Do gardens make more sense than lawns?

bobcat

bobcat

Well-known Member
Location
Northern Calif
It seems more people in the U.S. tend to plant and maintain lawns than gardens. Lawns are a hallmark of American suburban culture, symbolizing neatness and community appeal. A lot of effort can go into lawns with watering, fertilizing, weeding, edging, aeration, mowing, and sometimes reseeding, but you can't eat a lawn. Nevertheless, they are extremely prevalent, and if you want a lush one, it can be very demanding.

Both require work, but the payoff is quite different. One is for aesthetics, and the other is nourishing vegetables. I imagine in some countries they would never trade the appearance of a lawn for food. There is also the personal satisfaction of enjoying food at your fingertips that you grew yourself. It's sometimes strange the things we value.
 

My across the street neighbor is a lawn nut. He's always fertilizing, seeding and sometimes mows three times a week- there might be a blade of grass that's a millimeter higher than the others. His lawn is a velvety green carpet. The only reason I have grass growing on my lot is because of all the grass seeds washing down from his. I have an acre &1/3, which is a bear to mow with all the trees. The thought of making it a garden would be way more work. And I live way too close to nature- deer ,rabbits, in ground things like slugs, etc. I'd need a 14 foot high, invincible wall just to protect from the hungry deer.
BTW, my grandmother lost both legs to diabetes, and still worked her huge garden from her wheelchair.
 
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Twostep said:
We have grass out front and a garden and a vegetable garden out back. Considering our amount of rain in central Oklahoma - vegetables are gold plated by means of irrigation.
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Do you have problems with Prairie dogs ?

I love them , decades ago when at Ft.Sill there were fields of Prairie dogs .
 
It is really nice knowing some people love beautiful lawns (my DH and children love walking in a lawn of grass barefooted) and some love gardens, either flower gardens or veggie gardens, even cactus gardens. Some people like me, love anything that grows, it means life is good.

Each should enjoy whatever mode they enjoy. A good looking lawn is as beautiful to me as a good looking veggie garden or flower garden. It takes hard work to make such, regardless of one's preference. I admire people who work at something they love and others get to enjoy their results.
 
Gary O' said:
tomatoes beans kale squash onions strawberries.......a bunch of other stuff

we are eating this winter what we grew last summer
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Ok thanks I thought lots in the pic looked like kale .

I have bit of a problem with certain things because they are magnets for iguanas , I would think fence and all which rabbits can go under you have rabbits hit your vegetables .
 
Gary O' said:
tomatoes beans kale squash onions strawberries.......a bunch of other stuff

we are eating this winter what we grew last summer
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Lots of peppers from hot banana to real heat and whatever else we can keep alive. SO gave me two peach saplings last fall. they are budding out!!! Have you looked at Armenian Cucumbers? Actually a melon and very proliffic producer. No need to peel. Likes to hide. Needs to be eaten young.
 
Twostep said:
Lots of peppers from hot banana to real heat and whatever else we can keep alive. SO gave me two peach saplings last fall. they are budding out!!! Have you looked at Armenian Cucumbers? Actually a melon and very proliffic producer. No need to peel. Likes to hide. Needs to be eaten young.
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Oh the hot peppers are killers . I had ghosts but simply to much it was like putting a match in my mouth .

I am not familiar with all different types .
 
I'm envious of both. I have half an acre, front and backyard that is a combination of weeds, crab grass and dirt with a little surviving patches of grass here and there. Having a manicured lawn was low on the list of priorities when it came to this house. None of my neighbors are complaining, I live across the street from a cemetery, my other neighbors on both sides of me have backyards overflowing with so much stuff and some junk. Believe it or not, it is a nice neighborhood :) My goal is to get a veggie garden started in semi retirement to enjoy when I am no longer working.
 
NotCompSavy said:
Oh the hot peppers are killers . I had ghosts but simply to much it was like putting a match in my mouth .

I am not familiar with all different types .
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Ghosts are not that hot. They do have flavor. So use in moderation. Mix with others. Keep in solidary confinement while growing or they will pollute their neighbors. I had cutworms last year who ate the fruit.
 
More and more American homeowners are combining some measure of gardens with lawns in the front of their homes. It is called "curb appeal." With so many folks on the move for whatever reason, houses are up for sale in a New York minute, it seems. When realtors or just people who are looking for the ideal location, this curb appeal idea is a selling point. Not necessarily, a big one, but it stimulates interest.

Usually, these include certain flowers and bushes, hedging and the like. Vegetable gardens are generally in the rear of the residence.
 
I have too many "critters" here to have much luck with vegetable or flower gardens. Even my azaleas and roses get eaten. For some reason the animals leave the basil alone, but the bugs have discovered it. I don't like using pesticides on the edibles so am giving things a year off for a break.
 
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