, rutabagas, kale, carrots and much more are on the list. At a minimum it'll make it a lot easier to plant a garden in the spring!

Do you plant a fall garden? If so, what do you plant and when?

Read More at LittleSeedFarm.com
Join the Little Seed Facebook Family

Tags: Cedar Posts, Fall Garden, Fencing, Garden, Lawn, Sod, Tilling

1 member likes this

Comment by Ken Holsberry on August 28, 2012 at 4:25pm: I live in North West Texas where it is very hot and dry during July, August and even into September. So we have two growing seasons, spring and then fall. I planted a fall garden for the first time last year and had a great garden. It takes some faith to put seeds in the ground when it is 110 degrees and it requires a lot of watering but my fall garden is becoming my favorite garden.

Comment by Little Seed Farm on August 28, 2012 at 6:26pm: Awesome, glad to know you had success!

Comment by Jenn Bell on August 28, 2012 at 8:18pm: I've been planting lots of fall crops lately here in eastern, PA. Lettuce, beets, spinach, peas, broccoli, carrots, and lots more. I've alsobeen planting some fall cover crop in areas not planted with fall crops. It's definitely not too late! Keep on planting. :)

Comment by Little Seed Farm on August 28, 2012 at 9:06pm: Alright Jenn, nice! Can't wait for the spinach we're planting. Totally forgot about broccoli, dang

Comment by Jeff Hamons on September 5, 2012 at 3:15pm: We have finally started getting some rain -- so we plan to put in a late fall garden under our newly erected hoop house -- hoping to extend the season well into winter with greens and some brassicas. Only a gardener gets excited about a new garden right after they lose an acre of squasha nd pumpkins almost entirely to squashbugs -- forever hopeful of the next harvest!