Food Once Again Becomes Part of Our Landscapes
Now here’s something I came across that seems like an interesting value-added for the typical home remodel or home building project. Right up front though you have to remember this is not for everyone.
The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) reports that one of every five residential landscape architects is replacing part, or all of grass lawns with food and vegetable gardens. ASLA President Angela Dye, FSLA says:
Not only do you benefit from fresh produce, but these gardens offer lower maintenance time and utility costs compared to turf grass while substantially increasing the sustainability of a home. Plus, there’s nothing more convenient or sustainable than home-grown food.
Later in the press release it was suggested using leaves and grass clippings for mulch on the garden, but I have my concerns about that. A lot of pests overwinter in debris like that so it might be better to forego some of that advice.
But you can’t argue with the concept, especially with the continued outsourcing of our food supply. The caution though is that not everyone is interested in taking care of food and vegetable plants. Heck, many people aren’t even interested in taking care of traditional landscaping.
However, this could be a selling point that astute remodelers and home builders could make available to interested clients. On the commercial side, where there is already a service caring for the landscape this might also fare well in the vicinity of break areas where employees could help themselves to some healthy snacks.
