Lawn Alternatives: Eat Your Yard

by Josh Wood Sunday March 29, 2009

A medium-sized garden in the Eden Park section of Cranston
In our quest to find ways replace our ubiquitous and resource-hungry lawns, it’s time to consider the front yard vegetable garden. It’s becoming more common to see portions of Cranston lots dedicated to various edibles. A luxurious lot in Eastern Cranston is 6,000 square feet, but realistically most tend to add up to around 4k. A section of the lawn can easily be replaced by a small garden with minimal effort, so instead of feeding your yard, let your yard feed you. Here are some things to consider when planning your urban farm:

Find the Spot
First you’ll need to spend a little time scouting locations. Ideally the area should get at least 6 hours of sun. Make sure that your plot is far enough from the roots of trees and shrubs. Try to position your garden away from buildings to reduce the chances of soil contamination by lead.

Speaking of Lead, Test Your Soil
Soil testing is just as important for your family’s health as it is for the health of your plants. If you live in an older home, there’s a chance that the soil around the house will have elevated levels of lead in it. University of Massachusetts offers soil testing for a nominal fee. Refer to URI’s Greenshare Soil Testing Factsheet for more info on soil testing. If your soil tests indicate elevated levels of lead, you will need to make improvements. Add compost and composted manure to your planting area. Raised beds will allow for more control of the quality of the soil. Container gardening using fresh soil offers the easiest workaround and can be surprisingly rewarding.

If You Rent
Obviously you’ll want permission from your landowner before making any revisions to a yard. You might also want to consider container gardening (see below).

Start Small
Resist the temptation to bite off more than you can chew. Converting more of your yard than you can realistically maintain can be discouraging. Start with a small footprint and 6-8 plants. You can expand your garden as your comfort level grows.

Measure It Out
A good basic unit of measure for a workable garden plot is 4 feet. Traditional garden rows of 4’ in width can hold 2 plants side by side. The square foot gardening method compacts this measurement, suggesting that a 4’ x 4’ raised bed can accommodate 16 plants.

Container Gardening
Vegetables and herbs can easily be grown in pots on a porch or balcony. An article in last year’s Boston Globe included a slide show to help jump start your container garden. One important thing to remember is not to skimp on the soil. Resorting to cheap soil will only result in heartbreak. Supplement your soil with organic matter such as compost or peat. Gardener’s Supply offers some great starter tools, including planters, watering systems and garden supplements that retains moisture.

Cranston. What Zone is That?
Cynics might answer “Twilight,” but a gardener knows the question refers to the United States Department of Agriculture’s Cold Hardiness Zone map. A zip code search puts Cranston on the border of zones 6 and 7.

Start With Good Plants
Although you can find vegetable seeds and seedlings in your local home improvement emporium, I suggest buying plants from your local nurseries or farmers’ market. They will have healthier stock, they’ll have the varieties best suited to Rhode Island’s unique climate, they’ll have a better, more unusual selection of plants, and the folks selling them will be able to offer more help than anyone at a chain garden center. And if you’re looking to go organic, only the plants offered by the local nurseries can be guaranteed to be organic. Plus you’ll be supporting the local economy. The Good Earth and Zephyr Farms, a Pawtuxet Farmers’ market participant, are both excellent resources for plants, and both are located in Cranston. Sagewood Herb Farm in Usquepaug and Seven Arrows Farm in Attleboro are great resources for herbs.

Your Own Seeds
Starting your own vegetable seeds can be equal parts rewarding and heartbreaking. If you’re so inclined, some great seed resources are Seed Savers, Seeds of Change and Johnny’s.

Smartify
Expand your knowledge with the timeless New Victory Garden and Square Foot Gardening books. Both are well-represented in the RI public library system.

When Should I Plant?
Average last frost for Cranston falls somewhere during the third week of April, but many crops should be sown well before that date.

These are plants that will actually suffer in summer heat and do best in the cool spring weather: asparagus, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, horseradish, kale, lettuce, onion, parsley, rhubarb, rutabaga, spinach, turnip.

These plants can be sown up to two weeks before the last frost date: beets, carrots, cauliflower, chinese cabbage, mustard, parsnip, radish, swiss chard.

These are warm weather plants that should be sown on or after the last frost date: beans, corn, squash, tomatoes.

This next batch will suffer without adequate warmth. Many New England gardeners use Memorial Day as their benchmark for planting the following: cucumbers, eggplant, melon (honeydew, muskmelon, watermelon, etc.), okra, peppers, pumpkin, winter squash varieties

References
Greenshare Soil Testing Factsheet
UMass Soil Testing
Boston Globe on Container Gardening
Square Foot Gardening
Cold Hardiness Zone Map
The Good Earth
Zephyr Farms
Sagewood Herb Farm
Seven Arrows Farm
Gardener’s Supply
Plant Aficionado Climate Data

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