Sunday, April 13, 2014

Busy Little Bee Part II

Well, I thought I'd separate my loooong post into two parts.  There are some updates on the bareroot plants I bought in February, as well as my fig tree.  

Here is my fig tree.  I'm so freakin' excited:



Now with more and bigger leaves!  Yay!

Some of the native plants I bought are showing signs of life.  Not sure what this one is.  It might be a buttonbush, two others are oak leaf hydrangeas, and the last one leafing out might be a hazelnut.  Can't remember.



When we first came to the property, it was overrun with vegetation around the fences, and barren in the middle.  To balance this out, my plans were to thin out the fence line, and start building up the middle.  Once it fills in, it will add dimension to the yard, and afford some meandering paths around to add interest and a tiny little woodland lot.  We added the firepit in the center in between the trees to be a focal point and for fire safety rules to be away from the house.  Gravel that was in front of the back door was raked up and repurposed.  Right now, there's still a lot of brown everywhere, but over time, it will change.  The leaf litter serves as a mulch to keep the weeds down and build up the soil, and affords good cover for insects and worms which are beneficial to both the soil and the birds.  We noticed that water continues to drain from our property up to a day after it has rained.  I think it's because with all the mulch, the water drains more slowly, and has a chance to seep into the soil, as well as keep erosion down, since the whole backyard is sloped.

I never noticed there were some interesting plants, so when I attacked the fence line with the lopers,  I found these:



A vine that suspiciously looks like some kind of scuppernog or muscadine grape.

And these:



Which appear to be some sort of brambleberry with LOTs of brambles.  Ouchy.

And these:



Most likely strawberries.  Not to be confused with these:



False Strawberries.  (It took until they bloomed with yellow flowers for me to notice the difference.  They will form tiny hard berries for the birds, though.)

And the last surprise is I got started on two projects that have been on the backburner:

Repurposed glass birdbath and butterfly food dish to go in the center of the herb circle:

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And the salad table:



Whew!  That was a lot of work.  Going to drink and write and spin and relax for the rest of the night.  Cheers!




4 comments:

Sara said...

I'll have to take pictures of my goods soon (it's a patio, container gardens, so a bit less work than a yard) but my mint...it totally died on me. The one thing that I am not supposed to be able to kill, and it's barely alive.

Everything else is fantastic so far though. I'm giving away tomato seedlings since it seems like every single seed I planted has taken.

Darlene said...

Wow that was a lot of wonderful yard work! Looking forward to seeing all the new growth! I just found you thru Ravelry and thought i would say Hi! Yesterday i found 2 little blueberry bushes that never got planted last year and they made it thru our crazy winter so I dug 2 small holes and today I can't walk and feel like my back is broken! Oh the life with a fibromyalgia body!

A new Knitting Friend

miukat said...

@Sara
Your plants were looking fabulous when I saw them last. Sorry you killed the mint. That's pretty funny. You don't have the weather for mojitos, anyways;D

miukat said...

@Darlene
Hi Darlene! Nice of you to drop in.
Funny, I just bought two blueberry bushes from Aldi's yesterday that were on clearance. (2.49 each!!) I'm planting them this weekend. We can have a blueberry race! Grow some lavender to add to your Epsom salt bath! Since I moved to NC, the fibro hasn't been too bad.
{{Gentle hugs}}

 
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