Finding More Space

Last week we spent a few days cleaning out the garage and some corners and edges of the yard.

As far as the garage goes, the plan is to make plenty of room to set up an aquarium for a breeding colony of tilapia. We want to be able to raise our own on a continual and constant basis--more sustainability from home. If possible, we also want to have room to put in a fish tank to hold the rest of the tilapia during the cooler months where it is easier heat the tank, while we grow trout in the outside tanks. The trout need the cold water. We'll see what happens.

As for the yard, we cleared some brush and some wood piles and trimmed some trees so that we can have a little more planting space, or more space for our poultry. Between the new beds in the front yard and the space gained in the backyard, we'll be adding about four hundred square feet of growing beds. We'll also be adding some shelter for the ducks and geese for nest boxes and some pens for keeping them confined when we want or need them to be out from under foot.

Do you have a sunny lawn in your front yard? Why do you have a sunny lawn? You water, weed, fertilize, and mow. Why not put in edible landscape in that sunny spot in your front yard? With a strong hardscape (the structural elements: walkways, fences, planters, trellises, etc.) and the right choices of plants, you can water, weed, fertilize, just as you would with a lawn, but instead of mowing grass, you can harvest fruits and veggies that are good to eat.

Although we have had herbs and dwarf fruit trees in our front yard for several years, we are just now putting in raised beds and trellises for growing garden vegetables. We’ll be posting details along with photos of our experiment as it unfolds.

There are several good books available to show you how. Our current favorite is Yvette Soler’s The Edible Front Yard: The Mow-Less, Grow-More Plan for a Beautiful, Bountiful Garden.