Filed under: Cash for Grass | Tags: budget, cash, Cash for Grass, kids, lawn, milkweed, plants, rock, Roseville, seeds, wildflowers
main front ex-lawn
gate to street stepping stones
- driveway strip
- driveway strip from driveway
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Filed under: Cash for Grass | Tags: butterfly, Butterfly Encounters, cash, cold, front, germinate, grass, kids, milkweed, rain, refrigerator, seeds
I did plant the five beautiful types of milkweed seeds we ordered from Butterfly Encounters. Strangely, the kids did not volunteer to go out in the backyard in the rain to help me. The instructions say the seeds need to sit in a cold, moist environment for several weeks before they will germinate. This being Central California, we rarely get “weeks” of cold weather, so either I plant them now or I will have to follow the “alternate instructions” and put them in bags of sand in the refigerator for a few weeks. I’m not sure the last idea would go over well with Jennifer, and I think I would have a tough time hiding a half-dozen bags of sand and seeds in the refrigerator without her noticing.
Milkweed Seeds Planted
Filed under: Cash for Grass | Tags: All Things Wild, big, buckets, cash, cobble, Dr. Hurd, drops, dump, grass, kids, labor, load, manzanita, mulch, pile, planting, rock, stone, stream, tons, truck, wagons
Today the big dump truck came with 8 tons of rock: 6 tons of mulch and 2 tons of river cobble to form artificial stream beds in the drainage areas.
Being a sunny Saturday afternoon, all the kids in the neighborhood came out as soon as they heard the runble of the truck booming down the street. The truck thundered right up to our house and dropped its 8-ton load right on the driveway.
Then the kids went to work, six in all. They eagerly grabbed wagons, buckets, and tools and all jumped in to help move the rock around. And to play “king of the rock pile”.
Rock Princes and Princesses - L to R: James, Emele, Rose, Sabrina, Jenna, Calvin
The mulch will have to wait for the plants, but the cobble was ready to go in right away. Within two hours, the kids and I had placed all two tons of the cobble, while my neighbor laid the entire border for the driveway strip using the Petrified Seashore I had brought home the other day, more than compensating for the little work I had to undo to include his bit in the project.
Taking Shape; Calvin lies on top of the rock pile
Kid-layed Cobble
Oh, yeah, also I went first thing in the morning to see All-Things-Wild Genelle at the farmer’s market to get more native plants. That was another $200. It would have been more but I am being budget conscious and buying the smallest size available of everything. They are plants. They will grow eventually, right? All the kids went this time because they wanted to see Genelle and talk to her again, even though they all had to ride home awkwardly in the minivan while sharing their seats with a large number of assorted native plants.
I finished the day by actually planting our first new plant, the “Dr. Hurd manzanita” I bought last week.
The First New Plant - Dr. Hurd Manzanita
