Buffalo grass lawn

Closeup of buffalo grass

Many of my days this spring and summer have been spent working on our lawn. Last fall we seeded buffalo grass and covered it with huge rolls of erosion control blankets. Those plastic netting and straw blankets helped the dirt and seeds stay put. But they weren't perfectly successful and they didn't control the weeds.

There is one big challenge with starting buffalo grass: it's a warm season grass. That means it sprouts late allowing the weeds to get a head start. So pulling weeds has been my job. And I pulled A LOT.

This rainy summer has been both a blessing and a curse for our new lawn. Buffalo grass is drought tolerant, giving it a resilience that helps in it's competition with weeds. This summer the rain gave the weeds all the water they needed :-( ...that's the curse. The blessing was in the ease with which I could pull the weeds :-) But, still, I have developed arthritis in my hands. So it's a good thing I don't have to pull as many weeds now.

Once the buffalo grass was freed of the weed competition it took over quickly. It spreads like crabgrass sending runners all over the place. And it holds tight to the soil so that most weeds pull out of the soil without pulling up the buffalo grass.

I haven't mowed our new lawn, so it doesn't look manicured like most lawns yet. The grass is 5 or 6 inches tall right now and in the thickest places totally smothers any weeds that try to grow. It has a very fine texture and is incredibly soft to walk through. Jeremy says it looks so soft that it makes him want to lay down on it. (He doesn't do that, though, because it's pretty buggy!)

We are looking forward to enjoying the benefits of this special grass next season. Hopefully, its naturally short stature and drought tolerance will mean very little mowing and no watering. And all those hours pulling weeds this year will not be repeated!

The new prairie garden is in - and a chicken update

Well, I finally finished getting the plants in the ground. And I've pulled all the invading grass and added the first layer of mulch. Of course, I'm not really finished. There are always loose ends - like the un-mulched rain garden. But it's nearly there!

Here's a photo of the garden along the path that I've finished:

Looking toward the house from the parking area

Looking from the front porch

It's pretty exciting to have almost all the plants in the ground. Some of them are already sprouting new growth. We've had many rainy days thats helped a lot to keep everything well hydrated while the little transplants waited for mulch. I just finished yesterday - a good 3 weeks after I purchased the plants.

In addition, there are a lot of seedlings making their appearance in the areas where we spread the super-expensive native wildflower and grass seed. I don't think they are losing the battle against "weeds." But, given that everything is coming up at once, it's pretty hard to tell - except where we spread buffalos grass seed. In those "lawn" areas it's very easy to see the weeds. So far, the little grass seedlings seem to be pretty darn tough. And, with any luck, I can pull the weeds and fill-in with plugs from other areas as soon as the ground has a few days to dry out.

Meanwhile, our little chicks are looking more like fully-feathered chickens everyday. We moved them into their new temporary home a week ago and they love it. They are much more active with room to run. And it's been very fun watching them on their new roost. They are also getting a few greens now and then which adds a new form of entertainment to our evenings: watching chicken rugby.

Here's a picture I posted on Instagram of the ladies as they first explored their new space:

The ladies in their modified dog kennel/chicken run.

I'm still trying to find time to build their coop. Balancing the urgency of the different things needing attention has been tough because I'm wrapping up the last few days of my corporate job. I think this is the weekend for building their new home, though. It kind of has to be. They are nearly covered with feathers!

It'll be hard to leave the little ladies out in their official big-girl house/coop - especially the first night. I'm going to have to fortify their run to make it a little Fort Knox, I think. And maybe I sleep in a tent next door or something. Yes, a camp out, that should help, right? :-S

Chickens and lots of plants

So it's been several weeks since I've written a post and I think it's time to catch up!

Brent and I have been super-busy trying to establish gardens between rainstorms before the luscious and tough prairie grasses take over. There is just never enough time or it rains every weekend. So I've been using up vacation time during the work week to get our native and edible perennials in the ground.

All of this busy-ness is really my own fault. I've been ordering online and buying at various sales in attempts to establish a sensible garden that utilizes the different micro-climates and habitats available around the house. It's mind boggling thinking through each plant's needs as well as bloom time, leaf texture and height as it relates to the plants around it. I'm sure I've messed it up. But, if my last native garden is any indication, it won't matter. It will be beautiful no matter what I do. As soon as I have everything in the ground (hopefully this week), I will post a "before" picture.

Here is what I posted on Instagram after attending the Powell Gardens Members-only Preview Plant Sale:

Plants purchased at Powell Gardens Spring Plant Sale

I didn't count the plants, but I know it was more than 30. I am probably most excited about the big leaved plants in the photo. They are the 3 hardy figs. I am planting those in front of the big rock retaining walls. In those spots they should get a lot of winter protection as well as good moisture. I'll add a border to "raise" the soil level for create good drainage. I'm pretty excited at the potential for growing those sweet fruits here in Kansas.

Asparagus update: many of the plants have spears up and some of those are already starting to leaf out. They are growing at different rates. Of the 4 beds we planted, the bed on the East end is sprouting the slowest. I'm speculating that it gets less sun than the other beds.

The other big news is our little chicks: 2 Buff Orpingtons, 2 Barred Plymouth Rock, 2 Ameraucana, and one Black Sex Link.

Our baby chickens on their first day at home

They fit easily in a 40 Gallon water tub when we brought them home. But now, 2 weeks later, they've grown considerably. I'm working today to finish a "cage" that is about twice the size of their current space. And it will be taller, allowing them to have a roost and space to run around. The only one we know for certain is a hen is the Black Sex Link (Basil). I'm hopeful they are all hens. I guess one rooster might be fun, too. We shall see :-)

Here are a couple of recent pictures:

Basil strutting her adolescent stuff.

Just about the entire crew. Blondie is the big Ameraucana on the left
with the puffy cheeks. She may be a he.

Meanwhile, as a Mother's Day gift for me, Brent, his dad and Jeremy worked to cut down the tall grass around the old dog run that will become our little ladies' run. The also used the rough sketch of a coop I gave them to create the frame for the floor of the coop. That is my next big project!

The "girls" will be almost entirely feathered before I know it. So I better work fast (not like me)!

New trees, new pasture, rain and a 4-wheel drive lesson

Last weekend I was excited to bring home 3 native trees/shrubs from the Missouri Prairie Foundation annual sale at the City Market in Kansas City. The sale is continuing this coming weekend, too. But I am doing everything I can to control the urge to buy more until I've planted what I already have.

Lucky for me, I was able to pre-order my plants from Eric Lovelace at the Forrest Keeling Nursery. He had everything I was looking for. And pre-ordering meant there was very little time to shop and bring home more - at least not many more (I only bought 9 little ones). The three trees I bought were a White Fringe Tree, an American Smoke Tree and an Ozark Witch Hazel. And I got them into the truck and headed home just before the first downpour of the weekend started.

Ozark Witch Hazel waiting to be planted.

We had also made some plans to take our non-functioning riding lawn mower to a guy across town the same day. He had a working rider that could use our leaf bagger AND would give us some trade-in for our old mower. So I was anxious to get the mower in the trailer, hooked up to the truck and out of the tall grass that was rapidly enveloping it.

Unfortunately, I needed a lesson in patience (and the limits of 4-wheel drive in mud).

I got Old Blue good and stuck in the mud :-(

Needless to say, the mower didn't go anywhere. Until today, that is. The downpours ended overnight and Brent was able to get the truck unstuck on Sunday. Today (Tuesday) he was able to take the riding mower to a local small engine repair shop. With any luck, they will have the old mower working by May 1st. Meanwhile, we have a push mower, two scythes…and alpacas!

The boys got the opportunity to munch on some really luscious new pasture as the weather cleared on Sunday. Brent had the great idea to create a little temporary pasture for them (we needed to buy more wire, anyway) and use them as mowers. So we created a walk gate in the fence between the water hydrant and the west barn door for them to walk through. Just outside the gate is a dog run and also a lot of old junk (like an entire waterbed, and fence panels and car parts) left by the previous owners. I'm hoping to use the area for a chicken yard but all that junk makes it nearly impossible to mow. So we placed t-posts and attached 100' of new wire fence around the grass-covered junk. And we let the boys have the run of it!

Our alpacas checking out the fresh grass - notice Ace in the upper right getting ready to roll.

I've never seen our alpacas so obviously excited. Nor was I aware until then how much they enjoy destroying small trees. The baby elm and Bradford pear trees in their new area were no match for their antics. The boys attacked them with delight. They walked over them, chewed and chest butted them until they broke. Then they ate the leaves. The boys were also swinging their heads on their long, skinny necks through the grass, apparently, to make sure there were no animals in there. Then they would cush and roll around on their backs. Like I said, they were very animated, obviously enjoying their new spot.

Loki (the white one) pretty much engulfed in grass.
He had already rolled and is now burying his nose in the goodness of the fresh food.

By Tuesday, the junk that had been overgrown by grass was mostly exposed. By this weekend, we should be able to clean the junk out of the area and mow. Pretty impressive work by our not-so-fuzzy boys!

Update on the Prairie Garden

At the end of June in 2010 I wrote about my pitiful planting of prairie flowers and grasses. So I wanted to show you how it turned out.

First, here's how the original planting in the hard-packed clay looked shortly after the sunroom was finished:

Not very pretty. Well, it's a little better now, 3+ years later. Here's a view from approximately the same angle:

That's a little better. And, by the way, I have to say that this is the first year that the Prairie Dock (large leaved plant in the foreground) has really looked beautiful.

But this view doesn't really do the planting justice. Here's a view from the front door:

And even better...here's another view from the street:

And finally, here's a view from my favorite place - the sunroom. (notice I finally broke down and got a few koi for my pond)

Yep! For me this is heaven. And it's right there out my window. The best part is that it only requires about one day a week of maintenance to look this pretty. The rest of the time it's just pretty. Of course, I can't look for very long without wanting to be out in it :-).

Happy planting!

Plains coreopsis

Here's the newest addition to my prairie garden in the front yard. It's plains coreopsis (Coreopsis tinctoria). On my trip to Arkansas last weekend I saw this growing everywhere along the roadsides in the southwest corner of Missouri and as I traveled in the northwest part of Arkansas.

These plants are annuals that self-seed easily (from what I hear- and observed along the roadsides). I think they will add a lot of color and fullness to the area around the edge of the pond and perhaps fill in among the grasses and other prairie plants in the front yard next year. I usually shy away from annuals, but I like these. They're very pretty :-)

By the way, I'm really looking forward to the filling in part in the prairie garden. It looks very sparse right now. But, on the brighter side, I see new shoots on most of the plants, even the ones like the Monarda and rosinweed that have suffered from my dogs running through the garden. And this weekend I'll add some purple coneflowers from the island garden in the backyard and rudbeckia from an area near the vegetable garden. That should help.

I believe I'll install more of those ugly wire fences to keep the dogs out until I can move the underground fence. They protected the spring bulbs and the daylilies along the sidewalk this spring. I removed them when the daylilies filled in. And they were just a little ugly for just a little while :-)

Native prairie planting near the pond

Doesn't this look pitiful? Well, it's just the beginning; give it time. I wanted to show this photo as a placeholder of sorts. This will give me a benchmark for how this area looked when first planted. We'll all get to judge my garden design "vision." All the plants in this area are natives. Most were in the cartful of plants I purchased at Critsite's Prairie and Wetlands center. Many others were purchased at Heartland Nursery in Lee's Summit and a few at my favorite local garden center, Colonial Nursery. I'll highlight plants as they bloom rather than list all of them here now. I'm keeping my receipts which list the genus and species as well as the tags that came with each plant for future reference.

Hard to see in this photo is a bare spot toward the back of this planting. That will be filled with purple coneflower and Rudbeckia growing in gardens in the backyard. In the case of the coneflowers, I should say "overtaking" the island garden in the back. More about that project in another post.

For now, we'll just call this area the prairie garden. And this photo will help me remember how it looked in the beginning. The ground beneath this mulch is compacted from equipment and people traveling across this area while it was mud during our very wet spring. It will be interesting to see how well these plants fare given my hasty planting techniques and, for the most part, lack of soil amendments. At this point these plants have been in the ground for approximately 2 weeks. Almost all of them still look fairly healthy. I'm keeping my fingers crossed :-)

My kind of shopping!

I took a trip on Friday to CritSite's Prairie and Wetland Center just south of Kansas City in Belton. The day started out misty and threatening rain, but ended up very muggy as the sun broke through the clouds.

The Prairie and Wetland Center was my kind of place: all overgrown and full of growing things. I loved it. Here are a couple of photos of their selection area and display.

These tables are full of perennials. The low plants in the background in pink pots are Fame Flower (Talinum calycinum). I bought two pots. They grow on rocks and they're pretty. How could I not?

This photo shows a corner of one of their displays. It reminded me that I wanted some Prairie Dock (Silphium terebinthinaceum). All of the displays were lovely and informative, showing great combinations and preferred location.

And this was my cart as I prepared to check out. It wasn't cheap. I paid over $200 for that cartful, but it was fun and I found most of what I wanted.

After we left the CritSite's Prairie and Wetland center we visited Heartland Nursery. I was impressed with their selection of native plants. I found a few that I couldn't get at the Prairie and Wetland center because they were still in production and not ready for sale yet. I even found an Elderberry (Sambucus nigra). I hadn't planned to purchase that since it isn't going in the area around the pond, but I didn't want to pass it up. What if I couldn't find one? The only plant I'm still missing is Butterfly Milkweed :-(

And this is the space my new purchases will fill - at least in part. That big pile of mulch is at the left edge of the area that will receive sun the majority of the day. The grasses, goldenrod, rattlesnake master, blazing stars, wild bergamot, penstemons, prairie dock, and at least one or two others that I can't remember will, with any luck, make a nice little prairie/meadow just outside my front door.

The other plants I purchased will soften the edge between the gravel path and the pond. Others, like the fame flower, will be placed in the rocks that edge the pond. And the American Beautyberry and Summersweet bushes will fill space near the waterfall.

Shortly after this photo was taken we had a huge rain and flash flooding. So not much was planted, but between thunderstorms I did spread all the mulch, getting nearly all the mud covered. And my new purchases won't suffer from lack of water :-)