How it started…
When we first moved in I kept up with mowing the lawn. I’ve even got a gas powered mower! There was some satisfaction in keeping up with the growing grasses, but it was always scrubby and burnt looking.
Part of the scrubby and burnt look is because the yard gets full southern sun throughout the day. It gets hot out there. Part of it was the yard was being taken over by aggressive annual seeding grasses and tough weedy grasses, like quack grass and hairy crab grass.
I got a crazy idea in my head that I wanted to use an old fashioned push reel mower. It didn’t take long to realize the push reel mower couldn’t keep up with the tough grasses, so I eventually just let them grow. Then I fell in love with how tall they would get and the seed heads they created. They were full of subtle color and texture, and I enjoyed their field-like appearance. Volunteer plants started to show up like Valerian, Common Milkweed and Clammy Ground Cherry.
A volunteer plant is a plant that shows up in a space without having been planted purposefully. Seeds can blow into a new space on the wind. Or birds eat the seeds in one place and poop them out in another. The seed finds a nice home in the soil and Ta-Dah! Volunteer plant.
I enjoyed all these new plants much more than a lawn. I would do some maintenance such as getting the seed pods off the milkweed before they exploded and shared milkweed all over the neighborhood. But I didn’t do much more.
Sometime in 2020 I turned the space by the mailboxes into a small wild flower bed. It was more successful than I anticipated, and I started to dream about more wildflower and meadow space in my front yard.
So here it is.
Scroll to the bottom to see how it started. Go to the Flora page for updates on new flowers and plants that make my yard into a lawn free space.
Spring 2024
Sprouts in early May 2024. There’s a mix of weeds and mystery dicots coming up. I was afraid to do any weeding this yearly.
I did not expect so much Rudbeckia! Commonly known as Black-eyed Susan, this classic summer perennial has filled my yard in this first year of growth.
What started as weeds, mystery dicot sprouts, and the budding and flowering of shrubs has become a sea of green and yellow. Monarda fistulosa, common name Bergamot, should be the next to bloom and will add purple to the mix. It should be breath taking!
The foliage of Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium, common name Sweet Everlasting, is hiding among the other plants as well.
What hasn’t shown up yet are the Pasque Flower, Butterfly Weed, Aromatic Aster or Goat’s Rue. The Stout Blue-eyed Grass may be in there. But I haven’t found it yet.
There’s still hope though. Sometimes seeds take 2-3 years to sprout. Maybe as the yard finds balance those plants will find their roots and grow up through the other tall plants that are soaking up all the sun.
Stay tuned!
Until then…. let’s talk weeds.
Growth from mid May to the end of June. I finally started weeding, and learned where my greatest challenges are in this meadow.
Weeds.
They look just like plants. Because they are plants. They’re just plants that you don’t want at your garden party. Here’s who crashed my yard….
Crabgrass
Lanky, sprawling, hairy crabgrass. Sure I worked to pull all of the early sprouting bits, but it was so established in my yard before that it continues to be established in my yard and is literally holding up the Rudbeckia hirta now. I’ve pulled it to the best of my ability where it makes the edge of the yard a mess. But when I pull it out from between the plants I end up pulling things I want, and creating a worse looking bald spot that is just another invitation to more weeds. My plan going forward is to watch for seed heads and cut them off as they appear.
Plants that I want are so big now that it’s basically a daily walk through the yard to pull all of the sneaky weeds that have had a chance to grow up big.
There are worse things to do than walk through a field of flowers.
Brassicoideae!
This wild mustard settled in my yard at some point. Over the winter? Maybe. Prior to that and I just dug it up when I took out all the grass last year? Also a possibility.
It was a grand thing that got the cutest little yellow flowers when it blossomed. Which is when I pulled it out, because I don’t want a field of wild mustard. As fabulous as it was.
Nut sedge.
It looks like a hearty little grass (nope, sedge!) and it’s easy to be fooled and say “Wouldn’t this look cute filling my yard” with its light green color and it’s neat foliage distribution.
Because, like a few of the other weeds we’re going to meet here today, it’s going to take over everything you love.
When you pull it you really need to dig in and try to get as many roots as you can. It will happily break right above the roots and make you think you’ve gotten rid of it. Try again. Get a soil knife or a sickle weeder and go deeper for small amounts. The more established it is the tougher it’s going to be to get rid of.
Here’s a fun little rhyme I learned when physically identifying sedges, reeds and grasses.
Sedges have edges
Reeds are round
Grasses have knees from their tips to the ground.
(There is a more off-color version…)
Go a bit more in-depth with the New York Botanical Garden: Sedges and Grasses
Black Walnut seedlings.
The best clue is the walnut that the seedling is growing out of. I pulled no less than 17 Black Walnut seedlings over the whole spring season. Seems the squirrels were REALLY BUSY the past year. And the fresh soil that was easy to dig made a great place to hide those nuts.
Pokeweed
Pay attention to the root length on the right. When Pokeweed is full grown it can be tough to pull the whole root out and digging could be the best solution. I have dug out tap roots from poke weed that are bigger than rutabaga. Get them out as soon as you can and as much as you can.
Pokeweed are glorious when full grown. Glossy leaves as large as platters, an overall tropical look, and showy racemes of flowers and berries. And if you let one go to full berry and overwinter there will be at least another 3 to join it in spring.
Bindweed
Don’t let it fool you into thinking it’s a Morning glory. Both grow like vines, but Bindweed sprouts earlier (mid May), breaks easily when you try to pull it, and will have seeds along it’s smooth, thin stem. Morning glories will have fuzzy stems that are thick and sturdy.
Bindweed flowers tend to be white with pinkish centers, and are more narrow than Morning glory flowers. As the leaves get larger Bindweed takes on a more arrow like shape instead of the Morning glory heart (see picture on the right), and even the vein structure of the leaves is different.
Soil Testing!
Last year before much of the work began I decided to test the soil in my yard for the pH and nutrients. For those who are trying to think back to those school days here’s a handy definition from the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency): The pH scale measures how acidic or alkaline a substance is. The scale ranges from 0 to 14. A pH of 7 is neutral. A pH less than 7 is acidic, and a pH greater than 7 is basic. Pure water is neutral, with a pH of 7.0
Anyone can do a pH test of their soil with an at home kit. Many plant nurseries or garden supply stores sell them. Some big box stores too. They’re pretty simple. Get a bit of soil from about 5 inches below the surface, add some water, add the little pill packet of powder, shake that sucker up and wait for the color to develop. The kits come with a color scale that you can hold up next to your sample and see where your soil falls between acid to alkaline.
I took an extra step and went through the UNH Extension office and their Soil Testing Services. They test for heavy metals (lead is an important one here if you are growing root veggies), soil nutrients, and other factors that are specific to the type of planting you are looking to do. Does it cost money? A bit. I paid $20 for my soil test in 2023. Was it worth it? Absolutely.
You can find a test profile that fits the type of planting you are going to do and they will return specific guidance and information about your soil based on your goal. It takes some of the guess work out of the planting if you aren’t all excited about trying to put these pieces of the gardening puzzle together on your own.
And it’s science! Which I love in a basic “interesting reaction, but what does it mean?!” kind of way.
Summer/Fall 2023
Bonus seeding!
And talk about a small seed. I put some Purple Love Grass, Eragrostis spectabilis, in near the bottom of the stairs. Some Purple Love Grass has already volunteered in random places around the yard. Eventually I would like it to grow in the sloping areas of the yard to help keep soil erosion into the street at a minimum.
Seeding the cleared part of the yard was potentially the simplest part of the process. But also the most nerve wracking part so far. Will the plants grow? Will birds eat the seeds? Will we get any snow pack or rain earlier than Feb or March to help the seeds settle in?
It’s tough to take a big breath and just let nature do what it’s going to do.
To put the seed down I had set aside a 5 gallon bucket of compost from the pile. I mixed the seed in to the compost and then used a grass seed shaker to hand distribute the seed to the yard.
Some of the seeds were so small I had to just trust they were getting mixed in without clumping all together. The Crimson Clover were the easiest to see as they were the size of small pebbles and lightly colored. The wild flower seeds were a mix of sizes, but all very light weight and dark colored. The Monarda, however, was such a small seed I had to take a moment to think about just how this thing survives and creates more plants.
It’s pretty amazing.
After spreading the seed I needed to press it in to the soil a bit. I would lay out a piece of plywood and then walk all over. It didn’t do a great job, but it was better than nothing. If I need to reseed I might rent a seed roller instead. Most can be filled with some water to give it some weight, and it will give a more uniform press to soil that is already a bit bumpy.
Seeds! I’ve used a mix of a clover ground cover and wildflowers to fill in the space. As things grow I’ll have more information and photos on the Flora page, but here’s the first planting run down:
Trifolium incarnatum: Crimson Clover. This is a self-seeding annual, which means it regrows from the seeds it produces and not from a root system that overwinters in the ground. So when it comes back up in the yard it’s not the same plant simply a new generation of last seasons plants. Clover does need bees and bugs for pollinating between plants. And there is a chance that in a few years I’ll have to add more clover seed to the yard to keep a decent cover. That’s ok with me.
Monarda fistulosa: Wild Bergamot aka Bee Balm. This particular Monarda is native to New England and should have a purple to pinkish flower instead of the bright red that many people have in their gardens. That’s Monarda didyma. Still a great plant to look at and to smell! Both variety of Monarda are native to New England, M. fistulosa is just a wild species.
Pasque flower: Anemone patens var. wolfgangiana. A spring flowering anemone that looks a bit like a crocus. It will flower first, and then its foliage will add some texture and structure to the yard. Though it may be more of an under-layer to the other flowers that will grow.
Butterfly weed: Asclepias tuberosa. A small milkweed with an orange flower that is also attractive to Monarch butterflies. As well as many other pollinating insects.
Sweet Everlasting: Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium. I believe this late summer blooming tall plant with small bunches of white flowers has actually volunteered in the side yard already. According to the plant ID I got in iNaturalist it’s also called Rabbit Tobacco.
Black-Eyed Susan: Rudbeckia hirta. A literal, perennial favorite of my childhood, and a common summer flower to see in many yards. With their wonderful yellow petals and dark center seed cone they are the flower definition of summer.
Stout Blue-Eyed Grass: Sisyrinchium angustifolium. A low growing perennial that flowers in late spring to early summer. This should help to hold all that exposed dirt together as this plant spreads through rhizomes. Rhizomes are continuously growing horizontal, underground stem. This stem puts out lateral shoots and roots along its length where it finds soil conditions that are favorable to growth. Combined with the clover my yard should be covered over quite nicely.
Aromatic Aster: Symphyotrichum oblongifolium. These asters will keep my yard in flower in the fall. Apparently the flowers themselves don’t have much of a smell, but the leaves do when they are crushed. We’ll have to wait for a sniff test in the fall of 2024!
Goat's Rue: Tephrosia virginiana. Another spring to summer transitional flower, this might be the most visually interesting flower of the bunch with both creamy white and reddish petals. The other thing that makes Goat’s Rue great is it’s a legume. Legumes, aka beans/peas, are great at keeping or adding nitrogen to soils. Prairie Moon Nursery, where I purchased the wild flower mix, has this explanation on their site: Most legume species harbor beneficial bacteria called rhizobia on their roots. Genus-specific strains of this bacterium called inoculum can aid in the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen and improve long-term health of native plant communities.
I don’t think I’ve mentioned here that the majority of clearing work took place between August and November of 2023. I pulled the final grass from the cleared area on Oct 28. Sure the edges are a bit rough and there will be additional cleanup come spring, but the bed has been created!
I have not eliminated the grasses. But I’ve taken away a majority of the growth and made any mowing that needs to happen (yup, back to the mowing) a simpler task.
This is where the 2 yards of compost were used and then tilled in. The soil was super fluffy and soft so only the most basic and light tiller was needed. Thanks for the rental Home Depot!
When seen from above the progress is clear. On the ground the sod removal is painfully slow. After taking a few rows of sod out it seemed like a good brain break to move some forsythia and a blueberry bush to more appropriate locations. They should create a visual frame around the meadow plants that will go in later.
Another quick diversion to put some 1.5 inch granite chip in under the stairs and along the aging cement pavers. It won’t keep plants from growing forever, but provides some separation between areas, and aids a bit in drainage.
By the pavers it should keep soil from migrating too much over the edge so the walkway won’t get lost to plants and grasses. The soil does need to be raked away a bit more.
A layer of compost on the exposed dirt is also helpful! The soil quality is decent in my yard, but the compost will help keep everything a bit happier since so much is being exposed.
Then the tough work of grass removal began. Sod cutters make me nervous (they are big, heavy machines). I cut the grass out row by row with a spade. This makes a fresh bed that will allow the clover and flower seeds to find a place to grow. It gives them the best chance of competing with the grasses and grass seed that are still under the soil, waiting to grow again.
Thinking ahead a bit, a path through the yard seemed like a good idea. Let’s hear it for good friends who will do back breaking work with you!
Let the work begin! First the milkweed was pulled, then the grasses were hacked back with an electric trimmer.
Common Milkweed doesn’t give up easy, however. It grew back, and was fresh enough that Monarch butterflies started laying eggs on the plants. For the first time since the Milkweed showed up in my yard a Monarch went from egg to butterfly in my yard! See that story here.
In July of 2023 my yard was overgrown with Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) and tall grasses. I didn’t mind, but can understand that it wasn’t beautiful to everyone.
