Prepping for a prairie at my house
It was inevitable. I’ve said since I first laid my eyes on a prairie, that’d I’d plant one as soon as I have a house with a yard. And here it is. First year in, and I’m ready to freak out my neighbors! No, hopefully they’ll understand. I’ve come to understand myself that there are very eco-inspired people in Minnesota and they’re very progressive with environmental issues. Good! Otherwise people would call the police and say their neighbor has gone crazy, killed all of his grass and plans to plant grasses and forbs that will attract bees! Oh my!
Yeah, all of that is true. The anticipation is killer.
Over 40+ species are being planted within five habitats I delineated myself.
We’re going to have a Mesic Tallgrass Prairie, Wetland Sedge Meadow, Woodland, a Butterfly Garden, and a Showy Pollinator Garden in the front.
…
By the time my seed arrived, the grass was already dead brown. I rented an old tiller from the Ace Hardware up the street from me (God it feels good to say that). The tiller wasn’t great, but I was able to get most of the top soil turned up and mulched.
Once complete, I turned to my seed, calculated the weight per percentage I wanted in each habitat, and divided up accordingly.
Then I spread the seed and waited. And waited. And will continue to wait until next spring ; )