Work with the place as it stands

A shady lot, a wet corner, a slope, a yard full of mature trees: the usual answer is to change the site — regrade it, take the trees down, bring in machines. That is where the five-figure quotes come from. The other way is to choose systems that suit the place the way it is. A composter that is happy in part shade. A rain garden where the water already goes. Peppers that hang where there is no ground to dig.

Cheap, fixable and understandable

A bucket, a pump and a timer beat a sealed box you cannot repair. If you cannot see how something works, you cannot fix it on a Sunday — and you will be paying someone else to.

Every output is another system’s input

Fish water feeds the worm tea. Kitchen scraps feed the compost. Woody waste becomes char, and the char holds the nutrients the compost would otherwise lose to the rain. The more of these loops a yard closes, the less you buy.

Write down what failed

Every system on this site carries a label: works here, partly worked here, didn’t work here, or not yet tried here. The failures stay on the list. You should know how something does on a Michigan lot before you pay for it.

Plan with the real weather

Ann Arbor gets about 36 inches of rain a year, which sounds like plenty. But from June to August, plants and soil lose about six inches more water to the air than falls — measured over fifteen years of weather. That is why a garden here still needs watering in July, and why storing spring rain is worth doing.

Be honest about the upkeep

Every system lists the time it really takes. An aquaponics tank needs someone every day. A rain garden needs almost no one. Both are good systems; they suit different households.

Start small

One system, one season, then the next. A yard that grows in steps teaches you what it wants. A yard built all at once teaches you what you can’t afford to maintain.