Watch above: It seems a new trend is taking over Saskatoon front yards replacing traditional grass with vegetables. Meaghan Craig takes us on a tour of some yards and explains why homeowners are opting for the change.
SASKATOON – Have you ever wanted to grow a massive garden or step out into your own oasis but don’t have the room to do it? Think again.
There’s a turf war going on in Saskatoon as more homeowners toss out the idea of a traditional front yard lawn for tomatoes and pumpkins.
At first glance, you might think this was Saskatoon resident Heather Lake’s back yard but guess again.
“I love coming out and seeing how things change every day and it’s just a reason to spend more time outside,” said Lake, who leisurely walked along the wood chip pathways picking peas with baby Evelyn on her hip.
Wanting to be more self-sufficient, she and her husband decided to turf their turf last May.
“It’s been an incredible transformation, I mean it was just over a year ago it was a lawn and it’s amazing how quickly things took off.”
It’s a bold move, says Lake, to forgo a traditional lawn for something completely new.
“As soon as we did this we had people stopping by all the time, I was working on my masters at the time so I was home a lot and I would kinda peak out the window,” added Lake.
“People would come by and actually bring their families over and spend a good 10, 15 minutes kinda checking things out.”
Just a couple blocks away is another home with a magnificent garden in the front.
The homeowner said she reinvented it three years ago after her dogs took over the backyard, Besides, she says she hated to mow the lawn and loves gardening. Bar none she said the best of part of having a front yard garden was the sense of community it provided, often times she meets people she normally wouldn’t who stop to say hello as she tends to her garden.
Lake agreed, “It’s a nice way to talk to people for sure.”
READ MORE: Expert tips on growing your own food in a small, urban space
In many cases the entire lawn doesn’t need to be ripped out but rather covered and layered over.
“It would be very easy to do in a newer neighbourhood because of the fact that they don’t have grass yet,” said Kirby McInnis, with Permaculture Saskatchewan. It’s a group of volunteers helping homeowners with the back breaking work of swapping out signature grass for lush garden.
“We call it a ‘Permablitz’, we come and overhaul the yard probably a dozen or so people and it’s pretty incredible what we can do, turn a yard from a lawn into something completely different in a single day.”
The group has been converting half a dozen yards every summer for the last five years. Grassy spaces are replaced by yards filled with self-maintaining drought tolerant perennials and pathways that help pool as much rainfall from mother nature as possible.
“People are starting to think about their food supply a little more and you look around and you got this generally really good land right in front of your house that you don’t do anything with except go out and mow it once a week,” said McInnis.
“We’ve got this little postage stamp of property and to make it as productive as possible was one of our goals,” added Lake.
For more information, visit Permaculture Saskatchewan.
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