Planning to Dig Up the Grass for Your Victory Garden? Better Have a Plan B.

That’s the idea a lot of people have:  When the going gets tough, the grass goes.  Most people with a couple of brain cells to rub together will be doing this, assuming they can find the seeds.  You’ve probably already thought about this, or at least you’ve already got a garden growing.  (Or finishing up, as the case may be in early November.)  Or perhaps you’re like me, and there is some garden but there’s also a sizeable patch of grass that the significant other promises can be converted to food production when life gets sporty.

And what about the neighbors?  What happens when food shortages hit and everyone decides to tear out the lawn and grow veggies instead?  How is that going to play out?  Let’s consider that issue, shall we?

If that grass has been chemically treated for weeds and pests and become dependent on synthetic fertilizers, and especially if that’s been going on for years, the soil underlying the grass will be hard pressed to grow veggies.  It will need a couple of years to heal.  It’s the same for our commercial farmers.  They’re all addicted to using synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides.  When our currency becomes worthless and when farmers can’t get credit to buy their synthetic fertilizers and herbicides, they will not be able to raise any food.  They will not be able to feed this country.  And that’s because the soil is dead.  It’s the elephant in the room that nobody will discuss.  The soil will need time and TLC to heal.

In the meantime, famine’s the game, and everyone who didn’t prepare will be playing. Unfortunately, there are no winners in that game.

It does no good to highlight a problem without providing some solutions.

So if the family member responsible for the lawn balks at the idea of tearing it out and using it for food now, perhaps s/he can at least be persuaded to use gentler methods for growing grass—hand weeding instead of herbicides; compost, manure, and organic fertilizers to feed the grass; and worms to loosen the soil below.   

Plan now for when the time comes to change out that grass.  There won’t be time to remove the grass, and besides, you’d be taking valuable topsoil with it.  Have the cardboard ready to lay down and the topsoil, peat moss, and compost to pile on top, about 6” high.  (Yeah, that’s a lot.  I’m grateful we got ours for 70% off in August.)  Be growing extra medicinal herbs and flowers that can be transplanted to the former grass area to increase the diversity, health, and productivity of the new garden beds.  Stock up on the ingredients for homemade complete organic fertilizer.

Links to related posts:

DIY Complete Organic Fertilizer  

Elephants in the Room  

References:

(Read these if you are having trouble falling asleep.  Of course, they could have the opposite effect—you realize that our soil is indeed in bad shape and famine is definitely in somebody’s future.)

https://www.fao.org/global-soil-partnership/areas-of-work/soil-fertility/en/

https://soils.org.uk/news/soil-the-elephant-in-the-room/

https://foodprint.org/issues/how-industrial-agriculture-affects-our-soil/

https://www.frontiersin.org/news/2021/05/04/frontiers-environmental-science-review-effects-agricultural-pesticides-soil-health-invertebrate-biodiversity

https://deepgreenpermaculture.com/2021/02/24/how-to-identify-and-treat-herbicide-contamination-of-commercial-soil-compost-and-manure/

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-44364-1_15

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7996329/

https://extension.unr.edu/publication.aspx?PubID=4867

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-fertilizers-harm-earth/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2984095/