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Yard update
Aug. 17th, 2011 04:32 pmLast weekend, I continued my project of managing the non-grass plants in the shady side yard. As a result of Rob’s herbicide adventure a year ago, there’s almost no grass there at all this year. Instead, it’s all weeds of one sort or another. I decided the best way to manage it would be, instead of mowing there, to pull up the weeds I don't want and encourage others to thrive.
Specifically, I pulled up poison ivy, Virginia creeper, garlic mustard, ironweed, pokeweed, thistle, and another prickly plant whose name I forget. I am encouraging chickweed and moss, and of course the early blooming (and now dormant) endangered spring beauties.
I love the chickweed. It’s fast-growing, creates a soft springy mat, and it isn’t a vine so it won’t climb up the trees or house walls. I am ambivalent on the presence of broadleaf plantain, which is plentiful. On the one hand, it's not attractive, but on the other hand, it's not prickly or rash-inducing. So I leave it. A little research tells me that both chickweed and plantain are medicinal herbs, which is cool!
In about two hours I completed probably 3/4 to 4/5 of the yard. I had hoped to transplant more moss over to the moss and step stone walk area that I'm constructing, but I ran out of steam before I got there. I’m not sure if I’ll have time to do it this weekend, either. Maybe the following weekend. I’m fast running out of growing season!
Rob and I also finally got around to mowing the rest of the yard this weekend, too. It seriously needed it. For the time being, anyway, I feel good about my yard.
Specifically, I pulled up poison ivy, Virginia creeper, garlic mustard, ironweed, pokeweed, thistle, and another prickly plant whose name I forget. I am encouraging chickweed and moss, and of course the early blooming (and now dormant) endangered spring beauties.
I love the chickweed. It’s fast-growing, creates a soft springy mat, and it isn’t a vine so it won’t climb up the trees or house walls. I am ambivalent on the presence of broadleaf plantain, which is plentiful. On the one hand, it's not attractive, but on the other hand, it's not prickly or rash-inducing. So I leave it. A little research tells me that both chickweed and plantain are medicinal herbs, which is cool!
In about two hours I completed probably 3/4 to 4/5 of the yard. I had hoped to transplant more moss over to the moss and step stone walk area that I'm constructing, but I ran out of steam before I got there. I’m not sure if I’ll have time to do it this weekend, either. Maybe the following weekend. I’m fast running out of growing season!
Rob and I also finally got around to mowing the rest of the yard this weekend, too. It seriously needed it. For the time being, anyway, I feel good about my yard.
