biodiverseed: cascadianphilosophy: My friend just bought a house with her sister. They are basically
biodiverseed:cascadianphilosophy:My friend just bought a house with her sister. They are basically giving me free reign to do whatever I want with the back yard. It needs a lot of work, and I have little experience, but I have plans to turn it into a thriving habitat for native flora and fauna. One day, probably years from now, I hope that this little square of Portland will be filled with native trees, shrubs, and herbs, spiders, ladybugs, bees, and butterflies, and be a sanctuary for the native birds that need habitat the most. I want to do this all with as little disturbance to the soil as possible with the goal of having a low maintenance, healthy, and self-sustaining ecosystem with lots of edible production. It’s a little overwhelming at the moment, but I’m also really excited to get started. Does anyone have tips or advice? Get mulching! Throw any and all organic matter you can on that soil!What I do is start in a small space, and “radiate out.” You can see it clearly in my post on building the patio: I started with a firepit, built a patio, then and herb spiral, then built hügelkultur mounds around it, and a swale around that. Today, I added a trellis.Just break your work into small, manageable daily tasks, and start converting the area. Don’t fret if things take a long time: my hügelkultured swales are still growing and developing, and I’ve been working on them for over a year.My little stormwater pond/mallard house took over a year, as I planted trees and gathered salvaged materials as they were available.It’s generally good to get some of your trees in to lay down the framework for your design (which can be malleable and constantly changing, don’t worry), sheet mulch around them, and then start installing shrubs, perennials, and annuals when the sheet mulch softens the ground.I hope that helps you get started!To chime in…contact your County Extension Service, find out if they carry free mulch. Some counties do, although you’d have to haul it in yourself. If they don’t, contact your local arborists and tell them you will take their mulch. They will dump as many giant loads as you let them - especially if you catch them working near the house so it’s convenient for them to dump the mulch (keep an ear out for chainsaws). They will usually have some logs and maybe a few branches that end up mixed in, you can use them for hugelkultur or edging around beds or construct objects like seating or trellises out of them. To speed up everything, you can also add in some organic nitrogen fertilizer of your choice. Water occasionally. Aside from the fertilizer, it’s all free. We converted a community garden space much much much larger than yours this way. It does take time, perhaps a season or two, but then your soil will be dramatically reformed. You basically just gather the materials and let them do their thing.Also! A pond might be lovely in here. The cheapest pond liner we’ve found is old used billboards. They’re huge and heavy, but you can find them on Craigslist for waaaay cheaper per foot than any other source. You can always go in with some friends to split the cost and materials, since billboards are BIG. Oh and if you need any help with any part of this, like what to plant when, or what does best in your area, or how to get high quality but affordable soil testing, your aforementioned Extension Service will be a great resource! They may offer cheap classes, too. They’re taxpayer funded, and are part of your state land grant universities to help people become more self-sufficient. You can also access them online. Hope this helps, looks like a fun project! -- source link
#frugal gardening#extension service