In collaboration with Fritz Haeg, a Los Angeles-based architect with a penchant for vegetables, Arthouse at the Jones Center plans to give your lawn a makeover—with your permission and eager participation, of course.

The Congress Avenue institution is seeking a patch o' turf in front of an apartment/condo building in Austin on which to build a food-producing, artist-designed garden, otherwise known as an "Edible Estate."

What do you have to lose by nominating your yard for reaping and sowing? Absolutely nothing! The initial garden installation is free, and any subsequent neighborly infighting over rights to the leafy greens can be resolved without violence. Probably.

So, apartment dwellers, please take note of the following lawn-search parameters listed after the jump. The garden will be planted over the weekend of March 14th - 16th, 2008, and will be preceded by an exhibit at The Arthouse on former Edible Estate initiatives.

To nominate your complex for consideration (yeah, not the Oedipal one, thanks), please e-mail info@edibleestates.org with a few images of the building, lawn and street you've got in mind for the project.

Good luck!

[Arthouse at the Jones Center]
[Edible Estates official site]

Photo of swiss chard and kale by flickr WilliumBillium

- The apartment or condo BUILDING should be on a residential street lined with groomed lawns. The front lawn should be flat, relatively pesticide free, with good sun exposure, very visible from the street with regular car traffic, and have few large trees or major landscaping.

- The estate OWNERS should be enthusiastic about the project and committed to continuing it as long as they live in the apartments. At least a few of the residents should be avid and knowledgeable gardeners, willing to engage others in a dialog about the Edible Estate. They will document the progress of the garden with journals and photos throughout the first year.