Next Saturday Sustainable NE Seattle is hosting the final sodbusting party of the year. I wish I had known about them last spring when we took out our front lawn, or the previous spring when we took out the lawn in the skinny strip between houses that is now the orchard.
What a waste of space that side strip is!
It functions primarily as a path between your front and back yard and depending on the orientation of your house and height of neighbor’s house usually gets enough sunlight for currant bushes, bay laurel tree, evergreen hucklberries, strawberries and the sunnier parts can home asparagus, horseradish, hardy ginger, raspberry, and fruit trees grafted onto dwarf stock.
I’ve got all these things in (minus the horseradish & ginger which are coming this spring) – two cherry trees, one plum tree, three apple trees, 16 tulameen raspberries and plans for concord grapes to span the driveway which sinks down to the basement level.
Here is a little info on how you can get your grass removed for free, along with advice on how to prep the space for spring:
Sodbusters Saturday is set for Nov 14th.This is the last chance to remove sod while the leaves are plentiful to sheet mulch prepare a new garden for the next gardening season.
Time: November 14, 2009 all day
Location: Gardens Within SustNE
Organized By: Keith MastenbrookEvent Description:
Sodbusters Saturday is your chance to eliminate that useless patch of grass you’ve been mowing, and convert it to productive garden. We need a group of people to make this project happen. First we’ll rent a sod cutter, then tour as a group to the teams gardens, cutting and piling up the sod.
The last time we did this four gardens were involved, and in less than four hours we accomplished our goal.
This event is also open to people who just want to help.
RSVP is required if you want to have sod removed. We need to see the site in advance and determine what to cut before we show up with the tools. If you have any questions, please email me soon, at westland@drizzle.com
What an awesome group of volunteers!
That’s a brilliant display of frugality and community spirit!