I’ve been enjoying working in the yard the past few months. The landscape here changes with every drop of dew and every blossom. Yesterday I pulled all the thin, cut bamboo poles out of the garden and lined them up to choose by size to weave a fence for new area. I cut my 80 feet long giant golden pothos into manageable 4 feet lengths and planted in the front berm. The pothos was a giant wall, leaves twice as big as dinner plates, until the cold dropped the leaves and left me with only one 80 feet long bare strand. I first prepared the ground for it by stabbing a shovel into the ground to break up the roots, then pulling up all the crabgrass and wedelia. I planted the cuttings in 3 horizontal rows 8″ (20 cm) apart and 8″ deep. I watered it all in then covered with several inches of mulch. That part of the yard is closest the street but it’s also under high shade all day. I thought I’d spend some time and effort making my yard pretty for whoever passes by.
I also thinned out another half dozen loquat saplings as tall as me and a dozen more ankle high and set them aside. I pulled all the wedelia from under the grandmother loquat tree in the front yard and raked it aside. I exposed crumbled lengths of bamboo in the mulch and raked it aside. As I dug into the ground, I unearthed several large rocks and bricks from old projects, long grown over. I set them off to the side. I pulled up about 20 bromeliads and tossed them off to the side. Soon I had raked clear the ground beneath the grandmother loquat and had a pile each of loquat saplings, bricks, bromeliads and wedelia.
I could now see a wider view of the street from my driveway. I placed two bamboo poles horizontally and head height between two trees about 6 feet apart. I stacked the rest of the poles vertically in fence-like fashion to give privacy from passersby. I used green vines to secure the poles. I moved some of the large stones into view. It felt so much more spacious and looked more pleasing to the eye.
Last week I re-designed the area where I keep my trash bins, which is at my garage door. I don’t like them being visible from the street so they’re behind several inverted black bins. I placed several plants on a shelf along the top of the black bins, and a couple of plants below with a vertical cinder block totem pole along the garden side. I should have done that years ago. I’m just now beginning to design the yard to please the onlooker from the outside, rather than please me from the inside.
My friend Carol came by for the loquat saplings and she gifted me a dozen home grown eggs and a tomato plant. Score! She came just as I was preparing to take a loquat tree around the corner to plant for a friend who has a typical Florida yard with shell marl instead of soil. A few years of no cultivation and the Florida sun and it’s almost hard like a road. I’ve never seen a yard with the ground as compacted as this. It’s new construction 10 years ago where they used extra fill to make the ground higher. I went to dig in the middle of the yard with the shovel and I literally could not get it to go 3 inches deep.
My friend used a pick ax to break up the shale so I could dig into the ground. I will get a pitchfork in the next few days and I will stab it all around in the ground next to the trees and bushes to give the roots room to grow. The tree is in a perfect place to give shade to the backyard and it should only take 2 to 5 years to get a nice size. I took an extra garden hose over there to have a hose that reaches all the way around. That’s the difference between being in the Florida sun all day and having some relief in the shade. I’m a block away but I’m under all shade so my yard is nice and loamy and soft and easy to plant in.