pond in progress started 4/21/10

[addy1]

Thank you! I love my tractor. The yard is not as "pretty" as some. Mine is more wild. Being a beekeeper I planted and seeded a lot of what people would call weeds that fed the bees all season. The neat groomed garden areas have over time become bee friendly plants.

But I do groom it down and keep my paths to the ponds open. 11 of them now, from pretty small up to the big one. Love all the critters that come running to the water.

 

[JoeyJoystick]

Hi Addy,

Not as 'pretty', and more wild is a very humble way of saying you created something that resembles nature a lot more than an overengineered garden could ever achieve. That can be pretty too, but it is a different kind of pretty. And they will never attract the wild life to the same level as you do in your wild garden I think. I think it looks awesome.

Joey

 

[addy1]

Aww Thanks.

Just recently the yard was large areas of golden rod (a weed to a lot) and currently huge batches of aster, the bees love it.

On the deck I have pots of onion growing, another fall food for the bees.

Mid Summer fields of wild flowers, feed the bees and bugs

The bog obedient plant, again the bees bugs love it.

Sort of a over view of part of the yard, it was all grass when we bought it.

 

[addy1]

Bog cleaning!

Here is the bog a few days back. Mint, obedient plant, canna, yellow flag, lizard tail etc.

I hired my 68 year old female friend to help me. She loaded the truck with the cuttings, the debris all over the yard, took it back to our wood dump area.

This was the first true work I have been able to do on the yard this entire summer.


The bog as of yesterday................. Every 3ish years I do a root purge. The roots on top of the gravel, not down in the gravel except for a few inches, up to 4 inches thick. Using the shovel, dig down, pry up , dump. About 30% of the bog is now back to just gravel. By the end of next summer it will be roots again.

I aggressively removed plants, yank roots and all and toss, over and over. About 4 truck loads. Into the back of our subaru baja. I and her were totally exhausted when done. Took two days to purge the bog.

After! I turned on the pond again to remove some of the dirt that I stirred up, which was a lot. To clear the pond again before shut down. Some of the rocks have been deer knocked into the pond, now back in the bog. Also dug up my stepping stones and raised them so they were stepping stones again. Almost all had sunk down. In the spring the bog will be raked before turn on. By March there is a layer of plants growing, if not earlier.

 

[Tula]

I'm sure that was back breaking work for you and your friend. Plants will benefit and come back even stronger next Spring

 

[GBBUDD]

An incredible garden.

And i imagine you know what and how invasive fragmites can get i see you have some of those puffs at the tip are very attractive but they can destroy yards ,wetlands , anything they can dig into and very very very hard to eradicate

 

[addy1]

An incredible garden.

And i imagine you know what and how invasive fragmites can get i see you have some of those puffs at the tip are very attractive but they can destroy yards ,wetlands , anything they can dig into and very very very hard to eradicate

That is pampas grass been growing right there in a clump for over 10 years. I planted it.
I have a clump on the downhill side of the bog at each end.

Thanks the warning though.

 

[cas]

What a lot of work you did in the bog!

 

[YShahar]

Wow! @addy1 , your garden looks like an exotic botanical garden: all that biodiversity and color! And yes, all that backbreaking work... But it's really stunning!

 

[SarahT]

It is beautiful @addy1 . I hope your arms aren't too sore from the workout, given the surgeries, broken wrist and not having done as much work all summer. Smart move to have help.

 

[addy1]

Wow! @addy1 , your garden looks like an exotic botanical garden: all that biodiversity and color! And yes, all that backbreaking work... But it's really stunning!

IF the deer allow the buds to open I have a ton of day lilies. The deer love them, they eat the flowers when buds.

To some it is a hot mess, right now aster growing everywhere and blooming, the yard is alive with the sound of bees (not mine anymore) wild bees, butterflies, wasps, bugs enjoying the flowers.

If something flowers, weed or not it, gets to flower right where it is.

 

[addy1]

It is beautiful @addy1 . I hope your arms aren't too sore from the workout, given the surgeries, broken wrist and not having done as much work all summer. Smart move to have help.

It was a bit of a push, they did get sore, but I used the shovel as my main tool, slip under the root mass and stand on the handle to push the mass up to where it broke loose. Then cut the edges and tossed. Carolyn picked up my tossed stuff and put in the truck.

We were both exhausted. I could tell I have been not doing much since 3/5 when I broke my wrist. Then the two surgery recoveries. Hands are weak, but improving. Arms don't have the hanging skin anymore due to loss of muscle mass. Unreal how fast your muscles go away.

Sometime this winter she and I are going to do some cutting back. Vines grow like they are on steroids here. We need to find the stem ground level and kill off. All the other plants bushes are due for a cut back. A tiny bit of control.

She gets to make some much needed funds I get some much needed good help! One hard worker.

 

[j.w]

@addy1 sure glad you have help and are being so very careful w/your hands. All looks nice and cleared out and soon you will hopefully be done for the winter.

 

[addy1]

All looks nice and cleared out and soon you will hopefully be done for the winter.

lol never done...................she and I are going to attack the yard once everything goes dormant. I tend to chop when the time is not the best for the plants. So behaving and waiting.

 

[addy1]

One thing I have noticed since purging the bog. I turned off the auto water feed, about 50 minutes every day. I am losing no water, those plants inhale the water. And the pond is currently still running. We are warming up a bit.