Laureen worked with this couple over a few years to take their almost full lawn corner lot into a yard with privacy, lots of food and a variety of colour and texture year round.

The Objectives

The husband had been a chef and wanted his two young daughters to learn more about food and have a yard they could forage in. He also wanted less maintenance work – it took about 3 hours per time to mow this large lot.

The wife wanted a beautiful yard with lots of flowers, greenery and a Christmas tree she could decorate in winter. she also wanted her daughters to learn more about the natural world and especially the role of pollinators.

The Solutions

We first removed the chain link fence and replaced it with a horizontal wooden fence for privacy in the sitting area in the side yard. We left some lawn in that sitting area and overseeded it with Sheep’s Fescue grass so it would need less watering and mowing. We built a hammock stand with a built-in pergola on top for shade.

Pear and apple trees, saskatoons, honeyberries, gooseberries, currants, raspberries, grapes, rhubarb and wild strawberries were planted for grazing, eating, cooking and preserving. We also left space and the couple added some raised beds for growing vegetables and greens. The couple actually renovated their house to increase their pantry size to accommodate the amount of preserves they produced every season. And they were never short of food to give away. The girls learned to makes jellies and fruit butters and create delicious food and drinks such as rhubarb pancakes, cake and lemonade.

Fruit yield per season in this yard:

• 60-80 jars of jams and jellies
• pear and apple butters
• 100 pounds of apples
• 130-150 pounds of pears

We planted a Montgomery Blue Spruce and a Mountain Pine as smaller evergreens that could be decorated at Christmas time. We also planted Dwarf Mugo Pines and a variety of ground hugging blue and green junipers for greenery year round. Dogwoods and Paper birch add interesting bark colours year round too.

For shade on the upper balcony and also for the lovely shimmering sound outside their dining area, we planted Trembling Aspen in the front yard.

Native and other colourful perennials were planted throughout the yard to bring colour and beauty throughout the season. The family put out bird baths that also doubled as pollinator watering holes. They became native bee experts as they observed the bee behaviour in their yard.

I spoke with the family seven years after we started in their yard and all of them, including the girls, felt their objectives had been met and surpassed. They were also really pleased that the neighbours love the yard and enjoy walking by to observe how it changes over the seasons and to visit native flowers they have not seen for years.

A few of the neighbours have changed their yards too, replacing lawn with flowers, shrubs and trees.

“We brag about how quick and easy it is [to look after]. You developed a plan that met all of our needs and wants.” – Ryan L’Heureux

Visit the Eco-yards YouTube channel to see videos featuring Laureen and these clients, and other videos Laureen has done over the years.