Eulogy for a garden bed

I'm putting a garden bed back to grass.  Lots of reasons all adding up to it's not worth the work to deal with what it needs. It's kind of the end of an era, it's been semi-famous on permies for quite a while!!

When Covid hit I called my landlord, asked her "Can I bring my tractor over to the rental and rip out the back yard and put in gardens? She said "Can I pick tomatoes?" "Yes, you know where we live!"  (She did come pick!)



So I ripped out the back yard
https://permies.com/t/139292/positive-making-result-current-crisis#1091994



(No more about the back yard beds in this thread.)

Then said "Hey! I have neighbors who don't garden, I'll make a bed in the front yard for them!"
Yes, you may

Violating the warranty on this rental with a tractor!

(I also ripped yards for a couple of neighbors who DID want to garden. )

It ran amok, got mulched heavily



With straw that turned out to be full of seeds for sharp seeded grass. I go barefoot...
How long must I solarize seedy straw?



I just found a list of what got planted in that bed the first year: 27 tomatoes of all types, 23 vining plants of various types, a very crowded bit of row about 4 feet long solid with cantaloupe, approx 120 bush bean plants of 6 varieties, a few greens of several  types and 90 or so peanut plants



In fall I covered it with leaves, and in the spring I covered it with mesh to keep out the maple helicopter seeds.
They have continued to be an issue...
https://permies.com/t/139458/Excess-maple-seeds-year#1245283



I don't seem to have many pictures of the next couple of years, every year I improved it, every year I fought the maple tree seeds and roots. Lots of good production, at quite a high amount of work. Added an arbor that I put American flags and Scarlet Runner beans on.



2024 I got really extensive with it, attempted to remove all the bermuda grass that kept coming back.

Had to get a bunch of garlic out of the way first  
Help me figure out what to do with excess young garlic


Then went after the bermuda....
The Sound of Bermuda Grass (With apologies to Simon and Garfunkel)
(There is a lot more to this song at the link)
“Fools!” said I, “you do not know
Bermuda like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you!
Kill your grass before it eats you!!”

and I made a meme of bermuda growing in the asphalt of the road!
And more bermuda grass



I really improved the soil well and got artsy with the decor....





And had a HUGE crop!



....
But this spring I looked at it. Lots of life stuff going on. I missed covering it for maple seeds. The tree roots LOVED all the digging and amending I did last year. It was going to be major surgery to reclaim it from the roots and constant work to kill off all  the maple trees that are growing. I don't have energy for it.
I cleared the bed. Took away all the plants, the wood chips, the arbors, everything.





I kept only some garlic, walking onions, parsley and flowers at one end. (Fake flowers, being a driveway marker I can see when I back in)



I put grass and clover seed in it.
The Yes, you may bed is gone.
Long live the idea of a Yes, you may garden in the front yard for the neighbors to pick out of.
Needed to be done.
I sorrow.  

I'm sorry you've had to make the choice to give up on this iteration of the 'Yes, you may' garden. But we often have to carefully and wisely choose our battles, and sometimes - like this time - the choice is a hard one. Hopefully soon, your life will settle down enough that other doors will open, and make up for the heartache cause by this one closing. Hugs...