I am a typical stay-at-home mom. My husband works. I stay home with four obnoxious littles, running the older ones to and from school, cleaning up stinky messes etc.
Jason is an ex-landscaper. He went to school to escape digging trenches. He knows just about everything there is to know about growing things and designing a landscape. He also spent almost all of his free time for years studying edible plants and building healthy soil.
We have a dream. Our yard is a blank slate. We want to turn it into an edible paradise.
The thing is…
We didn’t always have a yard. For the past nearly 8 years, Jason was going to school while we raised our 4 kids in a small apartment. For a very long time we were apartment dwellers, a very loooong time! Jason was in school for what felt like forever!
Now for the first time, we have our own dirt. I can’t even begin to tell you how much we have dreamed of this day! I almost snuck a basil plant in one of the outdoor apartment planters that had been vacant for a while, but then they took the planter out!
Have you ever heard of “Guerilla Gardening?” Its where people go out to a public landscaped area, pull out the landscape plants and put in food producing plants! We were soooooo close to doing it. But instead, we mostly turned to foraging.
Foraging While Apartment Living
When we lived in the apartment, foraging was our thing. Nearby in common areas we found Moringa (that some other guerilla gardener had planted), grapefruit, oranges, lemons, and pecans in parkways, but we dreamed of the day we could have a yard of our own to grow a garden and some fruit trees.
NOW we finally we have some dirt to grow in! Jason can identify any plant that can grow here, so we began teaching our kids what was edible and what was not. I can’t believe how many toxic plants are in the average landscape!
It feels amazing to be able to go out and pick some ‘Oro Blanco’ grapefruit for breakfast, or to pick a lemon for that recipe, but we want to be able to grow our own fruit.
Jason’s Experience
Jason has gardened from the time he was young. He grew up doing landscape installations and maintenance with his dad, later worked for a nursery, then for an irrigation parts distributor. He supported our family through college while working as an independent gardening consultant.
During all this time he endlessly researched plants and soil. As a family we love gardening and foraging, and have utilized friends and family’s dirt since we have had none of our own.
Here in Arizona growing things in the often harsh climate can be a challenge but it has its perks, like a year-round growing season, and sub-tropical climate. So we have taken advantage of it to grow bananas, guavas, mangoes, strawberries, apples, pears, ground cherries, and lots of things you can’t buy at a supermarket.
Most of the planting and research was conducted on the site of Jason’s parents’ home and their neighbors, which are now each developing their own thriving paradise of edibles.
Starting From Scratch
But now it is finally time to test this in a yard from scratch. So this is our journey as we transform our new yard into an edible paradise.
How long does this take? What are the phases? Is it possible for anyone to have a gorgeous edible landscape in just a few years, and with low cost?
Here is a look at what we are up to this week:
Our Vision
We would love to grow an abundance of produce for our family in a beautiful backyard paradise. A beautiful yard that will produce good healthy food and be a great place to enjoy with family and friends. I’m excited to see where this journey takes us!
The Phases of Our Landscape Plan
Big projects like this are best done in phases. We have broken our plan down into 5 phases. Right now we are (obviously) on Phase one. Here’s what our basic plan is:
Phase 1: Remove undesirable plants and hardscaping, like oleander, bermuda grass, and the footer of a less-than-functional brick border.
Phase 2: Hardscaping and irrigation preparation. This is where we will be installing irrigation sleeves, putting in a new patio, building a new planter, and setting the grade for our new irrigation manifold boxes.
Phase 3: Installing walkways, and preparing the soil around borders.
Phase 4: Installing the sprinkler system and drip system (yes, we will have some lawn!).
Phase 5: Plant! Install trees, shrubs, and plant a garden! Then incorporate soil amendments (to be discussed later), spread compost and wood chip mulch over all exposed soil surfaces.
So basically we are removing undesirable plants and hardscaping. Preparing for a new hardscape installation and new irrigation system. Installing the hardscaping and irrigation. Building the soil. And finally planting plants! The last part is beautification: Wood chip mulch, groundcovers and maintenance.
When all is said and done, we will be able to enjoy harvesting daily from our own beautiful paradise.
That is the plan anyway. Feel free to join us on the journey. What are your yard dreams? feel free to share, we would love to hear about it!
Happy growing!
