Edible Estates. Someone had the same idea as me.

[Godiva]

Guy named Fritz Haeg had the same idea as me only a lot earlier. Turn front lawns into edible gardens. He calls them Edible Estates and has a book coming out.

"Fritz describes the lawns on the street outside people’s house as “a no man’s land, a kind of hostile territory where nobody is really welcome.” His idea is to transform these unused spaces into vegetable gardens. Fritz is concerned with the global issues of land use and food production, he says, “the ultimate goal is to have everyone that comes in contact with the project, in whatever way, to reconsider how they occupy their land.” Did you know that if lawns were a crop they would ran as fifth largest in the United States on the basis of area? With Edible Estates Fritz is demonstrating that one person can make a public gesture of producing food in the most local way possible, on your own front lawn. What if keeping up with the Joneses meant you had a better tomato bush or a bigger plum tree?"

"According to Haeg, landscaping accounts for 20 to 50 percent of all residential water use, with the average lawn using more than 325 litres of water daily. If harvested, the 30 million acres of lawn in the United States make would make grass the fifth largest crop in that country. With land use and food production being two of the most significant global challenges today, Haeg’s goal is to have everyone who comes into contact with the project reconsider how they occupy the land."

Water Saving Backyards.

And he practices what he preaches. He's ediblized the yard of his geodesic dome house.

[hyo silver]

Isn't that a great idea? Mine's in the back, mostly, because that's where the sunshine is. There's still some...uh...discussion on the food/flowers ratio, but the lawn's steadily getting smaller.
There may well be some people who will always think that food only comes in packages from the store, but I think interest in home food production is growing.

[Godiva]

I've got tomatoes to share with my parents and I ate two carrots this week.

The edibles are encroaching on the perennials. The grass has been long gone.

I haven't successfully been able to intentionally grow anything in the plot around the fountain in the front where the grass used to be. It's weeds. Again. I'm tired of hiring workers to get rid of the weeds and replant. All they do is weed whack to the ground. Of course the weeds come back. Well, no more. They have to be pulled out by hand. Repeatedly. I think I'm just going to make the front area into a garden. The rose beds and geraniums will stay around the perimeter. But the center is going to go veggie. Short stuff, though. I think I'll divide it into four corners and then stagger the plantings to extend my harvest.

I'm going to need more stepping stones.

[richard schumacher]

Laudable, but there'd be way too much dog poop and cat pee in mine.

[hyo silver]

Originally Posted by Godiva

...I'm tired of hiring workers to get rid of the weeds and replant. All they do is weed whack to the ground. Of course the weeds come back. Well, no more. They have to be pulled out by hand. Repeatedly...

I've found the best way to get rid of weeds is by using a shovel. Chopping their heads off only encourages the roots - you've got to remove the whole plant. Then, they go in a separate compost pile.

[bac]

ThanX for the link .... good stuff there!

I have a "garden" of hanging baskets on my side porch. I have 11 plants consisting of a variety of peppers, tomatos and cucumbers. This is my 1st year doing this, and the rewards have been tremendous!

I've already harvested 459 tomatos from just 1 tumbling tom tomato plant! I would estimate there to be at least another 150-200 or so yet to mature on this plant alone. The rest of the plants have also done very well. My side porch gets only the morning sun which seems to be what these plants like the most.

... Brad

[SSimon]

Originally Posted by bac

ThanX for the link .... good stuff there!

I have a "garden" of hanging baskets on my side porch. I have 11 plants consisting of a variety of peppers, tomatos and cucumbers. This is my 1st year doing this, and the rewards have been tremendous!

... Brad

OOOO! What a tremendous idea for those lacking land area! I receive 5-6 hours of sun per day but the entire area has been converted to native restoration. I'm wondering how hanging veggie baskets would look on the side of my garage. I've been meaning to get some decorative garden art for this area but hanging veggie baskets may look kinda neat. I saw a "container" garden at the Botanic Garden a few weeks ago and it looked nice. Mostly they had herbs growing in the containers. The baskets were hanging from a pergola type structure. On the side of my garage, this would add a nice vertical element for the eye as well.

Questions:

Are all your hanging container crops producing healthy yields?

Do you have pictures?

Have you had to do anything special or different with a container garden than you would with a land garden?

What crops can you grow in hanging baskets? I'm guessing crops like squash would be too large.

[Godiva]

Both tomatoes and strawberries do really well as "hangars".

[SSimon]

I eat veggies mostly. I do eat strawberries and will try these. There's actually a native strawberry plant to my area. Spreads by runners so putting it in a basket is a great idea. Otherwise it can be very aggressive.

I want to grow squash, broccoli, carrots, kale, collards, sweet peppers, lettuces, cauliflower, cabbage. These are the main components of my veggie diet. How do you think these would fair in a closed environment and do you think there's enough in a hanging basket to keep the plants happy?

[Godiva]

I've seen lettuce done in baskets. Wire basket lined with moss, then you plant them all around the bottom and sides sticking out. I think Sunset Magazine did an article with a picture. You do the same with the tomatoes and strawberries. I think the others are better in large pots. You can even do some special bred cucumbers up a trellis in a pot. In my area carrots would be great in pots as the soil is really hard (clay) and difficult to keep loose and fluffy enough for really good carrots.