The Islands

Over the dining room table, this previous winter, it began to grow, picture clippings, scaled drawings, aerial photos, plant statistics, large sheets of drawing paper, rulers, straight edges, pencils and erasers. It became the planning room. There's no more room to have a meal here anymore. Katherine and I would just sit on the couch and eat, talk about plants, cultivars, spacing, pollinators, compatibility issues, money, labor, money, more money, etc. Katherine was/is the architect of this project. She has poured countless hours of effort, researching the plants, finding sources, budgeting the allowances and planning the islands. I was more concerned about the logistics of things; preparing the site, managing and nurturing, operation and maintenance. This planting project will be spread out over an area of approximately five, to maybe seven acres.

We took our large sheets of paper out to Birdland and laid out our trees and shrubs with survey flags as best as possible according to the plan drawn. Like most plans, particularly in construction, things get modified along the way, an adjustment here, a tweak there. All in all, things went fairly well and we began the creation outline of the islands. We sprayed a perimeter outline with spray paint and then applied glyphosate to kill the grass inside the paint lines to create the islands. About a few weeks later, the island profiles looked good and planting began in earnest. By the end of May, all but a few of the 400+ trees and shrubs had been planted. Not bad for the two of us. We we're proud of our accomplishment. That's when I learned about mulch, the good and the bad.

I have to confess that I'm a neophyte at this landscaping on a grander scale kind of thing. It's a lot more than what I'm used to; plant a few annuals around the house, an occasional shrub, mow the lawn, winter prune a few trees, that's about it. I'd rather be constructing buildings on a grander scale but, the economy is pathetic, particularly in the construction industry and this keeps me engaged in planning and visioneering. I've been told, by Katherine, that this first year is absolutely the most crucial year for these plants.  Katherine has a connection with "her" plants that I don't. She handles them like handling a newborn, talking to them, coddling them, mothering them, knowing all the particulars of each and every one. They're adjusting to their new permanent home in their island paradise and need a lot of TLC. ( remember that logistics concern of mine? ) I don't have that touch. I've been accused of "man handling" these plants and I've been relegated to wheelbarrow duty, chainsaw duty to the back 80 and dealing with invasive plants. I have to asked for permission to put shovel to soil and be supervised whenever I'm in the islands. Anyway, back to the mulch.

The majority of soil where we planted is loamy and very sandy. It doesn't hold water very well. A recent soil test came back with a pH of 5.5, P51,K62, organic mater 4.0%. We'll amend with llama poop and mulch. Russel has a local source of llama poop and it seems to be the real deal in terms of being an excellent soil amendment. Buckets of the stuff have been loaded into the back of his Honda Passport, and Katherine provided each plant with a good dose of the stuff. Next was the mulch, and we needed a lot of it. I phoned the utility company to inquire about mulch loads from line clearing operations, as the chip/mulch mix was free. A few days later I received a call from the field supervisor of Davey Tree. He  informed me that they could provide a load for us, when they were working in the area. I said, "great, bring it out". A couple of weeks went by and our new plantings were beginning to suffer. The sandy soil didn't offer much in the way of moisture retention and mulching would definitely would help. I didn't have the supervisors phone number because I just assumed they'd be dropping off a load right away. I guess they just weren't working in the area. We needed mulch and we needed it now. Our first load was from a local guy down the road. He got it free from the utility company, but we had to pay him because we were desperate. He dropped it off for us,  about 5 yards of it, $100. That load went fast. We were able to spot mulch most plants, but not all. The grass killer seemed to be a temporary fix and with the rains and heat, the grass is making it's way back and dissolving our island outlines. It's amazing how fast the grass came back week by week.

Finally, another week went by and, I received a call from Davey. They were in the area and could drop off  2 truckloads, about 20 yards worth. This time, I let the supervisor know that he has an open door to dropping mulch anytime he's in the area. He thought it was great. It saves him time from finding other dump sites or paying to dump. Now the spreading has intensified. The islands are taking shape again as we're dumping the mulch over the tall growing grass. We're trying to apply at least 6 - 8 inches. Some of the plants a difficult to find now and we have to be careful as not to smother a plant in the tall grass.

The bad part of mulch, besides the monotonous task of spreading it, is the exposure of mold dust and subsequent Farmer's Lung

The storms in the area have been good to us, rain and mulch. Davey dropped off another 20 yards and then another couple of loads. We've applied nearly 60 cubic yards so far and we're only about halfway there. I'm hoping that more mulch is on it's way soon. Our persistence at mulching is creating the island outlines again, beautiful mulched islands. In time, they'll be hosts to a variety of fruit and edibles interspersed in a sea of green. The learning curve continues.