The Urban Double Crop: Fall Vegetables and Summer Lawn

Though interest in gardening is high, many urban dwellers have small outdoor spaces and often lawns occupy the only full sun areas of the landscape.  In order to explore the possibility of using the same space for fall vegetable production and a warm-season summer lawn, 4 m² gardens consisting of four plants each of broccoli (Brassica oleracea ‘Packman’), lettuce, (Lactuca sativa ‘Simpson Elite’), and Swiss chard  (Beta vulgaris subsp. cicla ‘Bright Lights’) were planted into a hybrid bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon) lawn in late September in a split plot, randomized complete-block design. Gardens (whole plots) were established by:  direct planting into the lawn (DP); glyphosate  (0.09 lb a.i. per gal) treatment of turfgrass followed by direct planting (GDP); tilling with a Mantis tiller (Schiller Grounds Care, Southampton, PA) (T); and application of glyphosate followed by tilling (GT).  Glyphosate was applied one week prior to planting in 20.2  cm by 15.2 cm  rectangles centered on transplants.  The DP was achieved by using a 5-cm drill bit on a portable drill to dig holes 7.6 cm deep into which transplants were placed.  Plants were fertilized individually at the rate of 50 g/m² at planting and again at four weeks. Combined yields were 828.3, 646.8, 469.4, and 446.8 g/garden in the GT, T, DP, and GDP treatments.  Though vegetable yields were higher in tilled gardens, all planting techniques produced edible vegetables in the fall lawn.  Previous observation suggests that the lawn will recover satisfactorily from DP treatments.