Convert Your Lawn to a No-Till Permaculture Garden

Reader Contribution by Felicia Rose
Published on June 29, 2016
article image
by Adobe Stock/kaliantye

Get inspired to transform your lawn with these front yard garden ideas using permaculture principles and no till gardening methods.

When we bought our homestead, the only gardening area was at the bottom of a fairly steep hill. Though fine for growing a winter’s worth of potatoes and squash, it’s less convenient for greens, which we harvest daily in the summer and so prefer to grow close to the house. With this in mind, we decided to turn part of our front lawn into a garden.

Having read about a method called “lasagna gardening” (named for its layers; learn the basics here), we decided to try it. Egged on by its success, we extended the garden the following year only this time incorporating hugelkultur techniques. Here’s how we did it.

Step 1: Smother the Lawn

Our initial effort involved trying to dig out the grass. But with only shovels, we found the process arduous and ineffective. The grass roots were so thick, we had the impression of digging wire. After several hours, we’d managed to uproot a few square feet of lawn. No doubt we left roots and seeds intact.

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