Metro Vancouver has a European Chafer beetle problem. Actually, the beetles themselves aren’t too troublesome, but their grubs, which feed on the roots of turf grass, are wreaking havoc.

As an introduced pest, the beetle has few natural competitors to control it. That’s where the urban wildlife steps in. Raccoons, skunks and crows enjoy tearing apart lawns in search of larval appies.

Crows in particular can do some serious damage, especially if you live near their flight path.

Personally, I have a hard time caring about lawns, but I suppose it could be pretty disturbing if you spend a lot of time and energy on your lawn only to have it pecked to bits by some damn birds.

But not as disturbing as, say, stringing up one of those birds.

Yes, that’s a dead crow, hanging from someone’s front porch. Classy. As their front “lawn” has been covered with chicken wire, I’m jumping to the conclusion that crows were pecking at it. And the dead crow is what, a warning to other crows? Seriously, WTF? That is so not cool.

Here are some much more effective, neighbour (and wildlife) friendly options for dealing with the Chafer beetle fallout. Not surprisingly, preventing lawn damage from the European Chafer beetle goes back to sustainable lawn care practices like aerating the soil and raising the height of the blade on your mower. Or, like some creative gardeners, you can replace your lawn with clover or wildflowers.

Behold the awesomeness of the North American Wild Life series by Kelowna BC-based ceramic artist Paige Russell.

Consisting of four archetypal North American vehicles, the vessels are handmade of matte white glazed stoneware.

Perfect with your 60s rec-room inspired decor or ironic mustache.

Buy them here.

The Basics

Names of gardeners: Willi and Jon Galloway
URL: www.digginfood.com
Location: Seattle, Washington (USA)
Size: Not big enough! About 200 square feet.
Orientation: South
Zone: 8b
Years gardened: Installed in April 2008.

The Details
Style: Geometric raised beds.
Inspiration: The garden my mom kept when I was growing up. She grew an astonishing amount of food and I loved to hang out with her while she gardened.
Favourite element(s): Our pole bean fence. We stapled panels of concrete reinforcing wire to our cedar fence to expand our growing space. It worked great! We grew beans and butternut squash on it this year and next year we want to try sugar snap peas followed by cucumbers. Also, we built a little hoop house and planted peppers and basil in it. I nicknamed it the Pepper Palace and it totally rocked. We got our biggest ever harvests of peppers and basil, even though our summer was historically cold and crappy. I’m going to build an even bigger one next year and try eggplant and okra.
Favourite plant(s): My favorite plants are always changing! But this year I really loved ‘Erbette’ Swiss chard. The stems are super tender and the leaves have a succulent texture and almost spinach-like flavor. I planted it from seed in May and am still harvesting weekly. Superb!
Biggest challenge: Keeping our big 85-pound Labrador retriever and flock of four hens from digging everything up. We lost beets, two crops of carrots, and a row of bean seedlings to our pesky critters. Jon built a fence mid-season, but the chickens somehow manage to squeeze their fat little bodies through the four-inch wide wire squares and the dog jumps over it! We’re re-evaluating our options for next year.
Biggest save: Recycling the cedar boards from a section of fence we removed. We used the boards to build our raised beds. Lumber is expensive and this really helped keep down costs.
Biggest splurge: Renting a sod cutter. Digging out grass by hand is a major pain. We bit the bullet and spent 85 bucks renting the sod cutter and removed all of the grass in just a matter of hours. The amount of time we saved (and instant gratification) was definitely worth the cash.
Advice for others: Try growing a bit of your own food. It is enormously gratifying (and tasty!). Start with baby greens and radishes. They are ready to eat in under a month and grow well in pots, which means even apartment-dwellers can join in on the fun. Also, if you don’t have space to garden at home, look into joining a community garden. We’ve gardened at two different community gardens in Seattle and it was awesome. We met tons of nice people and soaked up a lot of great, localized gardening advice along the way.

Heavy Petal says: I’m so excited to be able to share Willi and Jon’s garden with you today. Willi is the brains behind DigginFood, a fabulous site that focuses on cooking with food fresh from the garden. She’s also the West Coast Editor of Organic Gardening magazine, the garden expert on eHow, a Master Gardener – the list goes on. Let’s just say she knows a thing or two about growing food!

The garden you see at top looked like this just this past spring. Doesn’t that just blow your mind? Think about it: this rather pitiful patch of grass now supports an incredible variety of vegetables, herbs and flowers.

Oh, and chickens, too.

Here are the newly-finished raised beds, ready for greatness.

The raised beds were constructed out of cedar recycled from an unneeded section of fence. This one contains a butternut squash growing on a sturdy teepee.

Romaine lettuce grows in the shade of pepper plants to prevent them from bolting in the summer heat.

Willi with an armload of ‘Satsuki Midori’ cucumbers. According to Willi they are, “the best cucumbers. Ever.”

I’m amazed at how much Willi and Jon have managed to grow in their little backyard. So inspiring!

You really must check out the rest of the photos. It’s truly fresh food porn. :)

Thank you Willi and Jon for sharing your garden with us.

Like this garden tour? Why not join the fun? Find out how.

Yay! My outdoor furniture makeover is on Design*Sponge today. Welcome all.

If you like before-and-afters, you’ll also want to check out our back patio makeover.

If you’re visiting Heavy Petal for the first time, you might be interested in the indoor and garden design archives.

And finally, just for something completely different, why not learn about guerrilla gardening or growing your own food?

Thanks for visiting and come back soon!

Here’s a link to the Design*Sponge post.

Check out the Boskke Sky Planter. Yep, that’s it, hanging upside down there. Actually, it’s not upside down – it’s designed that way. (Another art school grad project! Thank goodness for design students. Without them, the world would certainly be less bloggable.)

Using an internal reservoir system, the Sky Planter feeds water directly to the roots of the plant, so no water evaporates or drips. The soil is locked in (I wondered, too) so there’s no mess.

There’s a lot I like about the Sky Planter. It uses up to 80% less water than conventional planters. You only need to water once a month. It saves floor space. And it certainly is a talking point.

But wow, that palm (at top) is bizarre looking! I don’t think I could pull it off in my home. And I wonder about the plants: do they thrive? Don’t they try to right themselves? (I’m thinking of that palm again.) What do you think?

Via Inhabitat.

The winner of the Delight.com: One for me, one for a friend giveaway is Janna. Congratulations, Janna!

Thanks everyone for participating.

It’s a classic design school project: redesign an everyday object (the stapler and the chair are popular picks.) Maxime Evrard, a student at the Ecole de Design Nantes, chose to redesign the chicken coop. You thought the Eglu was cool? Maxime’s Cocorico looks like a spaceship. With a tent attached. Would this be a good home for chickens? I have no idea. Willi? Robin? Amy? Other chicken parents? Wanna weigh in?

We all know that sustainability is beyond hip, especially if you can use it to sell your product. But the fact that a chicken coop has become the new objet du jour? Is homesteading on the cutting edge of cool?