Touch grass, then kill it

Permie Project #1: No-more-lawn lasagna

Lawn --> Lasagna

In preparation for a two-month leave of absence, I spent the last week in overalls and a sunhat terrorizing my mom’s front lawn. Because in order to achieve the permaculture design goals for her front yard, the first thing we have to do is murder the grass.

Goals for Marta’s front yard:

• Establish pollinator habitat with native, drought-tolerant plants

• Grow cutting flowers

• Carve out pathways for taking out the trash

• Capture rainwater, minimize runoff

• Improve privacy from the street/sidewalk

• Enhance curb appeal and beautify this dilapidated neighborhood!

Nice graphic found at the Theodore Payne Native Plants Garden Tour

We landed on the lasagna method because it not only kills the grass but also boosts soil fertility in advance of planting. It’s considered to be minimally labor intensive, but I don’t think that’s entirely accurate if you’re the only one loading and unloading each truck bed of compost/mulch. Not to mention the three afternoons it took me to rip out the grass for the pathways before even starting the lasagna layering.

Here’s what we did:

Step 1: Carve out pathways (to be later filled in with bricks & ground cover)

Progress shot of pathway creation

Step 2: Compost layer

Free compost from Griffith Park + completed pathway

Step 3: Cardboard layer (remove tape & labels)

On one area of the lawn, we are experimenting with a 100% wool rug in place of cardboard. We'll see what happens!

Step 4: Mulch layer

Honestly, we could probably use more mulch but I am TIRED

Step 5: Water & wait

I watered the lasagna a couple of times throughout the process, but never to a very soggy state (woops!). So, I think I will do one or two heavy waterings before leaving for my trip, and then have Marta occasionally re-water while I’m gone. By the time I get back in August, we should hopefully have some good decomposition on our hands. Then, we’ll be ready to start planting!

In the meantime, please enjoy the juxtaposition of our yard (soil regeneration! water saving! soon-to-be beautiful!) against those of our neighbors, pictured below. Across the street features the lesser evil that is grass (monocrop! water intensive!) while next door sports the supremely idiotic: astroturf (exacerbates heat! interrupts the water cycle! is straight up plastic and emits toxins! ruins ecosystems!). I wish I could tear out their turf but I suppose I will have to settle for leading by example instead.

SMH

This project was made possible by:

• ME! My mom brought home carloads of cardboard and removed all the tape, but I will proudly take credit for 85% of the remaining work (done in exchange for free room & board because I am a homeless vagabond as we know)

• LA Sanitation’s FREE Mulch (& Compost) Giveaway program (A reason to love Los Angeles! Perhaps your city has something similar?)

• Unlimited, free cardboard from the family business (Ask your local grocery store or other business-that-gets-a-lot-of-deliveries for their cardboard boxes—they’ll probably be happy to get rid of them!)

• The family truck :)

• Many episodes of the Senior Superlatives podcast

• Our Meyer lemon tree—there is truly nothing like a giant glass of fresh squeezed electrolytes after hours of backbreaking labor in the sun

• My thrifted overalls and this extra wide hat

  

While the lasagna cooks, I’ll be on vacation! Updates to come.