Posted by Mshathvri on 2014-09-09 16:11:33 UTC and edited at 2019-06-03 08:54:39 UTC

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Hi! I'm Wendy and I live in Livermore, California, USA. I live in the suburbs and have been learning about permaculture for two years now. Right now my project is slowly converting my lawn into a food forest, one module at a time.

I began with a 10x20 starter garden on the north side of my house. I wanted to practice these ideas in private, so no one could see the results if I was a failure at permaculture gardening! Because I was such a novice, I didn't realize how shady this fenced in, northern patch would be. I also didn't realize what a difference that would make!

That first year, I planted a peach tree and a nectarine tree that I found at a local discount store. I also planted apple mint, thyme, oregano, potatoes, strawberries, and thornless blackberries. What I should actually say is that those are the crops that did fine and ended up giving me food. I planted a ton of other things as well, but they didn't flourish and I've forgotten them.

In April of this year, I ripped out the hedges and landscaping plants from my east-facing front yard garden and replaced them with edibles using food forest methodology. That went well, so in July I installed another module of food forest directly in front of it, separated by a stone border. I plan to continue in this fashion every few months until my front lawn is entirely food forest.

To keep my neighbors happy, I am handing out food right and left to my neighbors and to the people who go for walks in my neighborhood. I'm also trying to disguise my front yard food forest as a cottage garden by installing statuary, paths, and benches to make all of the mess seem intentional.

I am so excited to find Growstuff; hi! Say hi back and tell me who you are and what's going on in your gardens!