Rewilding My Lot

I waited until winter was fully over before cutting down the remainder of last year’s annual plant stems. Then the piles sat for a few weeks while I was distracted with other projects. Finally, I had a free morning on a day when the wind wasn’t blowing too strongly, so I shredded the stems and put them back on the ground as mulch.

Shredding is a tedious, messy job, but at least this day wasn’t too hot. And there is satisfaction in taking something that the land has produced and returning it to the ground as nutrition and protection.

For this task I wear eye protection, a mask, sleeves, and good gloves.

Learning from last year, I had kept the pile of old Standing Cypress plants in the area where they grow. The garden currently has a lot of Standing Cypress seedlings in places where I didn’t place them, and some of them I believe have derived from seeds carried in mulch. It will probably take me most of the year to pull them out!

So the first part of the project was to convert this pile of old Standing Cypress plants…

…into “straw” mulch that looks like this…

…and to scatter that back in the Standing Cypress area.

Then I moved the shredder to another location of the garden and tackled the remaining piles. These were made up of a wider variety of plants such as Sunflowers, Firewheels aka Indian Blanket, and Mealy Blue Sage.

This mulch went to the north side of the house where rain runoff from the roof has caused some soil erosion. Because I spread mulch made from annual plants there last year, now I have an unplanned wildflower garden beside the house. This is not only a good way to recycle organic material in an area where bermudagrass was struggling and soil was eroding, but also a pleasant surprise to get bonus wildflowers (which will also help with the erosion).