Celebrating my 237th post

Welcoming new subscribers, why your garden needs big plants, killing your lawn for the best reasons

It's impossible to take a bad picture of sunflowers

After subtitling my last post “don't be manipulated into hopelessness,” (regarding eco-anxiety) I then proceeded to become very depressed from the reading I did for research. Now I'm ready for a happy post and I see no reason to wait for a round numbered milestone to celebrate. Plus, there was an influx of subscribers this past month who need welcoming. Welcome!

While I like to pepper my writing with pieces on climate, language, and my personal philosophies on various other topics, the original raison d’etre of my Substack is to share the story of my journey on a played-out farm on the edge of Appalachia. The main projects here are rewilding the outer edges of the property, and raising livestock, fruit, and veg in the interior. While I love and appreciate every square inch of the land, there are few things that bring me more peace and joy than the potager. I intend to devote this post to it and the hows and whys of creating such a space.

Evening in the potager

Not quite a food forest, but so much more than a vegetable garden, it is the most intensely cultivated spot on the farm. Here I grow a mix of berries, tree fruit, vegetables, herbs, and flowers, and maintain a pleasant sitting area. While the farm comprises 23 acres, the fenced potager is a sliver of an acre and similar plantings could easily be replicated in small urban and suburban lots. With millions of acres wasted on turf grass, my hope for the last few years has been that my writing would inspire the transformations of yards into beautiful oases of calm, overflowing with colorful flowers and luscious fruits and vegetables.

The most color comes in June

Social media is full of diatribes against lawns for their negative impact on the environment, but I'm not a lawn hater. I think there is a good case to be made for turfgrass where outdoor playing areas for children are needed, and that it's perfectly reasonable to have a lawn if you live, as I do, where it is possible to grow a decent one without the use of irrigation and lawn chemicals. But what if the kids are grown, or parks and playing fields are nearby and easily accessible? Perhaps the yard is now an unused space, occupied only when you are mowing it.

A lawn is like sugar in your diet, not always terrible per se, but bad because it could be replaced with something much more nourishing. If you have an underused outdoor area, I hope this post inspires you to transform it into a plant-filled, multi-use space. Such an undertaking is often referred to as lawn conversion, a term that implies a sudden sweeping change, an immediate metamorphosis into something new. Such drastic changes are often expensive and labor intensive, and the thought of them is overwhelming.

Bitter melon vines cover a tunnel made of cattle panels and locust posts

I invite you to approach the conversion as a gradual development in order to avoid overwhelm. If you own the property and plan on staying a while, start by planting one tree. If you rent, plant large perennials. Create a welcoming sitting area for relaxation and contemplation. Such a spot will encourage you to spend time in your garden, and as you rest quietly, ideas for for further development of the space will naturally occur to you.

While food is most commonly touted as the reason for lawn conversion, there is another wonderful product: shade. As a light-skinned sun-avoider, I value shade immensely and often walk longer distances than necessary in order to stay out of the sun. Shade makes the difference between unpleasantly hot and refreshingly comfortable. It amazes me that shade-making isn't touted as one of the most important steps to take to adapt to the new normal weather.

A support of T-posts and old fencing placed to the southwest, covered in snake beans

Luckily a shady spot can be created in less than a season by growing vining plants on easily constructed supports. These can be as simple as a few T-posts strung with sections of wire fencing or even string. Such structures do not have to be attractive because they will quickly be covered by foliage. Cardinal vine (Ipomoea sloteri) is my favorite flowering vine for this purpose. It quickly covers a trellis and produces bright red flowers that are hummingbird magnets. Pole beans, cucumbers, or melons can do double duty and produce food as well as shade.

For more permanent plantings, dwarf or semi-dwarf fruit trees are widely available and offer significant shade in just a few years. In the eastern U.S., pawpaw trees are the perfect choice: They stay compact, are extremely attractive, and require no pruning, fertilizing, or supplemental watering. (My trees are wild; named varieties may be more needy.)

The banana leaves catch the last evening rays

A tree or very tall plant creates a nexus, a center from which to expand. Add a bench or a couple of chairs to invite people to spend time here. Plants can be added gradually and thoughtfully. It seems counterintuitive, but the more plants I cram into my garden, the larger the space seems. In a turf-covered yard, only the area just above the ground is utilized. Though a vegetable garden with typical plants like carrots, tomatoes, lettuce, etc, is a better use of space than turfgrass, it still only takes advantage of a foot or two vertically. With the addition of tall plants and support structures, suddenly the area is more productive and visually satisfying. Microclimates and secluded nooks are created, and growing space expands immensely.

If tree planting isn't practical — you don't own the property or can't wait for a tree to grow — plant perennials that grow big in one season. My favorites are hardy banana and cup plant which both fill multiple roles. Cup plant (Silphium perfoliatum) produces a riot of bright yellow flowers and offers not only nectar to a wide variety of insects including butterflies, but water as well, which it holds in the cups at the base of leaves.

Hardy bananas (Musa basjoo) aren't trees but rather enormous herbaceous plants that function as perennials in temperate climates. They are visually stunning and produce significant shade once established. The leaves can be used to wrap meat or vegetables for primitive outdoor fire roasting. Though they do not produce edible fruit, hardy banana plants produce an enormous amount of biomass, thrive in drought and wet, and can be whacked back with no negative consequences.

Kniphofia and Asclepias in June

The photos I've included here show my personal style and preferences, but the details of converting lawn space to something else will vary from site to site. There is ample room for creativity, and tailoring a spot to suit your specific needs shouldn't be difficult. The oft-encountered message of “kill your lawn and replace with native plants to benefit wildlife and the planet” isn't necessarily bad or misguided. However, there are equally compelling reasons to shape an outdoor space for human needs. It's not selfish to do so, nor is it a reflection of a “colonial mindset.” There's no reason your outdoor space can't be a haven for humans as well as birds and insects, and still provide all sorts of ecosystem services that lawns do not. Designing a space you love to be in is actually the best way to help nature and the planet: The more time you spend there, the more insight you will have into improving the area for the benefit of non-human residents.

I hope I've conveyed compelling reasons for growing large and diverse plants in your yard. There is, however, another incentive to do so. There may come a day, sooner probably than later, when cool outdoor refuges are needed not just for enjoyment but for survival. When the grid can no longer keep up with demand, or the air conditioning is on the fritz at the height of summer, a shady outdoor retreat will cool off faster in evening than an indoor space and provide respite from the heat. Your plant-filled space might just make you the most popular person on the block.

Cup plant (left) towers over neighboring plants