All at once the Yarden is a very busy place, but I’m getting into a routine. (If you don’t know what a Yarden is … check out this post.)
The yarden now boasts more than 25 edible plants, shrubs, and trees. We’ve found a spot for the banana circle and have been scoping out places for the future food trees we’d like to have in the yard.
Out in the meadow Butterfly Hollow is blooming, though never fast enough for me. We’ve added a second section that I’ve dubbed Hummingbird Lane. We so enjoy watching the birds, butterflies, and squirrel meander there way around the meadow. The next meadow goal is to get more blooms planted along the front edge so we can have a visual feast of flowers for the bees and butterflies.
Mom gifted us with a persimmon tree, and along with a few others including a fig tree, we’re now “hardening” them off in place in the yard. Over the next week or so I’ll be building small hugelkultur mounds along the yard perimeter to support the tree’s growth and long term reduce the amount of water they need. One of the beauties of the hugelkultur is that is more like and underground water storage tank, so as it rains, or the grass is watered (from our side or the neighbors 🙂 ) the slope between our houses can soak up and hold the access. The roots of the trees will seek out the water and we can water less and less.
The wasps have been giving us a run for our money on all the butterfly caterpillars. Finally I had enough and broke down and bought a reptile habitat that will be perfect for rearing butterflies.
On the veggie plants we have eggplants and a bell pepper growing. The yellow pear tomatoes are blooming and the cucumbers are expanding their vines and getting ready for the bees. I discovered last week that the cucumber had nearly all male flowers — guess what — that’s normal. During the first days of blooming, the plant sends out male flowers to begin attracting the bees, and after ten days or so, the female flowers begin to bloom. Mother Nature is brilliant!
We’re down to the last step on the solar panels – hooray. Just waiting on the electric company’s inspection and a new meter. Then I get to learn all kinds of ways to leverage the power of the sun for our little urban homestead.
Take care my fellow Cheeky Preppers, I’ll update again soon!