Starting out in a garden, with long lead-time until I can do anything else?

Hi folks, a lil question about lawn conversion here.

My spouse and I recently bought a 1-acre property, zone 6b/7a-ish. Used to be a big farm, but has over the years been divided up into smaller lots. We moved into the old main house (>200 years old!) and our garden plot surrounds it. I imagine this part specifically was probably not cultivated very heavily, but historical information has proven hard to come by. Haven't done any soil analysis yet, but from talking with local farmers and neighbours the soil here is in a pretty good condition already, relatively sandy but with a fair amount of structure to it. There's a handful of winter apple trees, redcurrant and raspberry bushes, and a giant walnut tree on the property, and I found some hazel trees in the forest close by -- the two latter are relatively rare finds in Norway, so I guess this points towards good conditions for growing things in general. Most of the property has been kept as a lawn, not much in terms of pioneer species as far as I can tell, there's a good amount of clover interspersed in the grass already and not much else.

I won't be able to put much effort into the garden for some time. The house, although solidly built and beautiful, is old and in need of some pretty significant upgrades that I won't be able to handle myself, and I will be working some pretty intense shifts as a physician at the local hospital, taking extra shifts to help pay for these upgrades. Add to that the fact that my spouse is working abroad and won't be coming here for another few years (except for summers), we're left with limited time to tend to the garden -- in the years to come this will be our main project, but for now I will only have the time and energy to do relatively small things on my own.

Which brings me to my question, finally: What can I do with this lawn in these first few years, to prepare the ground for making a food garden later? Should I just stop mowing and let it go wild on its own, or are there any useful plants I could grow that would start building the soil right away?

All advice is very much appreciated! I have had this forum account for a few years but have never posted, it is my intention to become a more active member of this community as we start making our home and garden into a permaculture oasis

That sounds an exciting project! I'm in a similar situation, where I can only be at our future home for a week every six weeks or so, and we can't move permanently for a few years. While I'm there I need to get as much work as I can done on the old house or arrange for someone else to do it.

I had hopes that letting the lawn go wild would result in some interesting herbs and useful weeds appearing. It did, but unfortunately far more nasty unwanted weeds grew faster and set a lot of seeds between visits in spring.  My first spring visit, everything looked great so I didn't weed whack anything. Then next visit six weeks later the yard was a nightmare of nasty spiky weeds! So I'm now trying to keep the area mowed to reduce seeding of the less desirable weeds like thistles, spiny lettuce, and the grass that looked lovely when shorter but turned out to have evil spear-like seeds! You could try letting your lawned area go wild, but keep a watchful eye on what grows and be ready to slash back any unwanted weeds before they seed.

If I was at my place more more often I'd also look at planting more fruit and nut trees and perennial plants. As I don't want to invest in expensive plants I won't be there to care for, I'm planting seeds and seeing what survives complete neglect!

I think it might depend on how you plan on growing eventually in that area.

My first thought, but it would take a bit of effort, would be to get a layer of mulch down that can chew up and turn into nutrients/topsoil. Some places you can get arborist chips dropped off for free and spreading that a foot thick will start softening the ground underneath. I put down an impervious layer underneath of either brown cardboard or brown kraft paper followed by the layers of chips. The grass/weeds/plants that are underneath get smothered and turn into nutrients themselves. Just having time to do its thing is usual the con of this style of deep mulch gardening but if you have time it can be amazing!

If wood chips are available, that sort of heavy mulching, at least in areas that are intended for future garden beds, would be ideal!

Interesting project!

Personally, the first thing I would do is dig a number of test holes first to see exactly what the active soil and subsoil layers look like. If you cut the sod first, you can fill the hole and place it right back on top, saturate it with water, and it will keep growing. Soil testing would also provide hard data, including any deficiencies to be managed.

In the short term, given the demands of your work, grass and a mown lawn are not necessarily bad. They are maintainable. Some of the world's finest soils were built from centuries of grasslands -- the steppes of Eastern Europe and the Prairies/Great Plains of the North American continent, for example.

You may choose to manage your lawn differently. If you let it grow longer, and mulch as you mow, you can accumulate a great deal of biomass over time.  You can also spread biochar (increasing soil carbon) and organic fertilizer (increasing biomass). All of these things will quietly build the fertility and soil life of the turf that will one day become your garden.

It would also be wise to identify and collect biomass that is readily available in your area. You can build a great stockpile of the materials you will need to feed the soil, letting them decompose in a location that's not in the way, in anticipation of the next part of your adventure.

Luck!

EDIT: Take note of the light through the seasons! You and I are both in high latitudes, and the light we need to grow things changes radically through the seasons. And those seasons tend to be short -- gardens need as much light as possible. Maximizing the light will be a great influence in what you grow, and where.

Hi Clarence,

Welcome to Permies.

Congratulations on the new property!

When we bought the property that was to become our homestead it had been a hay meadow.

We keep it mowed to keep the weeds and mesquite trees from taking over.

Another point for keeping it mowed is that as the grass is cut and left lying, those nutrients go back into the soil.  This is like "chop and drop".

This thread by Daron will explain:

Daron said, "5 Benefits of Chop-And-Drop

- Supports soil life.
- Leaves the roots of the plants in the soil, which adds organic material deep in the soil as the roots decompose.
- Reduces water loss from evaporation.
- Slowly releases nutrients back into your soil.
- Saves you time and energy by eliminating the need to compost or haul the plant material away.

Edit to add link: https://permies.com/t/98150/Build-abundance-chop-drop

I also found this thread:

https://permies.com/t/129642/overview-chop-drop-awesome

Both threads are an excellent read for all interested!

Hi Clarence and welcome to Permies!

I will echo what Anne just said.  For context, your situation parallels my experience from last summer so I will relay that bit of experience to you.

I have several acres and a few garden plots that I have meticulously kept up—until last summer.  2023 has been an extremely busy year for me and while I love keeping a garden and eating fresh veggies, this last year I planted nothing and simply ignored the garden.  I barely had time to mow my lawn.  Unfortunately, my neglect allowed ragweed to take root in my garden plots.  I am terribly allergic to ragweed and right now I have 7’ tall ragweed releasing their plentiful pollen all too close to my house.  

If I were doing this summer over again I would try two techniques.  Firstly, I would cover the beds with cardboard and maybe pile chopped leaves on top.  One of my beds did have a layer of cardboard and it is by far the less weedy of the two.  The other idea would be to plant an annual cover crop.  I am specifically thinking about buckwheat as it can really smother weeds while digging it’s roots deep into the soil.  Just be certain to mow it before it goes to seed or you will have another crop of buckwheat.


Congratulations on the new plot of land and I hope to hear about more of your new adventures in the future.

Eric

Just a tidbit to add to Eric's excellent suggestion of adding cardboard to garden beds would be to top the cardboard with 6" to 12" of mulch.

That way no light can get through.  Without light, nothing can grow.

Mulch can be leaves, wood chips, hay, straw, etc.  As the mulch breaks down it provides more nutrients.

Hi Clarence and Welcome to Permies!
You'll get as many different ideas as you get answers on this one, as always 'it depends'. You've had some great suggestions already and mine would be to use the permaculture principal of observation. If it's going to be at least two years before you start gardening then carry on with the maintenance as a lawn for at least the first year. Maybe set the mower a bit higher. Think about your zones and how you may lay out the property to maximise results, minimise inputs.
You say you want a 'food garden' but this in itself means different things to different people - annual plants, food forest or protected growing? Get to know your neighbours and what they grow, what does well or is more challenging. Find out where resources may be available locally - particularly organic material to feed the soil.
If you want to make a start next year, then I would only suggest to not try too much, something easy that will not take too much weeding or watering like Swede (rutabaga) and potatoes, or just some salads or carrots near the kitchen door.
I'm very excited that you have a walnut tree; I've just planted some here on Skye. Do you have any sign of nuts? It is a black walnut or English walnut?

Thank you all for the advice. Much to think about now. I have already fallen in love with mulching from smaller previous garden projects, and I do have the phone number of a nearby arborist! At least this year I'll probably be doing some chop-and-drop, looks like, and think about mulching at least parts of the acre, do some experimenting and see what happens.

I would be inclined to mow frequently, but keep it longer than typical.   Mulch mow so all those clippings are going directly back into the soil.   Possibly overseed with something like white clover to help improve soil also.

Start saving cardboard.

Look into chip drop or other sources of free loads of wood chips (research, plan).  

Have you seen Paul Wheaton's book "Building a Better World in your Backyard..." ?   Great ideas for improving and converting lawn areas as well.  I'm especially thinking "worm hotels" deep but narrow holes for in ground composting to attract worm populations to aerate and start converting nutrients faster.

Then plan to mow the grass short, cardboard, and woodchip in manageable strips/sections.  

Last year I did this to  1/3 of my front yard, and planted it this spring.  

Hi, I totally agree with Timothy Norton. Very thick mulch is, for me, the way to go.
I'm busy converting the corner of a paddock into a garden, and nothing comes up through 30cm wood chip mulch. This is the second time I've used this method, the great thing is that after  year or so you can scrape it back and plant through it. I scrape back a small bucket size fill it with soil/compost mix, plant my brocolli or whatever and put the mulch back, close up to the plant.  
Check out Paul Gautschi, Back to Eden gardening.
Good luck! By the way I'm 70, 5'0" and mulching/ no dig makes my 1/4 acre garden very manageable.

Hi, Clarence. Nice to have you make plans to be more active in Permies. As long as it will be a while before you actually put the shovel in the ground, you might  want to take advantage of this Fall/ winter to do tons of research on the possibilities of your property. It is great that you will have at least 2 seasons to think about it.

First would be a soil test. That will tell you *for sure* what your soil needs if anything, even if it sounds OK from a superficial standpoint.

Second might be a water test. While you are at it, how deep is your water? and how much precipitation you can expect over the course of a year.
I see you have found out that you are in zone 6-7ish, but sometimes it helps to walk the neighborhood and see what others can grow... and cannot.

Also a good observation, pen in hand of what features you want to keep [like a nut tree, perhaps] and what you want to get rid of, like the lawn.

Harder to do sometime, especially if the lawn is large, is adequately guess at the amount of work you feel comfortable doing or get done by others. I tend to throw myself in large projects, then I have to scale down a bit. [In the shuffle, I have sometimes put funds forward that I can ill-retrieve. You know: the enthusiasm of a new love!]

Once you have all this figured out, you can use these as your parameters to make choices, like what to replace that lawn with.

You may also want to connect with your neighbors, especially those who have the type of gardens/ forests you would like to have, and ask them where they got their plants. You may find yourself engaged in good bartering, seed exchanges etc..
Let us know how you are faring and progressing. Permies is a caring community.