Reply #63: Myths of home gardening [View All]

[Boomer]

In most threads of similar topics, inevitably someone will naively suggest that suburban lawns be turned into gardens as a source of food. This thread was no different. Sounds like such a sensible, obvious solution, doesn't it? Dirt is dirt, so use that dirt for something more useful than grass.

Only it's not that easy.

Dirt is NOT the same thing as fertile topsoil, and just because you can grow grass doesn't mean you can grow anything approaching a staple food crop. Vegetable gardens require several inches of good topsoil with good drainage, moderate temperatures, decent amounts of rainfall, and a range of ph and minerals levels that are not necessarily available once you strip off all that grass. (And good luck with that chore, btw. Grass is hardy and persistent.) Not to mention the possible toxic hazards from years of lawn treatment chemicals.

My partner and I started a garden on top of some old flowerbeds, which already had some good topsoil to begin with, and we have spent YEARS developing this small plot of land into one capable of growing vegetables. In the process we've bought hundreds of pounds of topsoil to add to what we've got, as well as created our own compost. That's only the physical labor and financial expense -- there has also been accompanying learning curve to study how to grow a wide range of plants, to rotate crops, to deal with pests and disease and variable weather conditions.

So any suburban family that has illusions about turning their green lawn into a food source had better give themselves at least 2-3 years of lead time before they stop relying on the grocery store. And that assumes that there is any topsoil left to buy after everyone else decides they want to do the same thing.

Eventually, home gardens will have to be part of the solution, but the transition to that era is going to be a rough one because millions of people are going to wait until we are in the midst of food shortages and famines before they try to cultivate food themselves. And they won't have the luxury of years worth of effort and learning before they can eat their own produce.