A yard is a terrible thing to waste

But going from grass to blooms involves heavy digging

- JAANA HATTON

When we bought our house in Wenatchee in October 2019, we got both twice the house and twice the yard we had intended.

In both cases, we have been delighted.

A few months ago I shared our house renovation adventure — now let me share a few things about the yard.

We have a corner lot, large enough for two houses by today’s standards. Luckily the generous unbuilt portion of our lot was nothing but a well-maintained lawn embellished by a lone dogwood tree.

Why is that lucky, you may ask? Well, it’s like a fresh canvas for an artist, a blank page for a writer; full of possibilities. And I had a few ideas.

Lawns to me are the greatest waste of landmass. I call them the “grow-mow-throw” menace — after all the maintenance and watering, we end up throwing away the grass we grow.

Yes, grassy yards are great for children and dogs, but many a homeowner maintains a putting green quality lawn just for show. Anyhow, each to his own and my “own” is this: give back to nature what you can.

The first step in getting more natural was to get rid of the lawn.