Sunday, June 2, 2013

I just planted 92,200 seeds

Yes.  I did.  well, "planted" may be a little strong - i spread them.  We've been experimenting with some no-mow zones in the back 40 to do something a little more interesting than just a field of lawn with trees on the edges.  Grass grows a lot taller than I thought it would when it's allowed to be natural!  I know a lot of that is the height of the seed - not the grass itself, but still... it's up to my waist or higher! I bought a bunch of wildflower type seeds on Amazon in bulk and mixed them with sand to help disperse the tiny little bits, then used one of those little monkey-grinder kind of spreaders to spray them over the area.  I know it's not entirely the right way to do it, but I only spent like $30 on all of those seeds so we'll see how it goes.  Technically to establish a prairie area, you're supposed to remove all sod and grass, use herbicide to kill it all, then seed, etc.  I have a hard time believing that the way plants naturally seed themselves won't result in a few plants surviving this approximation of that!  It's hard to see in the picture - I'll have to take better pictures.  We have several curvy tall growing areas - one of which has a "nature trail" mowed through it, which makes it cool to walk though.


I spent hours in the garage of the old house trying to get it all cleared out today.  i made a lot of progress and kicked up a lot of dust and mouse poo.  bleah.  i also dug up some lambs ears and ajuga to plant at the new house.  I finally freed a pot of rue - the stuff actually jumped from a bed INTO that pot, then totally took over and actually rooted itself down through the bottom of the pot and into the ground!  it had always gotten so big that i chopped it way back each year to keep it in check - i wanted to bring it to the new place where it could reach its full potential, but I couldn't get it to budge from the ground until I brought some tools to pry it up today.  it was crazy!!  I bought this thing in a little 3" pot with some herbs.  it's quite a grower.  i think it's meant to be a shrub.  I haven't even looked that up yet.

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