Expanding the Aqueduct - To the Backyard, Compost, and Row of Roses

Watering and mulching encouraged wild strawberries to
race along the base of the house. They fruited all summer long,
doubtless because birds harvested them regularly.

Some creature chewed off the ends of three soaker hoses, so I bought a new one at the hardware store, and added it to one on top of the  chain-link fence. The original one reached all the way to the back, and was handy for watering the gourds and beans last year. One bonus was sending the wild strawberries along the back of the house, since they had water and Jackson Mulch to help them get started. One plan is to develop as many wild berries as possible, to provide extra food for the birds.

We already had half the peas planted along the fence and a wide row of black oil sunflowers under the mulch in the back yard. The whole area is planted already with Butterfly Bushes, so I ran the new soaker hose along the ground.

Butterfly Bushes are loved by hummingbirds and butterflies.

My earliest lesson in gardening was - water the newly planted seeds. The soil and the mulch probably have enough moisture, but I wanted a good start to convert the snacking qualities of the new seed into something less desirable and more productive in the long run - sunflower plants. The question will be how well they survive the cold nights of February.

Our helper realizes how much good the Jackson Mulch has done. In the future corn patch, the ground gives way, as if it were newly turned over. But of course - it is. The soil creatures stayed relatively active all winter because they had a thick blanket of newspapers and mulch above them. That also provided food and moisture for them to work. No one walked on it, so soil was not compressed. When the time comes, we can drag a three-toothed hoe through the patch, create places for corn, and get the crop going.

We will not have to:

1. Dig through tough, dry soil.
2. Fertilize.
3. Rototill.
4. Weed.
5. Wait for osterized soil to finish decomposing its ground-up grass and creatures.
6. Let fungi build their endless filaments of food.

Water promotes growth and decomposition, and decomposition provides food. When more food is provided, many more creatures great and small grow in the same area. The food chain begins at the bottom, at the microscopic level, and builds from there.

Butterfly Weed is loved by Monarchs.