• Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
permaculture forums growies critters building homesteading energy monies kitchen purity ungarbage community wilderness fiber arts art permaculture artisans regional education skip experiences global resources cider press projects digital market permies.com pie forums private forums all forums
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
master stewards:
  • Carla Burke
  • John F Dean
  • Timothy Norton
  • Nancy Reading
  • r ranson
  • Jay Angler
  • Pearl Sutton
stewards:
  • paul wheaton
  • Tereza Okava
  • AndrĂ©s Bernal
master gardeners:
  • Christopher Weeks
gardeners:
  • Jeremy VanGelder
  • M Ljin
  • Matt McSpadden

A lawn that is also an edible polyculture....what works well?

 
steward
Posts: 3486
Location: Maine, zone 5
2058
8
hugelkultur dog forest garden trees foraging food preservation cooking solar seed wood heat homestead
  • Likes 9
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I have it in my head that I'd like to turn my lawn into a camas field, but I haven't paid enough attention to when my camas flowers and retreats vs. when my lawn really needs its first mowing.  Any of you doing this?  Other edible spring ephemeral bulb options to think about in grass?

Larger question, what edibles do well for you in your polyculture lawn?  Dandelions for sure!


This lovely image from https://www.goodgrub.org/post/plant-of-the-month-camas
 
gardener
Posts: 1268
Location: North Carolina zone 7
459
5
hugelkultur forest garden fungi foraging ungarbage
  • Likes 6
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Hello Greg. A long time ago I read that horseradish, onions, strawberries and asparagus made a dandy polyculture so I gave it a try. Everything went well until lemon balm escaped a pot and took it over. The one only issue I found was harvesting the horseradish and onions without damaging the other plants. I started over in different area with strawberries, asparagus and walking onions. I just harvest some of the onion tops without disturbing the soil. It continues to work great!
 
pollinator
Posts: 2339
Location: Denmark 57N
600
fungi foraging trees cooking food preservation
  • Likes 5
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Crow garlic   Allium vineale The leaves come up in early winter and die down in late spring, it then sends up a flower spike which is more bulbils than flowers, but you won't kill it by mowing that off. Tastes, looks and is used almost exactly like chives.
 
pollinator
Posts: 773
Location: Western MA, zone 6b
482
cat dog forest garden foraging urban food preservation
  • Likes 12
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Edible for whom?  ;)   I overseed with clover and have a mix of clover, grass, dandelion, and violets.   I scythe it and sun dry and store for winter feed for my rabbits.   Looks nice all summer in my urbanish yard but it's functional and practical too!
grass.jpg
edible lawn for rabbits
 
Posts: 5
Location: Upstate NY, zone 5b
hugelkultur forest garden medical herbs
  • Likes 11
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I'm fortunate to have bought a property with a very "neglected" lawn that hasn't seen any weeding  out in 3+ years. It has several varieties of pseudo-grass that add to the biodiversity. The edible/medicinal plants I've found growing organically (unplanted) are:

- plantain (edible & medicinal)
- wild violets (edible)
- dandelion (edible & medicinal) - My family is from the mountains of Appalachia, where cooking with violet and dandelion blossums is common
- chickweed (edible)
- creeping charlie (edible & medicinal)
- lambs ears (medicinal)

I'm planning on adding purslane, roman chamomile, and creeping thyme to this list this year
 
steward
Posts: 17418
Location: USDA Zone 8a
4457
dog hunting food preservation cooking bee greening the desert
  • Likes 2
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Jo, Welcome to the forum!

Congratulations on the new property and all your lucky finds with those plants.

I like your suggestion of adding purslane, roman chamomile, and creeping thyme as those are great choices.
 
steward and tree herder
Posts: 10649
Location: Isle of Skye, Scotland. Nearly 70 inches rain a year
5063
5
transportation dog forest garden foraging trees books food preservation woodworking wood heat rocket stoves ungarbage
  • Likes 5
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I think if I was going to have an edible lawn, I'd want one that doesn't need mowing!
I have planted some cammasia, but they are doing better for me where they don't have the grass competition, although those are a different variety so not a good comparison perhaps. They've been in a few years now and the ones in the grass have almost stopped flowering. I think it's probably time to dig and divide them and see what they might taste like!
My thoughts for an edible low maintenance lawn would be to try and replicate the silverweed/clover gardens of the Pacific NorthWest. I have a few strains of silverweed I have collected and it does grow well here, even in grass competition.


Silverweed - these roots are quite knobbly but long - usually they are smoother.

I really like the taste and it is apparently higher in starch than potato by weight. I'm thnking that the clover would help maintain the fertility and the roots of the silverweed would grow bigger as a result. I've been a bit inspired by the links in this UK blog I need to find out a bit more about Springbank clover (Trifolium wormskioldii). If it likes the same conditions as silverweed then it should do well here, but I haven't found any information about it's palatability and practability as an edible.
 
master steward
Posts: 13687
Location: Pacific Wet Coast
8038
duck books chicken cooking food preservation ungarbage
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I was glad to see a patch of violets under one of my apple trees this year, but unfortunately the creeping buttercup is invading it. Because I want the violets to spread, I haven't tried eating it yet.

Not sure what to do about the buttercup - it takes over in my ecosystem and is difficult to remove due to the runners, the roots and the fact most animals won't eat it!

Camas traditionally grows in this area, but so far I haven't managed to give it the ecosystem it thrives in.
 
If you are using a wood chipper, you are doing it wrong. Even on this tiny ad:
Learn Permaculture through a little hard work
https://wheaton-labs.com/bootcamp
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic