I gathered materials..... native cypress mulch from a sawmill, some old railway sleeps, some mixed over sized rocks, 20 bales of lucerne hay and all the newspaper and cardboard I could find.
Before the sheet mulching (above)...... and now with a thick layer of lucerne straw (below)
On the other half of the front yard we constructed a dry creek bed with a shallow rock filled wetland at the end..... now I will have to propagate some local sedges, rushes and reeds to cover the banks and shallow waters to make a good frog habitat.
Digging the swale for the dry creek bed (above) and filling with rocks (below)
We also put down a layer of cardboard and newspaper under the many native trees and shrubs I have planted in the front yard and then covered the paper and cardboard with the cypress pine mulch...
What a reduction in lawn mowing.... only the nature strip out the front now ... and all that organic matter helping to build soil health and condition the soil.
All completed in four hours thanks to the help from some of the permaculture group members for the price a hot lunch - bargain hey. Who's place is next?
Looks great- this is a silly question but why do you have to put the black plastic thing-a-ma-jiggy under the creek bed?
ReplyDeleteWe put the creek bed directly in a couch grass lawn... because it is so invasive and I did not want to weed couch from between the rocks we used weed mat... we have planted a row of native sedges and lilies along the bank on the lower site of the creek bed... soon we should not be able to see the black plastic... we also have some pond liner at the end of the creek to hold water intermittently among the rocks - but not to have open water. Wen want to get frogs living in our system and will be planting lots more water plants.
ReplyDeleteWow! Thats alot in one day. I love the creek bed.
ReplyDelete