Lots of Green but Not Much Good

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Making The Backyard Plan:

When we first moved into our new house over 15 years ago we fell in love with the landscape. Our brick ranch house sat under a variety of mature 30+ foot tall trees. During the next few weeks between cleaning, moving, and prepping for our first child, I spent time exploring our back yard.  Here's what I found:

• A small patch of grass that receded into a deep ravine with steep slopes
• Multiple ash trees with spotted bark - telltale signs of emerald ash borer infestation 
• Bush honeysuckle so thick I had to use hand shears to cut a path to walk through  
• Poison ivy everywhere and growing up our trees
• Grape vine that lay like a mat on top of the honeysuckle binding it tightly together
• Winter creeper vines covering the ground choking out what little grew under the honeysuckle
• And lots and lots of mosquitos!

It wasn't pretty. It was completely daunting. The back yard was a thick green backdrop that masked a nasty, unsafe place we tried to avoid. But from a distance I could envision a different space complete with:

• A large, level yard full of grass for our little family to play in
• A food forest full of native plants that was safe to explore (no more poison ivy!)
• Pretty flowers of many colors and a traditional garden
• Impressive boulders and pondless waterfall

There was so much to do. Where to begin? I had the energy and enthusiasm to reformat the space but lacked significant time, money and in some cases the right approach. Mistakes were made. Successes were few. I questioned whether I had a green thumb or not. Sound familiar? 

But then I found permaculture and it changed my whole way thinking. I could see that too much of my effort was focused on individual plants and effects without taking into account the larger environment and natural cycles. Now that I focus on shaping inputs of the evolving ecosystem I am finding greater biodiversity and larger volumes of life both plant and animal. So much to enjoy and yet much of the work was done for me for free by nature itself.

With over 60 percent of the land in the US owned by private citizens, if but one of every 10 households/organizations chose to develop their back yards as ecosystems we will create a patchwork of new native lands to sustain our health and the future of our native neighbors.

This blog is about my experience transforming my back yard into a permaculture based landscape and fully functioning ecosystem. Each post will reflect on vital landscaping topics involved in the transformation and how I address them looking back at the past, assessing the present and forecasting the future. You can learn from my successes and failures. 

Hopefully The Backyard Plan will inspire you to transform your own backyard into an invigorating space for you and healthy environment for your native neighbors.