Wednesday, August 7, 2019

Thimbleberry is Gone!

I 💜Wednesdays because that is when Aaron comes to help Jeff with bigger yard projects. I posted in June about how I was done with the thimbleberry and I was ready to put in more flowers. I was happy Jeff was on board and decided to work on the project today.

This morning I took some before shots.
It wasn't terrible, I was just ready for a more flowery change. We originally planted these plants for the birds to eat the berries. I have never seen a bird back there eating berries off any of our natives. I did, however, see one stealing blueberries.

Anyway, once he pruned back all the branches, Jeff discovered a couple of ferns surviving under the thimbleberries.
Unfortunately, they were so tangled up in the roots of the thimbleberry he had to dig them out so he could dig up the thimbleberry rootballs. He did his best to pull the plants apart. After he removed all the thimbleberry he could find under the surface, he put the ferns back in, though not in the exact same places. Hopefully, they survive.

This is how it looks this evening. Before planting these plants, Jeff was able to amend the soil with a wheelbarrow full of soil from our compost bins. (That was weirdly exciting; yay, free dirt from kitchen scraps.)
More of the ferns will be relocated in September when we plant the hidden garden behind the garage.

I plan to add more plants, but probably not until spring. Though we may dig up a few from the front yard that aren't getting enough sun and move them here this fall.

Also, Aaron tidied up the area behind the house and moved the compost bins there.
The before shot.
One bin is full, the other is nearly empty.
These bins were under the black walnut, but we'd also like to plant that area. We bought two Pawpaw trees for the area last month from One Green World, but the rest of the plants will go in next year. We have quite decimated our plant budget for the year. I may try a few more seeds next spring.

2 comments:

  1. What a great find those ferns were! It looks great. Love the compost area too.
    Be careful planting near black walnut trees. It can be toxic to some plants.
    Progress comes one step at a time. ;0D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, we're familiar with the problems of planting under/around black walnut trees. Pawpaws were on the list of trees that are OK with them.

      Delete