I recently got my pool removed, so I have a lot more grass than I used to. I hate grass.
There is a 500sqft section between some planters that is hard to mow because of tree roots. So I killed the grass (Kinda), tilled it, and spread native Texas seed.
Finding actually native seed turned out to be hard, lots of place claim to be native seed mixes, but then are full of invasive plants?
I ended up with Douglass King Seed’s Feed the B’s Mix
Now it’s time to go plant some Texas Weed! It’s not about just “getting high”, thc is a neuro-protectant (as is many other components in there) so really it’s just a protien-rich food source.
Always loved Partridge Pea (Chamaecrista fasciculata) that’s one of the plants that will fold it’s leaves when touched. Found it (or a relative) growing wild when I was an Ag scout out in Kansas.
Nice mix! Another thing to consider is drilling some holes in some wood or stacking some bamboo tubes to give some nests for native solitary bees to move in. Lots of fun to watch.
While solitary bees can bite and poke if you roughly handle them, they otherwise lack venomous stingers or any inclination to be defensive. I can walk alfalfa filled with with the loudly buzzing of leafcutter bees and have no issues ever, whereas things like honeybees can become briefly hostile when it’s overcast and suddenly becomes sunny. I’ve had to flee from a blueberry field a few times because of this, little bastards. Definitely prefer the company of solitary bees. Solitary bees also don’t inherently overexhaust the local nectar resources.
Building a fence out of scrap 2x4’s ripped down the middle to make little 2x2’s, then I’ll use scrap fence pickets ripped down the middle attached to them
Literally just had a bald eagle fly in front of my car a few weeks back. It came into view and made me completely forget about whatever bad driver I was ranting about at the time. Large birds of prey are very impressive in person.
Your meadow is lovely, I can only imagine that those bees only had good words for you if they could speak. You have a nice yard, do you plan to plant produce as well? There are some plants that require little care and can do so much. Salad plants for example only need additional water when it has been very hot and give you lots of fresh salad on a daily basis.
But yeah I would like to grow some produce etc, I just need to figure out where! The back right corner will be for a shed, so maybe somewhere in the middle of the back
I have thought about building some kind of covered greenhouse type structure off the back of the garage, and tapping into the 2 downspouts to collect water for it. This space is pretty much waste anyway
. Seriously tough, this part of the garden looks way more healthy now.
