You aint got nothin' on me, Omega. Take a look at my Ponderosa....



.... I plan on donating the extras to the poor....

It has been bone dry and mega hot here in central Florida, so it takes a lot of water to keep it alive.

I have a culinary herb patch, tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage, collards, Chinese cabbage, mustard, celery, peppers (jalapeno, banana, and bell), corn, pole beans, zipper peas, yellow squash, zucchini, watermelon and cantaloupe.

Skippy  Wrote:

You aint got nothin' on me, Omega. Take a look at my Ponderosa....



.... I plan on donating the extras to the poor....

Get a Chilly and a tomato on there and you get pasta sauce and curry! Chive look good though?

for a mod posting a thread for once!

Richard Eldritch  Wrote:

Skippy  Wrote:

You aint got nothin' on me, Omega. Take a look at my Ponderosa....



.... I plan on donating the extras to the poor....

Get a Chilly and a tomato on there and you get pasta sauce and curry! Chive look good though?

It's my salsa garden. There are tomato's but they are really small right now. The Jalapenos and Cayenne peppers are even smaller....

I cheated on the chives.... my stepmom gave them to me already grown. Everything else came from a seed....

This is my third year urban gardening in Austin, TX. We're slowly converting the lawn in the front yard to food gardens.

Our front yard has a downslope, and we wanted to capture the rainwater that runs off the front of the yard and into the street. The idea is to hold the water in place for use by the plants. I utilized the permaculture design technique of berms and swales, and made a modified hugelkulture swale.

<snip>

So many people in the neighborhood talk to us about our garden and ask gardening questions and we've met lots of new neighbors this way. Today, the mailman stopped on her route and literally gave us a round of applause and said, "who needs lawns? gardens are much better!"

I'm not sharing this to toot my horn - it's to show how front yard gardening gets other people excited about gardening. Gardening in our front yard gives people a kind of permission to garden in their own front yards, and the movement becomes viral. Our neighbors are gardening and expanding their gardens as a result.

The more people who grow some part of their own food supply, the less reliance on the system, and the more decentralized the food supply becomes. That's a good thing for all people (like us) stuck in an urban area in a SHTF scenario.

Betty F. Crocker  Wrote:

This is my third year urban gardening in Austin, TX. We're slowly converting the lawn in the front yard to food gardens.

Our front yard has a downslope, and we wanted to capture the rainwater that runs off the front of the yard and into the street. The idea is to hold the water in place for use by the plants. I utilized the permaculture design technique of berms and swales, and made a modified hugelkulture swale.

<snip>

So many people in the neighborhood talk to us about our garden and ask gardening questions and we've met lots of new neighbors this way. Today, the mailman stopped on her route and literally gave us a round of applause and said, "who needs lawns? gardens are much better!"

I'm not sharing this to toot my horn - it's to show how front yard gardening gets other people excited about gardening. Gardening in our front yard gives people a kind of permission to garden in their own front yards, and the movement becomes viral. Our neighbors are gardening and expanding their gardens as a result.

The more people who grow some part of their own food supply, the less reliance on the system, and the more decentralized the food supply becomes. That's a good thing for all people (like us) stuck in an urban area in a SHTF scenario.

That is excellant advice!!!!

Okay folks, I'm gonna 'till up my beautiful front yard--for the people and for the food!

Betty F. Crocker  Wrote:

This is my third year urban gardening in Austin, TX. We're slowly converting the lawn in the front yard to food gardens.

Our front yard has a downslope, and we wanted to capture the rainwater that runs off the front of the yard and into the street. The idea is to hold the water in place for use by the plants. I utilized the permaculture design technique of berms and swales, and made a modified hugelkulture swale.

<snip>

So many people in the neighborhood talk to us about our garden and ask gardening questions and we've met lots of new neighbors this way. Today, the mailman stopped on her route and literally gave us a round of applause and said, "who needs lawns? gardens are much better!"

I'm not sharing this to toot my horn - it's to show how front yard gardening gets other people excited about gardening. Gardening in our front yard gives people a kind of permission to garden in their own front yards, and the movement becomes viral. Our neighbors are gardening and expanding their gardens as a result.

The more people who grow some part of their own food supply, the less reliance on the system, and the more decentralized the food supply becomes. That's a good thing for all people (like us) stuck in an urban area in a SHTF scenario.

That is excellant advice!!!!

Okay folks, I'm gonna 'till up my beautiful front yard--for the people and for the food!

CourtDude  Wrote:

Betty F. Crocker  Wrote:

This is my third year urban gardening in Austin, TX. We're slowly converting the lawn in the front yard to food gardens.

Our front yard has a downslope, and we wanted to capture the rainwater that runs off the front of the yard and into the street. The idea is to hold the water in place for use by the plants. I utilized the permaculture design technique of berms and swales, and made a modified hugelkulture swale.

<snip>

So many people in the neighborhood talk to us about our garden and ask gardening questions and we've met lots of new neighbors this way. Today, the mailman stopped on her route and literally gave us a round of applause and said, "who needs lawns? gardens are much better!"

I'm not sharing this to toot my horn - it's to show how front yard gardening gets other people excited about gardening. Gardening in our front yard gives people a kind of permission to garden in their own front yards, and the movement becomes viral. Our neighbors are gardening and expanding their gardens as a result.

The more people who grow some part of their own food supply, the less reliance on the system, and the more decentralized the food supply becomes. That's a good thing for all people (like us) stuck in an urban area in a SHTF scenario.

That is excellant advice!!!!

Okay folks, I'm gonna 'till up my beautiful front yard--for the people and for the food!

It may take a little time, but it caught on with the neighbors here. We now have 6 other neighbors (within about a block and a half) whose gardens can be seen from the street, and others who have gardens in their back yards.

If you have foot or bike traffic on your street, I'd recommend planting things like cherry tomatoes (which can be shared on the spot if a neighbor stops to chat with you about your garden, which they will) and basil free for the picking (PM me if you need some seed - I have a ton saved from last year).

If someone expresses interest in your garden, you can share something right there on the spot, and once they taste those delicious cherry tomatoes, you've planted the seed in their head to grow their own.

You could consider your front yard garden a demonstration garden. If you have a lot of neighbors with very limited yard space or a lot of apartments near by, add some container gardening to the mix in your front yard to show people options for small spaces. Think about the challenges your neighbors might face in creating their own gardens and demonstrate the solutions in your own yard.

If you live in a higher income area where people are more concerned about the 'looks' of their yard, you could model 'edible landscaping' rather than row planting or raised beds. We have one neighbor who did that, and if you didn't know they were food plants, you'd be hard pressed to tell that their yard is anything other than a beautiful landscape.

Just some thoughts based on my experiences. Oh, and I think you're awesome!

I'm trying to get a garden going that doesn't need replanting all the time