Our investment property seats on a ½ acre land and it takes about 4 hours for my husband to mow the lawn. The grass grows fast. When he mows one part of the property and returns to mow the rest a week later, the part he mowed grows like if it was not mowed in the first place making it hard for him to stay on top of the lawn maintenance. I told him that it makes sense to me to turn a part of the property into a garden. I did the same in our main residence. I turned half our back yard and most of the front yard into vegetables and fruit trees garden. After he agreed on my idea, I observed the property and remarked that one side of the property is clear of trees and is very sunny. The property is on a corner lot. The East side is sunny. The South of the property which is the back of the property is loaded with big trees at the edges of the lot. The West end side is boarded with medium size trees. The North side which is the front of the property has few big trees as well. It is clear to me that the East side of the property would be adequate for the garden. It is probably 1/3 of the property. However, I am not sure how far from the edges of the road we should not use since there is not side walk on our side of the road.  Moreover, the city sewage line is on South East of the property. So I left some space around the edges of the property on the East and South sides and started the garden from there. There are many wood planks and cut trees on the property. Few times this July, we all went to the property to mow, drain the basement, and delimitate the garden. I thought I could wait until fall to use brown leaves to smother the grass. But quickly I realized that my husband has to mow that area as well until fall. So we laid down flat some boxes and some new papers. But it was not enough. Finally I thought we have to rely on woodchips. My husband called the city where the property is located and learned that they don’t deliver but the city dumps the wood chips somewhere we could go to get it. We don’t have a truck therefore, it was not an option. I turned to Craig list and found one farm not too far from the property that sells hay for $5/ small bale. I called them and they agreed to deliver for $10. My husband went and paid them and they delivered 10 bales at the end of the 3rd week of July. We went there over the same weekend and while my husband mowed the lawn, I spread the hay on the area my husband and I decided to turn into the garden. The 10 bales only cover about half of the garden area. After consulting with my husband, we decided it would be a good idea to order 20 more. To order the 10 bales that cost me $60. I used my allowance to pay for it. In case you are new to the blog, my husband and I take $100/ each for allowance a month. I consider gardening as my hobby but at the same time my goal is to decrease our food expenses by growing most of our vegetables and fruit without the use of synthetic pesticide or chemical fertilizers. However, it is hard for the food budget to support a new garden while paying for grocery at the same time. I usually spend my allowances for these purchases my food budget could not afford. This new garden would be fenced. There are many fence wires left on the property. But we have to purchase the garden posts. After giving it many thought, I told my husband that I think it is a good idea to let go the two community plots I rent from the city for $50/year and remove the fence and the posts to use for our new garden before we decide to purchase more posts. He agreed but thought we should wait until fall to do so. I decided we do it now instead. So the second Sunday of July, we went to the community garden after church and removed the posts and the fences. We rolled the wires and left them on the plots as well as the posts. It was not easy. It was very hot that day and having the kids with us was not easy as they got tired very quickly. We let the doors to the plots intact for now but would take them as well or at least the posts that support them. I told my husband to check into rental car like U-Haul or Penske these big trucks people rent to move out of their apartments. We would use that to move the fence from the community garden to the new garden. If I made my calculation right and save enough from my allowance, we could order more posts from Lowes and load them in the same truck as the community garden is not far from Lowes.

The area I limited to fence is about 29 ft. * 40 ft. That is about 1,160 sq. ft. There are deer around the area and it makes sense to fence the garden. It would also keep people out. I am thinking about fencing within fence. I have tried at home and at the community garden and it seemed to keep deer from jumping in the garden since my fence is up to 5 ft. tall. That would require many posts though. The inside fence would expand my garden as I would grow on it. In my current garden, I have grown green bean, cucumber, grapes, blackberry along the inside fence. I also use the outside fence to dry my laundry. The outside fence would be paired with 1’’ chicken wire at the bottom to keep bunny out. Spreading the hay on the grass is my way to kill the grass without tilling the garden. I started the garden at home before I found the need to fence it. So there are fruit trees and perennials I planted and wished I have not put them where they are. I hope when I start a new garden I do better. And here I am starting a garden before fencing it again. I used wood planks and tree trunks to mark few garden beds at ground level on the new property. I transplanted rhubarb, Egyptian onion, and sorrel in them already. In my home garden, I let my vegetables go to seed and save my own seeds.

I started to harvest some seeds and thought it was good to sow them in the new garden. I dug some plants and planted in the new garden including rhubarb, peppermint, and comfrey. I planted the mint and the comfrey in an area that would be outside of the garden fence and around the city sewer line. The sorrel would survive the transplant. Rhubarb and comfrey are doing well. The Egyptian onion is dormant now but as early as August they should start to grow new leaves.  Starting a new garden over lawn is easy to do if you start in spring. You can start a new garden on top of the lawn. However you would be limited on what you could plant. You could just lay potatoes on the grass and cover with hay or wood chips. Pile more hay or wood chips as the potatoes grow. By the time you harvest the potato at the end of the season, the grass would be gone. Big seeds like beans, peas, and squash would work too. To plant small seeds, you have to cover the grass with hay or wood chips. Then you dig whole and plant seedlings. I have started a new garden right on lawn at home by planting potatoes and covered with hay and it worked. I have used hay, wood chips, and fall leaves. I prefer wood chips among them all and they are free if the electric company agrees to dump it in your driveway. Hay, wood chips, and fall leaves mulch the garden and prevent weeds to grow. They hold moisture in the ground and decrease the need to water the garden saving you water. I don’t water my garden. The mulch breaks down into compost and indirectly nourishing the plants.

What do you think? Was is a good idea to give up my community garden plots 10 minutes away from our home to start a new garden on our second property 25 minutes away that would become a rental property in few years?