When we bought the house in August, the backyard had four old tree stumps and a poor little slumped over Braeburn apple tree that had clearly never been properly staked or pruned, laden to the ground with apples.
Almost immediately after getting the keys, I hired a stump grinder to turn the stumps into mulch, while saving the Braeburn AND giving us a blank slate...which brought serious inspiration. The back of our yard will be fruit, fruit, fruit! Along with the Montmorencyl cherry, Granny Smith apple, marionberry shrub and Dwarf Pomegranate brought over from Seattle (I'd kept them in pots knowing they needed somewhere bigger to thrive), we've added several beautiful mature blueberry bushes (5' high - I call it "buying time" and it is so worth it!), a pink currant, and a thornless blackberry. This along with a sad but full-of-potential rhubarb I discovered, and I'm off and running with my latest garden design project...
So many ideas are coming up for what will be done in spring, but for the first month here, I'm pretty stoked at what preliminary work I've been able to do. My husband helped plant a few non-fruit shrubs and trees on his days off (a eucalyptus 'snow gum' of course was one we brought over as well) - we make a pretty good team :)
Big thanks to Fidalgo Coffee Roasters for their abundance of old burlap coffee bags for the best weed suppression (and excellent organic coffee). They're not free like the coffee distributor near our old place, but much more pleasant and worth the small donation.
Amen for beautiful fall days like this, and supportive neighbors. I love how the woman nextdoor complimented us, saying "it now looks like someone LIVES here!" as our style is so much less formal than the prior owner. Let the fun (and mulching!) begin...
August - September - October
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