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2. fallow
This project, this goal has evolved from simply me wanting to grow some of our own vegetables to my dad almost taking over. I feel like a puny sidekick.
Okay, I concede that I am. (Now my dad and I are the same height and stature though because he's legit becoming elderly and shrinking, ahahaha.)
I wish I had photos from years ago--from when we first moved in, from when I was in high school, etc. There's probably a few photos burned on a cd somewhere, lost in this house full of junk. My mother's almost but not quite a hoarder, thankfully.
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This is the first compost box thing we had. I remember it used to be this grody thing in the corner of the property, underneath the evergreens and we would always forget to turn it over for months at a time.
And this is the pile I started several months ago. It was a colorful pile for a while, and now is currently brown, dirt-like stuff :) It's raw, unprocessed restaurant scraps and a pile of cut grass from who knows how long ago. And there are loads of worms!!!!
And this is the second compost machine my dad bought a few years ago. It was a ridiculous $500 or something! I guess we used it for a bit when I was in highschool, but it was always inconsistent. We got rid of yard waste a lot of different ways: this compost tumbler (tumbler has an E! who remembers that shit), to city disposal, or to rot in a pile in the back yard.
A little effort once, twice a month goes a long way. Another step in gaining control of green space is to remove obnoxious plants that you don't want, don't need. Here, the two most annoying plants ever are the Himalayan Blackberry and English Ivy. In highschool, I went on entire-day field trips to pull that damned ivy.
Here's what a part of our backyard looks like now. And here's (2) of what it looked like before I got help from my dad to clear it out. Together, it took us only two hours. When I initially tackled it myself, I would vacillate about in the backyard for hours trying to decide where to best snip, lol.
That blackberry has delicious berries, when harvested at the right time, but the birds also eat them, spreading them far and wide. The branches can and will take root anywhere. It respawns easily, and can continue to grow even when snipped, as long as it has a water source. And it's thorns are on every surface. And it's springy; if you push it out of the way, don't let it rebound and hit you in the face. ...just saying.
I was piling up plastic pots I found in the green house when I discovered a particularly resilient blackberry plant:
No dirt! Just the fortune to land in pots that were holding water.
Anyway. Here's a photo of the various pots that are holding the seeds that will hopefully sprout soon! They're on a trailer bed that's in the backyard. In the pots is a mix of left over potting soil, compost, and dry hay. More on these soon, hopefully!!
Okay, I concede that I am. (Now my dad and I are the same height and stature though because he's legit becoming elderly and shrinking, ahahaha.)
I wish I had photos from years ago--from when we first moved in, from when I was in high school, etc. There's probably a few photos burned on a cd somewhere, lost in this house full of junk. My mother's almost but not quite a hoarder, thankfully.
This is the first compost box thing we had. I remember it used to be this grody thing in the corner of the property, underneath the evergreens and we would always forget to turn it over for months at a time.
And this is the pile I started several months ago. It was a colorful pile for a while, and now is currently brown, dirt-like stuff :) It's raw, unprocessed restaurant scraps and a pile of cut grass from who knows how long ago. And there are loads of worms!!!!
And this is the second compost machine my dad bought a few years ago. It was a ridiculous $500 or something! I guess we used it for a bit when I was in highschool, but it was always inconsistent. We got rid of yard waste a lot of different ways: this compost tumbler (tumbler has an E! who remembers that shit), to city disposal, or to rot in a pile in the back yard.
A little effort once, twice a month goes a long way. Another step in gaining control of green space is to remove obnoxious plants that you don't want, don't need. Here, the two most annoying plants ever are the Himalayan Blackberry and English Ivy. In highschool, I went on entire-day field trips to pull that damned ivy.
Here's what a part of our backyard looks like now. And here's (2) of what it looked like before I got help from my dad to clear it out. Together, it took us only two hours. When I initially tackled it myself, I would vacillate about in the backyard for hours trying to decide where to best snip, lol.
That blackberry has delicious berries, when harvested at the right time, but the birds also eat them, spreading them far and wide. The branches can and will take root anywhere. It respawns easily, and can continue to grow even when snipped, as long as it has a water source. And it's thorns are on every surface. And it's springy; if you push it out of the way, don't let it rebound and hit you in the face. ...just saying.
I was piling up plastic pots I found in the green house when I discovered a particularly resilient blackberry plant:
No dirt! Just the fortune to land in pots that were holding water.
Anyway. Here's a photo of the various pots that are holding the seeds that will hopefully sprout soon! They're on a trailer bed that's in the backyard. In the pots is a mix of left over potting soil, compost, and dry hay. More on these soon, hopefully!!