Goodbye Front Lawn

After a year or so of foreclosure induced neglect, the "lawn" had turned into a field of weeds. I like weeds that are useful or nutritious, but many of these weeds are noxious, prickly and invasive.

There is a sprinkler system in the ground for watering a lawn, but the previous owners must have taken the controller. While we are planning on collecting some rainwater, I think we will have to rely on some city water for the garden. I plan to get a new controller and convert the sprinklers to drip lines soon, but first things first.

We had a slab of concrete in the back which was cracked and heaving in multiple directions. We rented a jack hammer and broke it up. Then we had a big pile of concrete chunks which we used as pavers and garden beds.

We pulled a lot of weeds and dug a lot of dirt. A thin layer of imported topsoil covers our adobe clay. We got 5 cubic yards of high quality compost from a local supplier called Grab N Grow and have ammended all the garden beds.