We learn from each other, and get inspired by each other. Doing the right thing takes effort, but it is always worth it!
STF-The Orchard
May 2013
All good
things must come to an end. The beautiful sunrise has faded, the sun is rising
hot and bright and the air is growing thick with humidity.
I bought 5
bags (2cu ft ea) of Florimulch at the Native Plant Society plant sale. I saved
about $5.00 on this purchase and helped the local Chapter at the same
time. However, the reality of how much
work this “Back Ten Feet” obsession is requiring, is that I spent the entire
morning weeding this 10’x10’ area and used up all five bags of Florimulch
covering it (those bags are heavy).
Dripping sweat (yes I know only horses sweat, but I was drenched head to
toe), I went inside to re-hydrate and contemplate why I was doing this. After a half hour cool down period and a
quick change of clothes, I didn’t have an answer, so I went outside and started
weeding around the next batch of fruit trees.
In this photo, the fig tree is on the right. Behind the fig is a tiny
ruby red Grapefruit tree. In the bottom left is a struggling Pomegranate bush,
and behind that is a seedling Loquat, and behind that is a Philodendron. In the
back center is a tiny wisp of a donated guava. It’s not an invasive type and I
received it with such love (I let it be known that I really like guavas) that I
had to plant it.
STF looking
toward the house. The mulch around the plants in the upper background is
composed of leaves from my neighbor’s Black Olive tree. I hand raked them up on
cool April mornings. My gardens are
starting to look like “crazy quilts” with all the different mulches creating a
mosaic pattern throughout. The greenery in the buffer zone next to the fence is
mostly Bidens (Spanish Needles).
As I got
closer to the “end” of the STF, a few surprises popped up. This is a
“Dutchman’s Pipe”or “Calico Flower” vine that is growing on the short section
of fence between the house and the neighbor’s fence. I planted it less than a
year ago.
The Pipevine is a nursery for the Polydamus (Gold
Rimmed) Swallowtail butterfly. I found several clusters of these Swallowtail
caterpillars on the flowering vine. Later, I watched a Polydamus Swallowtail
nectar on my “Java rose” Clerodendron in the Back Ten Feet garden.
Unfortunately it fluttered constantly and moved around so quickly that I
couldn’t photograph it, so the “baby pictures” will have to do.
Another
surprise. Although not garden related, I
was in the garden at the time.
The surprise
was this hot air balloon! I was bent over my garden, weeding and cursing ants and
Bermuda grass, when I heard a huge “whoooosh”. I looked up and just above the
treetops in the neighbor’s yard, there was this balloon. I ran and got my
camera just in time to see him float off to the northwest over the houses
across the street. The camera didn’t catch how big this thing was. Or how close to the ground it was. He had
just flown over the tall Norfolk Pine on the right—I thought he was going to
hit it, but he heated the air in the balloon with another whoooosh, and sailed
right over. Cool as it is, I don’t think I would ever go up in one of those.
You’re at the mercy of the wind and judging by the hard time the butterflies
were having with the wind blowing through the yard, I‘ll stay happily grounded
in my garden, thank you.
STF-The Orchard
May 2013
This is the
end of the Side Ten Feet. The house in the background is my neighbor’s. The
“Dutchman’s Pipe” vine is on the left. A small dwarf bouganvilla is to the
right of that. The tree is a Carambola or Star Fruit. It is 3yrs old and has
produced many delicious fruits. The whole area has to be weeded, papered, and
mulched. Ugh.
Another view
of the last of the STF. About 100sf left
to do. The banana trees were a gift from
a friend 2 years ago. You can see the developing bananas hanging down on the
left and right sides of the “mat”. I
will leave the dead banana leaves at the base of the trees as a natural mulch,
so as not to disturb the surface roots. I’ll continue to use the pine bark
nuggets shown in the photo around the outer perimeter of the trees. It may not look like much work, but it is
backbreaking, fine-motor-skills-intensive labor, pulling all those weeds and
grasses by hand. Not to mention dealing with tons of very angry ants, nectaring
bees, and spider webs.
Finally, the
end is in sight. I’ve weeded right up to the “Pipevine” fence. The bananas on the tree are the 3rd
crop for this clump of trees. There is a
Papaya “shell” at the base of the trees. I had a Papaya for lunch and I toss
the rinds under other fruit trees as a nutritious compost. These fruit rinds
decompose very quickly and enrich the soil as they enriched me.
