6/28/2022: A little yard work pays off

by Kyle Kandilian · June 28, 2022

With my staycation behind me I feel a bit brazen to show off some of my projects around the yard.

In addition to all of my bugs, my half acre property is home to many small livestock/poultry projects as well as many garden beds. Some of these are (usually) a bit more formal, but most are outfitted with native plants to form a resilient and bug-friendly habitat in a sea of burnt out summer lawns and invasive brush-filled garden beds.

Dealing with the backyard has been a chore as the soil was void of organic matter and heavily compacted when I moved in, but 5 years of allowing leaves to decompose and moving rodent, bunny, and guinea pig compost has allowed it to grow more lushly. I am still at the mercy of nearly full shade and 100% sand subsoil, but most of the plants are fine with this even if they can be wilty during drought.

The front yard has been my proudest work and in only 3 years I’ve created a pollinator utopia in the sunniest spot that was once lawn. This bed gets some patches of color as early as May but really picks up right around this time of year. By August it will be a rainbow sea, hosting a constant cloud of pollinators and other insects of every size, shape, and color.

I urge all of my site visitors to nix your lawns and reconsider your landscaping choices, and for those who live in smaller living situations to consider doing some flower pot gardening with your natives. In my experience habitat destruction and the creation of lifeless horticultural deadzones are some of the biggest factors driving the planet’s loss of biodiversity. You will be shocked at how many organisms will find a home when given as little as one native plant.

The “prairie” area just starting to get some good color. The drought has not helped some of the volunteers (see the sad Asclepias incarnata top right) but other plants picked for the spot are quite content (*Asclepias tuberosa* in the foreground).

-Kyle