The parkway has been on the project list for longer than I'd care to remember. The last half ton of the garden soil I had delivered a couple of months ago (or longer) was distributed on the parkway yesterday morning just in time for the delivery truck to deposit two tons of large river rock.
I sheet mulched half of the parkway with cardboard some time ago and didn't finish the edges. I would like to recommend that you NOT replicate my Attention Deficit Disorder induced order of operations but rather install edging first. The rain washed much of the soil into the street and ugly brown cardboard is exposed along the curb along 17' feet or so of the parkway. Of course, I just sheet mulched the other side to match, right before I made a trip to the hardware store to pick up edging. The current disgraceful state of affairs will be remedied this week.
I chose two types of edging and it remains to be seen how well they will work for the two applications I need. First, I need a taller edging to keep soil and river rocks from dropping into the street from the slightly sloped parkway. Next, I need something that the neighbor can run his mower over at the property line and, for aesthetics, along the sidewalk (maybe). For this, I chose "Zip Edge". (Is there really a property line on the parkway? Probably not. Hmm.) My competence in manual labor being what it is, I've brought in a consultant to coach me in digging out the edges properly.
THE TREE'S THE THING
The lone parkway tree in front of my house is something in the Rose family with little orange berries. It would be a fine tree, I'm sure, under other circumstances but the top is bare of leaves, the trunk looks like the product of woodpeckers recreating the shootout at the O.K. Corral for several successive seasons and the bark is diseased. A friend tells me that the city's wait time for removing forlorn street trees is measured in years so I am considering putting the poor creature out of its misery myself. The question is whether to "go through channels" and get permission from the city first (if they say "No", there go my plans for Monarchy - see below) or simply to remove it and document its diseased state with extensive photographs in the event the city decides it would like to take me to task. It's scarcely 20' tall and there are no power lines nearby so it would be a simple excision.
LONG LIVE THE MONARCHY
What to do with almost 200 square feet of sheet mulched parkway? Why, create a Monarch Butterfly habitat, of course. With full sun exposure (except for a small area beneath the Doomed Tree), this is a perfect spot to beautify the street with Monarchs' favorites: milkweeds (Asclepias spp.), Echinacea spp., Liatris spp. and other perennial nectar plants. For safety reasons, it's desirable to limit plant height to under 48" - so no Ironweed or other fun prairie plants of the taller persuasion. I've certified the site through Monarch Watch's Waystation Program already. Certification is only $16.00 and one can purchase lovely and educational metal signs for $17.00 each (see photo). Where better to place these than on a parkway?
TONNAGE
For visibility at the driveway end of the parkway and to kill off the last of the turf grass along the length of the driveway, two tons of large river rock are going in. Yes, I'm shoveling them in myself. I'm beginning to think that I may be a masochist. Thankfully, this is the last of the major shoveling until the vegetable garden is extended another 14' or so (pea gravel paths, more garden soil). The garden will be extended either this fall or early next year. In total, my guess is that I've installed close to 20 tons of soil, gravel and rock since the autumn of 2008, when I moved here.
BETTER LATE THAN NEVER
How it happened, I really don't know but I still have no vegetables planted in the new vegetable beds. This will be remedied this week with the planting of squash, beans, cucumbers (including lemon cukes) and a variety of greens - may they live to see fruitful maturity.
SCOURGE OF THE CRAB GRASS
I wish that I were as chic and stylish as Genghis Khan et al. but I do my scourging while seated on a little metal step stool while wearing kidskin gloves. (Wait, I bet Genghis wore goatskin gloves! Ooh! We DO have something in common!) Crab grass has installed itself in nearly every inch of previously bare soil, which equates with a high volume of weeding. I'm glad I have help this week from both my garden wise and accomplished mother and my lovely daughter, who is, as it turns out, a first class weeder.
Weeding is exponentially more fun with company.
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