Photo by Ari LeVaux
If you are lucky enough to have some land at your disposal, chances are you have been turning it over in your mind. Stuck at home, deprived of natural light, with grocery shopping less carefree than ever, it’s no wonder we start eyeing sections of lawn the way a hungry coyote might look at his pet rabbit.
Sure, it’s nice to curl your toes in a little mowed grass once in a while, or whack around a croquet ball. But perhaps you can spare a sunny corner, or four, for a different mission. Nearly 2% of the lower 48 states is lawn, while garden space is a small fraction of that.
Lawn conversion can be a grueling project. Or it can be as relaxing as a cup of tea. Either way, it feels really good. If you don’t have any lawn or land to look at longingly, I hope that someday you find some, and that in the meantime you will stay for some carrot aioli.
Two Ways to Go
The hard way to replace a lawn is to dig out the thick sod, shaking the dirt from the hefty roots. You then must dispose of all this plant matter, and the wasted potential it represents. Working that hard to deprive your land of fertility is a ridiculous proposition. And no matter how hard you try to remove every last root, you will still probably have grass sprouting in your garden.
The easy way to replace a lawn is to cover the garden-to-be with a sheet of black plastic. You can then attend to other matters while the lawn becomes a worm farm. Two months later, what had been a typical section of sod is now a sea of soil, mostly soft worm poop. Weed-free and ready for planting.
The only problem with the easy road is you have to wait for results. The problem with the hard road, meanwhile, is you have to get to work.
Both paths are therapeutic in their own way, and fortunately we don’t have to choose. We can actively dig one spot, while elsewhere, tucked under plastic, the earth turns itself.
If you get that plastic on soon, you could have a garden spot by early summer. If you don’t get the plastic on until later in spring, and it’s midsummer by the time the soil is ready, the timing is perfect for planting a fall garden.
Kale, spinach and carrots can grow through the fall and even overwinter if you take measures to keep them warm. Beets, radishes, salad turnips and many other short season cool weather crops can also produce bigly with a summertime start.
You will have to dig and work the new soil into place, and it will be laughably easy compared to the labor of digging green lawn. But before you get started on that new piece of earth, put that plastic in its next location: the future garlic patch.
Garlic needs to be planted sometime in the fall, by about Halloween. That means that if you were to move your plastic in the middle of summer to the future garlic spot, you would be right on schedule. When the frost is on the pumpkin and next year’s garlic is in the ground, you can fold up that sheet of black plastic after a productive season, and keep it safe for next year’s adventures.
How-to
When you lay down plastic, first rake and mow the spot, leaving the clippings scattered. After the plastic is in place, set heavy objects like bricks or pieces of wood around the edges to keep the wind from getting under it. Furniture works, too, depending on the exterior decor you are going for.
The hardware store should have black plastic, although it might not be in the garden section. You want at least 6 mil (0.006 inch) in thickness. At my local Ace, a 10 foot by 25 foot piece cost me $30.
Before you plant, consider digging a trench around the edge of the new spot and installing some kind of edging to block the grass roots from invading. Some pieces of 1×6 or even 2×4, buried with the thin edge at ground level, will slow the invasion of the persistent lawn to a manageable pace.
When you are living off the land, eating seasonally is normal. And now, early spring, is the toughest time to do so. But since carrots and garlic are virtually always in season, here is a recipe for carrot aioli. You can pull it together any time of year, and use it to pull together any meal.
Recipe: Carrot Aioli
Steamed carrot functions in place of egg, and the thick, orange emulsion, tangy with lemon, is a megaphone for the garlic. It’s good on bread, chips, pasta or straight off the spoon.
Makes 4 large servings
1 pound carrots, trimmed and cut to 3-inch lengths
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 teaspoon salt½ lemon juice and zest
1 cup olive oil
A pinch of thyme, oregano, or anything green from your herb garden
Steam the carrots until you can easily thrust a fork through, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, add the garlic, salt, lemon juice and zest, oil and optional herbs to a blender and blend until smooth. Add the carrots, still hot so they cook the garlic a little, and blend until silky smooth. Add a little more olive oil if necessary to help it achieve a nice vortex in the blender.
Serve as a condiment, sauce, dressing or main course. Refrigerate any leftovers.
