Problems in the Backyard

Inner strength required,...
Changing a backyard from the suburban stereotype to a mini-ecosystem is not a simple task. The biggest problems are the most mundane ones:

1) Convincing your spouse that digging up the lawn to plant herbs, fruits, and vegetables is a good idea.
2) Surviving the eyes of neighbors who do not understand why you are not mowing your lawn anymore.
3) Removing the old garden fence and having the vegetables decimated by deer, and trying to convince your family that that was a good idea.
4) Figuring out how to keep out the deer without lethal means.
5) Planting seeds where lawn used to be, and wondering why they won't grow (answer: lawns lead to poor soil quality).
6) Reassuring spouse, children, friends, and neighbors on a daily basis day that you haven't gone insane.
7) Planting seeds and seeing them either not grow, or worse, grow to a respectable size and then get destroyed by deer, mice, squirrels, or woodchucks.

...euphoric moments,...
I started to enact my vision in the Spring of 2008, and during the course of that first growing season accumulated this list of barriers. Counterbalancing that, I experienced an amazing string of euphoric moments:

1) Hours spent browsing through seed catalogs envisioning what the yard could look like.
2) Planting seeds and feeling the energy of that fully grown plant living in that spot I am planting in.
3) Seeing the plants rise from seed, flower, and bear fruit.

...but mostly, strategic choices.
We are lucky to have three acres to work with, and the land has maybe 20% tree cover, 50% lawn, and 30% buildings/driveway. This may turn out to be too little arable land for 300+ varieties, but I will let you know on that. Many people have smaller backyards and/or much more tree cover. If you have an acre or less to work with you may be thinking, "Well, I can't do this then." Or, you may have five acres or more, but it is all covered in trees, or water, or rocks. If trees, you may be reluctant to cut some down, if water you may not want to or be able to change the terrain, and if rocks, it may not seem possible to grow anything.

I am taking a somewhat radical course, but I am not cutting down trees or tearing down buildings. Everyone has to approach this with their own personal energy, for what feels good to you, and this will change over time. It is not important how radical is your approach; what is important is that you plant something, and preferably a diverse variety of plants, as diverse as you can. The quantity of produce from a plant is not the goal here. The goal is a diversity of plantings that are also self-sustaining; plants should either be perennial in your zone, or easily reseed themselves. Why? So that your garden is a joy, not a chore for you.

In areas where lots are smaller than three acres, and especially where lots are one-half acre or smaller, the community becomes more and more important. Because you cannot support 300 varieties in your yard means that you are relying on your neighbors to complete that ecosystem. If your community of say 20, half acre lots all are growing just 10-20 genus of plants, with a few beehives, the community will flourish in love, trade produce, and enjoy communal living. In this scenario, all of the neighbors rely on each other for the success of their own garden. When one garden fails, bees cannot draw the nutrients from those varieties and the hive is weakened, thus weakening the entire community.

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