Mmm. Nothing beats homegrown veggies. It can get expensive if you buy everything. Link to frugal gardening forum.
Posted on 02/22/2009 12:44:31 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
Why is America so in love with pristine, empty front lawns that isolate neighbor from neighbor, require dirty fuels to mow, harsh chemicals to prevent weeds and loads of water to keep green? What happens when those lawns are ripped out and replaced with an edible landscape?
Those controversial questions are at the heart of internationally acclaimed architect/artist Fritz Haeg's work over the last five years, and were the subject of a talk he presented Thursday as part of Olbrich Garden's Midwest Gardening Symposium.
The symposium, attended by over 160 gardeners, included four other speakers who were part of a day-long program touting the benefits and pleasures of edible gardens, a subject made more urgent by the current economy and issues surrounding food costs and safety.
The symposium was a collaborative effort between Olbrich and the University of Wisconsin's Allen Centennial Gardens.
An increasingly influential young artist whose work is supported by major institutions like the Whitney in New York, and the Tate Modern in London, Haeg is a harsh critic of the expansive and perfectly manicured lawn. He sees it as a symbol of an idealized elitism that has encouraged Americans to separate themselves from each other, and from the natural world.
Projects like his Edible Estates and Animal Estates have been featured in the New York Times, major design publications and on National Public Rado.
In communities from Salina, Kansas to Los Angeles, and Maplewood, New Jersey to London, Haeg has helped individuals tear up their front lawns and replace them with edible yards.
He has chosen communities where making a garden front yard out of lawn creates some tension and controversy, issuing a deliberate challenge to the notion that our idealized home should be viewed in an empty, park-like setting. Those conformist ideas are reinforced in many places by long-ingrained habits, or even by community covenants or ordinances.
His work includes extensive documentation of the process and reaction to the edible yards over time. Haeg's book describing the project, "Edible Estates: Attack on the Front Lawn" was offered for sale at the talk. Shortly after the artist's appearance, all 50 copies ($24.95) sold out.
Haeg -- lanky, soft-spoken and amusing -- wore a knit hat throughout his Madison appearance, but assured the audience he was not put off by Thursday's deep cold and bitter wind, even though he had just flown in from his home and studio in Los Angeles.
"I'm a 4th, maybe 5th, generation Minnesotan," he said. "I was born and raised under these conditions."
Haeg, a gardener himself, made a strong case for lawns as an environmental and social disaster. But even some of those in the Olbrich audience who identified themselves as unabashed lawn mowers said they appreciated what he had to say.
"I mean, what kind of company makes a sign with little cartoon kids and dogs crossed out?" Haeg asked to ripples of laughter as he showed his audience a slide of the kind of warning signs chemical lawn care companies post after applying pesticides to a yard.
The rest of the day's speakers also encouraged home gardeners to think about adding more food to their gardening practices.
Jennifer Bartley, a landscape architect and author of the book "Designing the New Kitchen Garden: An American Potager," showed how gardens kept in close proximity to our homes and filled with herbs, fruits and vegetables have nourished the human spirit and stomach from the beginning of time. She advocates bringing such gardens back into the residential landscape, for aesthetic reasons as well as practical ones.
Mark Dwyer, director of horticulture for Janesville's Rotary Botanical Gardens, is an expert on combining garden-fresh vegetables and herbs as an edible part of spectacular landscaping. In his talk, he showed how perennial flower beds can share space with edible annuals, and how it's possible to make a garden as nutritious as it is beautiful.
Other speakers included Janet Macunovich from Pennenial Favorites in Michigan who is an expert on using color in the garden, and David Cavagnaro, a professional photographer and manager of the genetic preservation gardens for Seed Savers Exchange in Iowa, discussing the use of heirloom vegetables in contemporary gardens.
I love Hollyhocks. I have a ton of them...they come up all over the place!
We got 6” of snow yesterday...after everything had melted and you could sort of smell spring in the air. *SIGH*
I’ll be starting tomatoes, peppers and herbs next month. I never have time to get stuff in before May 31st, so I always have to slow myself down. :)
My Rock Garden is going to be a salad garden this season. It heats up early (southern exposure & lots of heat-holding rocks) so I should be able to start a lot of lettuces and cool-season herbs (parsley, cilantro) right out there.
Can’t WAIT! Of course, that’s where a lot of snow was pushed, so that, too, may not be out from under a glacier until May, LOL!
Well, he makes a tidy living preying on the Earth-guilt of others! ;)
I am so ready for Spring!
Oh yes, the hollyhocks do like to spread their love around along with the pansies, cosmos, nicotiana, cleome, snapdragons...I could go on. Have to love the free plants though. LOL
We had the 6” of white stuff on Friday. The snow was almost gone and now this. Oh well, it IS February. I just feel extra impatient this year for some reason. I’m chalking it up to 0bama denial. :(
Actually, it’s the Lawn Police who pester people over nothing.
Apparently this artiste isn’t aware of run-ins with home owners associations.
Are you sure this isn’t an advertisement for Home Depot or Lowe’s? Planting a garden like that would require a lot of trips to these stores, that’s to be sure.
Gorgeous! I love purple coneflowers!
When did iVillage buy The Garden Web? I haven’t been there in years!
Thank you! I’d give you all you could stand if you lived nearby. :) Black-Eyed Susans and Coneflowers spread like crazy here. Every spring I give away at least 50 plants. They’re the love that keeps on giving.
I have Purple Coneflowers and Black-eyes Susans in my yard. I also have the White Swan Coneflowers. I find that they are not as easy to grow as the Magnus Purple Coneflower. I plant Goldstrum Black-eyed Susans. I also love the perennial blanket flower. The ones I have are a deep burgandy.
I am so ready for spring.
Wonderful link, neefer. I wasn’t aware of the frugal gardening forum there, so thanks! I go to the Minnesota forum at GW quite a bit, though not much is happening there this time of year.
I also enjoy reading the winter sowing forum though I’ve never tried it personally.
Your photo is great. It has my mouth watering. LOL
Thanks! This season’s peppers sprouted yesterday and I can hardly contain myself. I first learned about winter sowing at GW and am trying it for the first time this year. Have about 20 containers so far.
That’s a great post, Diana! Fritz Haeg is doing good work. During the times to come, most of the HOA busybodies will be out of business. Here’s a quick anecdote about one of my employers of the ‘90s. He owned a large, old store with huge front windows. The store was a write-off, as he wanted it that way while waiting for his grown son to grow up and run it.
Me: Some people asked us to post these little advertisements for their horse show.
Boss: No. Any other business takes money that our business could have.
And that attitude is present in every locale in our country. Here’s a flashback to the ‘70s.
Me: Boss, why are we buying tools from a competitor for our customers, when we have the same wholesale source and discount?
Boss: Because competition makes the business environment healthier. That’s how we do it in America.
Friends, grow those victory gardens. Teach some of those grubby, greenie young folks in your neighborhood, while you’re at it. It’s something that you can have in common...something to start with.
ventana wrote:Airborne had a good suggestion for that. Venison is good eatin'.
Not a bad idea, but where I live, we are so overrun with dear, they’d eat everything in the yard! V’s wife.
But if you'd rather protect the veggie garden, I've found that fence wire rolled out flat on the ground works pretty good to keep the deer (and the rabbits) away from the veggies. They don't like walking across the wires. It's like the "cattle guards," but for deer and smaller garden pests. Most things grow up through the mesh. Things like tomato and pepper plants, you cut a few squares out of the grid so you can set out your plants. And there has to be enough margin around the edges that the deer can't stand on the good ground and reach over.
Might be a good use of vacant lots in our country.
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