It has begun!
This month I started the implementation. I didnt write up a report last weekend because I was so busy. And this one is late because Im so tired. But the project is coming along very well and Im having a lot of fun and learning a lot. I began by simply cleaning up the yard to familiarize myself with the area and get rid of everything that didn't need to be there. One of the main areas to clean was the shed. I didn't get a before shot of it, but you can trust me when I say it was a right awful mess. I also moved the rain catchment barrels into more appropriate places.
The shed is much more usable now and and I moved a barrel from the northwest corner where there are no plants to be watered to the southwest corner where I plan on having a squash and cucumber garden.
I also plan on having garden beds in the plant boxes by the front porch. These two beds will be for greens, beans, and herbs. This is an idea spot for a garden like this, because its very accessible and protected. In permaculture design, this location would be a zone 1, a spot that you visit many times a day. But the garden boxes at the beginning of the month were in a sorry state. For some reason they were only half full, with shredded plastic lining flapping ugily (new word I just made, how do you like it?) in the wind. And in each in box was a little evergreen that could barely be seen. The whole things didn't make much sense. The first thing I did was rescue the evergreens from their imprisonment. I had been planning on buying some evergreens for the front walkway, but now I don't have to! I just popped these guys in, and they've been doing well ever since.I filled the boxes with more soil and mulched them with the mornings grass clippings. In the picture you can see some native perennials that I bought at the farmers market. These will be going in the tree trunks in the mulched beds in the corners of the yard.
The next thing I did was mark out all the beds with hose and derelict marker flags. I had a lot of fun with this, working with the shapes of the curves and the flow of the landscape. I think my concept design will be very apparent in the final version, but while I was marking out the beds I made a lot of spontaneous changes that came to me during the process. After I was satisfied with the lines I went around with the lawnmower at the lowest setting to prepare the areas for sod removal.
Once the grass was cut, I went around with my handydandy sod kicker and removed the top inch and a half of sod in all the areas where there would be beds. Most of the bed area will be inhabited by wildflowers but there are also a handful of beds that will be mulched and occupied by native perennials. Some of the perennials will go straight into the ground but a lot of them will be arranged in pots made out of hallowed out tree trunks that I have been collecting for the last month. The mulch came from a big free pile behind an abandoned grocery store. Not surprisingly I shoveled the perfect amount into the truck without any prior calculations.
For the bird village I gathered a couple wheel barrel loads of pebbles from the piles that have accumulated at the end of the driveway.
I also got to work on renovating the pond area. I started by draining all the water out with a bucket and watering my plants. Then I drained it again with a bucket when it rained later that week. Then I drained it again with a bucket when it rained the next week. Then, when I had finally procured the hammer drill and masonry bit I started drilling some holes. Unenjoyable. Thats the jist of it. I can't even imagine what a jackhammer feels like! So I've been drilling one hole a day for the last week and I have about 9 or 10 so far. When Im satisfied with the amount of holes I will fill the bottom with large stones, then smaller large stones, then dirt, then topsoil and compost and some lamb's quarters. Rachel also recommended taking a picture of the pond from afar to show how beautiful everything has gotten since I stopped mowing the inside of the yard. It feels so wonderful to walk around the yard now because the grass is so silky and smooth, not like that spiky rough grass that you get from mowing. I don't think so, but I can imagine some people might consider it to be "funky" but once the wildflowers are up no will see the grass to complain about it. Though we should never underestimate the suburban American's ability to complain about things that they do not deserve to complain about. When all of our neighbors start mowing their lawns with small herds of goats or rabbits I will be more inclined to cut the grass.
Wildflowers
I spoke with local native landscaping expert Steve Brower and he liked my plans so I went ahead and ordered enough wildflower/prairie grass mix for 1000 sqft. It has arrived and now Ive been waiting for the tiller to get fixed and the ground to dry out. Ive had an interesting journey towards a working roto-tiller. during the first week of the month, as I was finishing up my sod removal I was really worried about the state of the tiller because it hadn't been used in so long and I was certain it was broken or something. So literally half an hour after I finish my sod removal and am cleaning up for the evening this farmer guy comes up to me and asks if I have a tiller that he can borrow. I told him I had one but it was broken. So he offered to orchestrate its repair. Now, an interesting week later I have a wonderfully functional roto-tiller! Id call that support of nature.
So there we have it, my last two weeks. In these next and last last two weeks I will be sowing the seeds, planting my native perennials, building the bird village, carving the rabbits, and constructing the stegosaurus. Sounds like fun!
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