On a similar note, it's amazing how much our untended garden gave us this year.

[conuly]

It's not even that big, either. I mean, we think it is, but we're in New York. And we didn't even use up most of it! I wonder if it'd be possible to have a small set of basically untended gardens (with more land). I remember reading about some people somewhere who set up their gardens on a five year plan, and don't cultivate beyond planting and picking - eventually, the garden reverts to forest and they start somewhere else, but in the meantime they have five years worth of crops in there (though some of them are gone after one or two years).

Edit: A semi-related post on the perils of the Green Revolution.

Comments

[marveen.livejournal.com]

The former. (I'm reserving judgment on the latter.)

I know lots of citydwellers think a big yard is one where you can lie down without banging your head and/or ankles on the fence, but I like a yard where you can actually break into a run for more than a dozen strides.

[conuly]

How about 10 even? (And we only planted, I just looked, in *less* than half, more like a quarter, of the yard. The back yard. We've got yard on one side and the back and by the street a bit too - filled up with forsythia and mint and lavender and rosemary (now I understand the nursery rhyme!) and roses of doom and scaffolding too).

[marveen.livejournal.com]

What happens after ten, do you hit the fence? (I'm a powerlifter, I take a couple strides to work up to speed.)

What exactly are roses of doom, anyway? (I'm visualizing the rose briars from the movie version of Sleeping Beauty, but I'm handicapped by not knowing what sort of building you live in.) I myself adore Austin roses (http://www.davidaustinroses.com/american/ ) and own four bushes so far.

[conuly]

The next door's garage. We're talking about buying it off of them and tearing it down, they don't use it and it's falling down anyway.

And yes, those are our roses of doom. Somewhat smaller, but just as briar-y, and they grow back from just roots every year - we have to trim them just to get up the stairs after a few weeks.