Front Yard Progress

We have neglected this little strip of our front yard for a while now. We had planted what we thought was a drought resistant, perennial bunchgrass.

 

They grew and looked great for a year or so, and then, well:

 

I replanted a mix of perennial flowers that bloom in purple, blue, and red. We'll see what happens!

 

I also ordered a few annuals that I wanted to put them in planters. I renewed the planting mix in my sub irrigated planters. Here you can see the reservoirs before I fill in the planting mix.

 

And here you can see some planted pots. I planted these last weekend and they are already taking off.

 

Finally, we decided to convert our front yard vegetable beds into edible perennial beds. The north bed will have artichoke, asparagus, and strawberries, and the south bed will have mostly herbs. This is how the asparagus and artichoke crowns were sent to me from the nursery.

 

I was surprised that they weren't packed in moist sawdust like the strawberry starts. I soaked them before planting.

 

Planting asparagus is exhausting work. Even with the raised beds, you need to dig down 12 to 18 inches and then plant them on mounds of soil in this trench. Looks like the girls were tired just from watching me.

 

The crowns looked like little asparagus octopuses. Then you bury the crowns one inch deep and keep adding soil back into the trench as the spears emerge, until the trench is level with the rest of the bed.

 

Seven hours after working on the bed, I had all 12 asparagus and 50 strawberries in the ground. While I was digging, I found a lot of huge grubs that would make a great snack for the chickens.

 

The girls were excited! They even picked them out of the bowl to throw to the ladies.

 

The chickens fought over these fat delicacies. I think they must be fig beetle larvae because they are so big.

 

I will be sure to update as things start growing!