Big Dreams, Little Farm

We’ve had some pretty nice weather here this week. It’s been really warm for March, so we took advantage of the sunshine to get started on our long list of tasks that need to be done. Over the winter we’ve had big dreams for our little farm.

Lots of Trimming

Tops on the list is starting on reworking some of the landscaping (or lack there-of). We have a number of overgrown trees, poorly maintained trees, dead or dying trees and trees that just need to be trimmed so they A- don’t smack us in the face cutting the lawn or walking around, or B- don’t wear on the shingles of the house.

So, we’ve been trimming many of the trees as weather permitted all winter long and piling up the branches, logs and clippings. Some of the trimmings got burned, but then we began to think that perhaps renting or buying a chipper might take care of a lot of the branches, plus give us some mulch to use on pathways and in the landscape. Al happened to check Craigslist one day, and scored this awesome chipper. FOR FREE!!!

This afternoon, we trimmed up a couple of our maples near the house, and Al is running the smaller branches through the chipper. Heavier, straight sections will be used as sides for raised beds in the vegetable garden, or cut into sections for firewood for the fire pit.

Make it Beautiful

To the west of our driveway, there is an area that has quite a number of larger Silver Maples with firs, pines and spruces along the lot line. Some of them are fairly close together, others farther apart. Our plan is to add in more varieties of smaller trees and shrubs, and  create an under-story more woodland like area. The goal is to have less grass to mow and larger islands of vegetation to mow around rather than mow around a whole bunch of trees. We knew that some of the utilities most likely ran near or through the trees, so we had ‘Miss Dig’ come out and flag the utilities for us.

 

Don’t forget the Pond

We’re excited about learning more about taking care of our pond, too. Today, there were some geese visiting, and the frogs and toads are waking up. Lots of algae is in the water, along with the remains of some sort of weed around the edges that I did not find very attractive last year. Plans are to create a buffer zone of wildflowers and plants most of the way around the pond, again creating larger planted areas that require less maintenance than grass. We will also be stocking the pond with fish this spring. The tasty kind, like bass, perch and sunfish- there’s a sink in the garage for cleaning them. Scraps will be used in the garden as fertilizer.

 

 

Bees and More

Al is taking a class on Beekeeping, we’ll locate the bees near the vegetable garden to the right of the above photo- there’s a fairly level spot there. Along the steep slope on the edge of the vegetable plot, we plan to install bee forage flowers. The grass on that little slope is difficult to cut anyways, so a blooming border makes sense.

Some of the trees for the future orchard have been ordered, and the vegetable garden measured and planned. We still have some seeds left over from our old community garden plot, and we ordered a few new varieties to try in this bigger garden. Just as we did in our community garden plot, we’ll create some raised beds. The difference is that here, we can add more permanent edgings to them (the long straight limbs of our trees), mulch the pathways with wood chips, and amend the planting beds with our own compost. The soil is still too wet to be worked right now, and we need to find more permanent homes for all of the plants we moved from our condo as well, but it is only March, not quite planting season for vegetables yet, still too early to move plants. I will be starting seeds shortly, in the house under grow lights, so that’s something that can be done soon to get things underway.

Fixing stuff

Also on the agenda before too long is to remove the landscape fabric that is under all of the existing mulch and create better looking landscaping around the house. We’ll move some plants and remove other plants completely. A lot of the edging is pretty chewed up- it looks terrible, and the beds are pretty narrow.

The deck stairs will be replaced at some point this summer. The wood is sound, but the risers are just too tall. Four or even five shorter steps with broader treads would look nicer and be easier to climb.

So, that’s an overview of some of the fun we have planned for Three Quarter Pi Farm this spring. Seems like a lot, but in time it will all get done.