Bloodroot and Economic Gardening
Blooming bloodroot means spring is here. Bloodroot is the first native to bloom right after the non-native crocus bloomed. But even though spring is here, patience is required with the Micro-Prairie. The long winter was hard on it. The snowplows pushed a huge pile of snow on top of it which flattened a lot of stems. The plows also pushed the leaves that were in the street up on the boulevard where they formed a three inch thick, wet, smothering mat. Here is a photo of the Micro-Prairie before cleanup.
On the left are the tall stalks of grasses and on the right is the matted area caused by the snowplows. I tried to use a rake to loosen the leaves but the mat was so thick I resorted to using a fork to remove them. An electric hedge trimmer was needed to cut down all the standing stalks which I then raked up. Permaculture principles say to just let the stalks and leaves lay and they will decompose. That is what I normally do but this year the mat was so thick I thought I needed to intervene. I didn’t remove the debris from the property though — I spread it along the hedge to smother Bishop’s weed which persists there. Finally, here is a picture of the garden with the stalks cut down.
There are still a lot of stalks and leaves on the ground but the really thick clumps have been removed. You can see green coming up now and in a week this area will be almost all green.
In the background you can see the rose bush that the rabbits snacked on during the winter. I cut off the girdled branches and evened it up so it looks presentable. I think the bush will be fine but we will have to be patient and see what happens.
Patience is required when you switch to native plants and permaculture. Toxic turf grass lawns are already green but that doesn’t mean they are healthy. My yard is brown but that doesn’t mean it is dead. Far from it. Bleeding hearts should be blooming by next week and the native geraniums wouldn’t be far behind. Even the new Micro-Prairie in the front boulevard is showing some life. Here is a photo.
The green leaves in the photo are probably weeds but I can hope they are natives. I won’t know for a few weeks what is coming up here. Natives are slow to come up so again patience is required. Nature works at its own pace. Humans, on the other hand, are impatient and that leads to all kinds of problems.
If you are impatient to read how and why I created the Micro-Prairie, I have revised the article called Micro-Prairie Quick Reference at the top of the Creating Micro-Prairies in the City page. I realized that the links in the original article no longer worked so I copied and pasted information from early articles into this article. There are links to help you navigate the page. At the bottom of the article is a section with photos of the Micro-Prairie. A future project will be to put the photos into a separate Gallery article. Here is a photo from that article of bleeding hearts blooming last year.
That was a quick overview of happenings in the Micro-Prairie. Now lets talk about things that are happening around the city. In my post titled “Micro-Prairie Meets Strong Towns” I talked about ideas to make a stronger, more livable community. Watching the Micro-Prairie come up in random patches reminded me of something called Economic Gardening. This is a process where communities create conditions where new businesses — especially small businesses- can take root and grow.
For example, a local coffee shop created a pandemic inspired parklet in front of their location. The parklet which is made out of pallets and portable furniture uses two parking spots and provides a great outdoor meeting area on the street. I helped set up the first parklet two years ago and was happy when the city council finally adopted an ordinance to allow parklets without having to go to the council every year. Having spent time drinking coffee and socializing on the parklet over the last two years I can attest to its community building characteristics. Chance encounters by people with ideas to share often leads to positive activities in the community. It is like throwing native plant seed on a plot of ground to see what comes up.
And, speaking of throwing down native plant seed, the city and the Minnehaha Conservation District are starting a program to make native plant kits available to homeowners. The kit will cover 100 sq ft and have instructions on how to plant the native seeds. No additional info is available right now but I am really curious to see how this works. Having been around the block a few times, I am a little skeptical. For instance, what instructions will be given for removing existing grass. People are really attached to toxic turf grass so there could be some anxiety about ripping it out!
It is interesting that the only benefits for using native plants listed in the promotional material is the reduction in runoff from these plots. While that is an important, so to are the benefits of eliminating fertilizer use, reducing water usage and improving pollinator habitat. It is like they are trying to not alarm those people who think that addressing climate change is a bad thing by not mentioning all of the benefits. But, overall, I think this is a good thing. It makes the statement that the city will sanction using lawn alternatives like native plants. A lot of people seem to think that turf grass is required and that the old guy on the corner who ripped out all the grass and planted “other stuff” is some kind of scofflaw. Now maybe I will not be they only one on my street to have a non-turf grass lawn. I don’t think that will happen right away because several of my neighbors have lived on the street for over 50 years and they don’t know anything other than turf grass lawns. They have been vying with each other for decades over who has the “best” lawn. Old habits are hard to break.
But, with spring comes hope. I will put away my cynicism and hope that my vision of a Butterfly Boulevard stretching across town may happen someday. Keep doing what you can to build a strong town and a strong planet. Go ahead and rip out some turf grass. It will make you feel good!
