I didn’t even think
I would enjoy mowing a lawn-
Not that we have a lawn… anymore
I could barely keep
A houseplant alive!
That was then & this is now.
Knowing what little I know now about plants
Soil
Trees
Carbon capture
And now being in charge of a small plot of land
I want to be as responsible as possible
As well as catering to my personal tastes
And make something lush
And self sustaining for whoever
Comes along to enjoy this wee corner
Of the world next…
When we first moved here
There weren’t any signs of animals
Although the neighbors said there were
Deer
Moose
Bears
Etc…
We weren’t being visited by anything
I kept hoping for at least a squirrel
The second year
We started seeing squirrels
And more
As the years went
With help from our bird feeders
Then learning about pollinators and plants
I tried going to the garden center
And with very little knowledge or guidance
I picked out some pretty plants and popped them in the ground
Not knowing growing zones or the
Ins and outs of
light requirements
***
None of those plants survived
And the first couple of years not much happened
Except for the bittersweet that was here
Which we are still battling
***
Third year as I was watching as things were springing up
We had a patch of daffodils
Why after two years they came up
I don’t know
Maybe freeing up the space from bittersweet
Helped somehow?
And so my research began
I was looking up info
About other bulb types plants
Like tulips
And stumbled across YouTube channels
That were taking the mystery out of it all for me
It was all starting to make sense
And then of course
Beginning to learn about permaculture
And essentially helping nature be abundant
On its own
And be
Whatever it wants
While getting out of its way
And capture carbon while we’re at it
Two years ago I brought in hundreds
of different types of plants
And shrubs
And a huge amount of them are actually still out there
And thriving!
Progress!!!
And the generosity of friends
Sharing plants that they’d divided
And gifted me like:
Bee Balm
Day Lilies
Wisteria
Persicaria Lance Corporal
Rose of Charon
Daisies
Lilac
Hostas
Solomon’s Seal
These
Have added to the lasting excitement
And brought so much enjoyment
And now we have an amazing array of volunteer plants:
Wild Roses
Queen Anne’s Lace
Black Eyed Susans
Persicarias
Raspberries
Meadowsweet
Creeping Charlie
Wild Violets
Goldenrod
Jewel Weed
Tall Phlox
Milk Weed
Serviceberries
Wild Cherry
To name a few lol
I try to just get out of the way
And let nature plant itself
Of course taking out anything that’s
Invasive or poisonous
Since we stopped mowing our grass
Leaving only a path in the frontage and a small eating area
In the back
We’ve been slowly reseeding any thin patches with clover
To hopefully eliminate the need for constant upkeep
In the summer months
And the clover is making the pollinators happy
And helps balance
Nitrogen levels in the soil…
The front path
Has only been mowed twice this summer
So happy that the once a week hour in the heat and bugs
Can now be used for enjoyment or other projects
***
Speaking of other projects
We had our friends from ArborClimb
Come out to help us knock back our canopy
By one notch… this ended up being
72 trees
And we seriously still have so many trees!
Some were sick and dead
Some were over 100 feet tall
And within 25 feet from the house
And we still have
More than we can count
That are dead-standing
60ft tall
That we will be chipping away at…
Until that’s done…
We now have enough sun
That plants that had never bloomed
Are now living their best life
***
And I’m trying
To get a good sunny spot for seed starting
Should be much easier
And I need easier because I’m still
Very inexperienced
As a gardener
Any help I can get!
***
It was an easy choice
To go with a tree removal company
That would take the logs for lumber
And
Leave us the wood chips
To help get rid of
The lumps and bumps
In our landscape
And
Squelch out the bittersweet
In enough depth to Keep it from thriving
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