Year 1 Summary
Nearly a full year has passed since starting this restoration project. I'm pretty happy with the results so far! One of the first things we did was remove a giant buckthorn shrub that was growing up the side of the house and covering two windows with the help of our neighbor and his tractor. There were some existing garden beds, but they were filled with daylilies, a non-native variegated grass, and lots of hostas. Almost everything was removed from the beds except for a few hostas to serve as cover until new plants can take their place. Natives were planted to fill the empty space. Everything planted last year is coming back, except for an elder shrub propagate and redbud sapling that died.
In the summer, the multiflora rose that was making the woods impenetrable was cut down. Unfortunately, I couldn't get to them before they fruited. I let the cuttings dry in a shed and then burned them after a few months. After removing those menaces, I noticed there were some blackberry brambles trying to survive. The swampy area also had some jewelweed, pokeweed, and native strawberries. I'm excited to see how they fill in this year.
In the fall, the treeline was further pruned when we took out all the toringo crabapples. All we could do was saw them down. I should have used an herbicide on them as I'm now battling the suckers shooting up this spring. With the branches, I constructed some woven fencing for new garden beds in the back. A deer came by to eat the fruit off some of the cut branches. After removing the crabapples, some native dogwoods were uncovered. This spring, I noticed some wild sensitive fern growing for the first time as well as another unidentified fern.
The property was assessed last fall by a biologist with Summit Metro Parks and earned the status of an expert level Wild Back Yard, which was a crazy milestone to hit in year one already. This evening I heard some new birds I didn't notice last year, but maybe I wasn't listening - a wood thrush and catbird.
The mini bee hotels I made last year are being used this spring. I made them out of metal coffee tins filled with cut phragmites stems. I haven't seen any caterpillars yet but there are definitely some moths and butterflies around.
Plans for this year include digging rain gardens to solve some flooding issues, eliminating the remaining lawn in the front, and killing two new patches of grass to create more beds for next year.
In another few years - some fencing to serve as visual barrier to adjacent neighbors who may not be a fan of the less manicured look the backyard will eventually take on. Plus the added bonus of containing the dog :) The long term goal is to not have to mow at all except for the meadow patch once a year.
I am inspired by how much I have been able to positively impact my environment all by myself. I'm just one person, and my yard isn't very big, but I'm already seeing the wildlife react to what I'm doing. I'm looking forward to years from now when things are more lush. I hope I can contagiously spread my inspiration to even one other person who drives or walks by. We might not be able to control what corporations do, but our own yards are in our direct control.
