Y'all, I have tried to answer here like three times, but the forum keeps going down while I'm typing. Fingers crossed.
I'd a soil test before I grew anything that was edible and it might also explain why you have a barren area. Re the garage grass strip is it to help with roof drainage? I'd plant a creeping pachasandra in that spot. Doesn't need a lot of sun and it takes a lot to kill it.
I will do a soil test but the barren area is in the same half of the yard as the lush area, so I think maybe it just doesn't get enough water? The sprinkler doesn't reach it very well, it gets more sun, and I am lazy about hand-watering it.
I was just going to throw some mulch behind the garage but pachasandra is a cool idea! I don't know that draining is a huge concern here in Denver but the downspouts do go that way.
I recommend starting a monthly gardening talk at your library, as a public group activity, and organizing speakers. Maybe reach out to existing gardening clubs that already organize lectures to try to move them into your space?
It is how I learned in Calgary, AB, where NOTHING WOULD GROW. * Damn east side of the rockies and high altitude! So much spring freeze / thaw with tip kill, and strong winds and chinooks and UV and dry parched soil and, and., and.....
*my opinion at first... coming from experience gardening on the prairies and on the west coast. everything I planted did not thrive there until I learned what to do with the soil and what plants to choose from the garden club.
** Cotoneasters... Lilacs... wild roses... barberry... crabapples... etc. those are hardy plants, that the first settlers to the region planted, that grow without too much babying.
We just don't have a lot of homeowners in this area--I have no reason to think that there is an interest in gardening talks. Sigh. But I do have a coworker who is a master gardener who will be a great source of information for me!
@Aegishjalmur - I will probably just buy compost. Is that terrible? I would be paying twice because I pay about $10/month for municipal compost, but that does not entitle me to any free compost. I can buy it at Ace Hardware. The nice thing about the municipal is you can put in meat scraps, weeds, and other stuff that is really hard to compost at home. The service came with a special odor-fighting plastic compost pail for the kitchen.
Thanks for the warning about soil hardness! I will make sure to be emotionally prepared! Do you put down both compost and mulch every year?
I had a house in Denver for over a decade and we had turned our entire front yard into a Xeroscaped garden(Yes, Xeroscaped does not have to be just rocks!)(I watered maybe two or three times a year MAX if I hadn't planted new plants).
Sorry, pet peeve. It is Xeriscape. As in xeric. As in, requiring a small amount of moisture. People hear "zero" and think it means a barren, ugly wasteland, which is so far from the truth. I wish there was a more descriptive term to use so the layperson wouldn't misinterpret (I'm a vegetation ecologist).
Ha ha, I definitely thought it was "zeroscape" the first time I heard it. The book Xeriscape Colorado (way too advanced for me present needs) had a joke about how "zeroscape" is, like, a yard of rocks, which you definitely see and she had pictures of!
I do want to keep a moderate turf area for my kids to, like, shoot each other with water guns on. I have been planting the bare patches (the yard was sodded before we move in, and it took only in these weird square areas) with a mixture of grass and clover seeds for the nitrogen benefits while keeping a durable surface for play.
Basically what I want to do is take, like, one area of rock beds at a time and convert it to a place where something grows. I am never going to be able to do my whole yard at once. We work full-time and have kids! I need to go in sections! Figuring out what to do first and how to start is the hard part! Thanks for all the good ideas so far, everyone!