Tara Nolan

I am not sure if revolution is the right term for gardening, it's an awful like actual work. The biggest tip I can give you about raised bed gardening is to start small and add to more beds over time. I started out with small bed made of cinder blocks that had tomatoes and squash, and this year I had 2 prepaid beds installed, bought 400 lbs of organic top soil and a truck load of mulch. It's a lot of work to move all the topsoil and mulch to the garden, and there is still a pile of mulch blocking my driveway. And neither bed has enough dirt to plant anything. Yes, this book has lots of great advice but just start small.… (meer)

This is a wonderful book. It is a celebration of making your front yard useful instead of just having a lawn. It gives you plans that are attractive and useful for creating the kind of garden you want whether it be a small vegetable garden, a pollinator garden or a place to revel in the glory of native plants.

Inside you will find suggestions, plans, and guides to help you work with the space you have to make the best use of your enviroment. But be sure you comply with any rules in your neighborhood before you start planting/building. I know sadly, that some places won’t let you plant vegetables in your front yard. I don’t understand why but I do know that these places exist. There are projects like decorative rain barrels and different plant stands to add to porches, decks or just general outdoor decor.

There are a lot of clever ideas but some of them might not appeal to those in more planned communities but that does not mean you still can’t add some bee and butterfly friendly plants to your landscape design. Every little bit does help!

My house doesn’t have a front yard and a back yard in that we have most of our land dedicated to food production and our house is set back on our lot to take advantage of the view of the river. The hubby is looking to do some landscaping around the yurt to pretty it up a bit but it also has to be fire wise given the conditions in which we live. He said he found some projects in the book that will be useful for different ideas that he has for future projects.… (meer)