Over the last couple of weeks I've taken a welcome break from my usual duties and spent some time volunteering over at the Sustainable House. While I made myself open to help on any task, everyone insisted that I was needed most on landscape duty. For most of the summer a big portion of of our landscape work as been done by very few people: our own Jolly Green Gardener, who has been blogging about his experiences, Paula Westmoreland of Ecological Gardens, and a couple of her crew members. Now that it's Autumn, time is at a premium when it comes to the landscape, as everything needs to be in the ground and taking root before the frosts and snowfalls come. So I happily reported for duty in my messiest pair of clothes, gloves and knife at the ready.
Although I refuse to believe it, I'm told that some people actually enjoy working in offices. It's a good place to get the job done if that's where your job is, but really, who wouldn't shrug off a few days' work to play around in the dirt? Me, I jumped at the chance.
I grew up in a family of gardeners. Mom, grandma, aunts, cousins...every family reunion is awash in Latin as the ladies in my family rattle off plant names to one another. It seems inevitable that I too will spend future days agonizing about zones and shade. My folks' house sat on a nice piece of land, and since the day my parents moved in, my mom has set about converting as much grass into garden as possible. From the day I was able to hold a shovel I was put to work out there, growing everything from daffodils to green beans, all mostly organic. Each summer (as soon as I was strong enough), mom also employed me in that wholly un-American activity, sod busting. If the American Dream is a white picket fence surrounding a preternaturally green lawn, then ripping that grass up to make room for flowers and shrubs is positively Communist. You end up with some seriously sore arms, but it sure feels good in the end. And it looks great too. All that grass was just...sitting there. Obviously a patch of bluegrass has its charms - it's good for sitting and laying on, great for picnics, excellent for a game of bocce or croquet. But why plant a whole yard with it? It doesn't do anything for you. No flowers, no berries or fruit. It only comes in one color. Let it go unwatered and it shrivels up all too quickly. It's not very good as a plant. It has tiny roots (which make it all the easier to rip up), so it doesn't hold water or nutrients very well - thus the constant need for fertilizers and sprinklers. You also have to cut it constantly or the neighbors will mock you. Yes, I'd much rather have a patch of land filled with flowers than grass. Granted many of the flowers we love also need considerable watering, but at least they have something nice to show for it.
We are entering a water-wise era; that stuff coming out of the garden hose is in serious danger of disappearing in many places. Even here in Minnesota, a place known for its water, many cities are watching their well aquifers dry up. We are also entering a carbon-conscious era; gas lawn mowers and high-production fertilizers will soon run out of fuel. The suburban yard and the suburban garden need to change.
What we're doing out at the house represents a remarkable leap forward. The landscape is a combination of two major principles: permaculture and xeriscape. I'll explain them briefly here. (You can find in-depth explanations here on our site) Permaculture is the interrelationship of plant, animal, insect, microbe, and human. Plants in a permaculture take care of each other. Some bring nitrogen into the soil - natural fertilizer. Some attract bees - natural pollination. Some hold water in their roots and in the soil, enriching the earth and reducing erosion. Others act as insectories. Some ward off rabbits. Some produce food for people. With permaculture, the garden becomes a community. Xeriscape gardens use as little water as possible, sometimes only the water that falls as rain. This means using only plants that are native to the region - plants that thrive on the amount of rain that traditionally falls there. That means - for most places - no bluegrass. The Sustainable House's lawn has a little bit of grass, for the activities mentioned above, but for the most part, it's native prairie grasses, shrubs, fruit trees, and other perennials. And let me tell you, it's going to look beautiful. Today it looks a bit strange, covered in dirt, straw, wood mulch, and the season's plantings, but in a couple of years this yard will be incredible.
And it feels great to work out there. Many gardeners attest that gardening is incredibly therapeutic; as a non-gardener, I can tell you it's true. All the stress of my day-to-day life melted away. I felt tired at the end of they day, something that I rarely feel after a day sitting at a desk. The smell of the plants and the soil, the work you do, the sun on your body - it feels great. Everyone should take up gardening. Before planting that first bulb, though, look into permaculture and xeriscape. Learn not just how to garden, but how to garden properly in a world where less water and fuel are available to us. Then get tired and get dirty.