Turning the Page for Pollinators: Blogging for Pollinators

After removing all the plastic remnants from the deteriorated side of the site, we see what's transpired under there these past months. Dead grass and weeds, perfect!

We began the work of clearing down to raw soil to prep the site for wildflower seeding. A firm garden rake was key to break up the tangled dead grass layer.

You can see the difference in the dead grass with one rake-pass; some, but not all, of the grass was amenable to raking and we gathered some significant piles of dry plant material.

You can see the demarcation here as well, with the un-raked patch near the top of the image. Manual raking got us part of the way, but we determined it would not be sufficient to clear down to the bare soil...

...so, we employed the use of an electric weed-whacker to follow the raking and to eliminate all the grass left over that we could through mechanical action. It was slow, measured work, but paid off!

All dead plant material was gathered to be properly disposed in compost or home gardens.

Don't forget to take breaks and hydrate!

With our site prepped, we came inside for some water and shade — and to prepare our wildflower seeds! We learned that it helps to mix the seeds with another binding substance to help it carry evenly when sown; in our case, we opted for some fresh soil to mix.

Using freely available consultation resources, we determined roughly how much seed we'd need to cover our site's square footage. We measured that amount of seed and the appropriate amount of soil to mix for a 5:1 soil-to-seed ratio.

Since this was a new venture for most of us, we used some plain soil to practice the seed-sowing motions, doing so over a concrete path so we could see the results of our practice.

If you've ever fed chickens, you know what to do! If you haven't, it helps to practice the gentle sweeping motion so you can calibrate how much seed/soil mixture you fling per gesture!

We also used a guide to plan how we would physically move through the site, sowing; we utilized a criss-cross walking pattern, moving both length- and width-wise to make sure we spread seeds evenly. 

Next, we rolled an empty bucket across the whole of our site, to tamp down the seeds (it...wasn't the most photo-friendly moment). Yes, powered/rentable tools exist for this tamping, but our site is modest enough for us to do so by hand. 

Last, we spread a bale of straw (*not* seed-heavy hay!) across the site to blanket our seeds for the winter. We purchased the bale from a local farmer's market. As you can see from the garden hose, we dampened the straw to help it stay in place and bond with the ground.

And now we wait! The seeds will begin their work under the straw and we've learned much for our next site, which we will unveil from its plastic in a few more weeks. We'll be able to apply what we learned to make a more efficient effort next time.

Lessons learned include the importance of a bit of power to clear the land (rakes alone won't do it) and the order of operations, such as removing the 'soil-snakes' that held down our plastic sheeting *first* so they're out of the way for other work.