Update On the Terraced Pollinator Garden

​You guys I am loving our terraced pollinator garden! It still has a way to go but it has been so much fun and we are making a lot of progress.

Our Terraced Pollinator Garden

As you can see, we did some work to the steps. Before they were just steps cut into the soil. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do.  Well we have these red brick things that were here when we moved in, I decided to put them at the edge of the steps to hold everything in place and finiash things off. It turned out pretty nice!

Of course they have dirt all over them because my little helpers thought that they should soak the dirt sections and turn them into a mud hole. I tried to wash them off but it was so muddy it only made things worse. LOL.

So this is the bottom of the terrace pollinator garden. Don't you love the pink blooms of the sedum? I really like how it is starting to hang over the rocks. Just today my husband and I saw a native bee visiting these flowers.
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I thought it would be cool if the sedum was growing in between the rocks as well so I've added lots of starts. Did you know you can just break a piece off and stick it in the dirt and it will grow? So easy and it grows so well. It will give it a more natural feel when the plants are creeping into the path a bit.
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​The Bachelor Buttons (all the little blue flowers) are growing really well but I think they are a bit too tall. I would like to see more of the terraces behind them. I definitely want them in the garden because the bees are loving them but I have a new plan for them that will take place next year. I'll show you where they are going to go in a minute.

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I planted the top and third terrace with a wild flower mix this spring. Then the chickens got in the garden and scratched it all up. Out of the 4 terraces they only scratched in the two I had planted with the wild flower seeds! It always seems to work that way doesn't it.

Well to my deligth plenty of them still came up. There are California poppies as well as another kind of poppy, the Bachelor Buttons, Toad flax, Sweet William, Larkspur, Blanket Flower, Black Eyed Susan, and a few that I don't know the names of but I totaly love.

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I have one Echanaciea that I planted the first year that is really starting to get big plus several others I planted this year. There are chives of course cause the bees and us love them, anise hysup (bees like pretty much all herbs), Chinese motherwort, Lupine, and Butterflyweed as well as some others. My next post will go into detail about the different plants I chose for the pollinators including ones that I put in the other gardens.

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​This is the view from the top. You can see the Bachelor Buttons better in this picture.

The top two terraces are not as full at the moment but I have planted more seeds and the wild flower seeds are still popping up!

I really like how the path turned out with the red bricks. I like how it curves around. I'd like to do something in the dirt section behind the brick but I'm not sure what yet.

I thought about filling that space with pea gravel, concrete, or planting it all with creeping thyme. What do you think? For the paths that run in between the terraces I could do the same.

I won't be doing any more to the paths this year so I have some time to think about it. Maybe I'll get a better idea. Maybe even from you!!

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Do you remember how this space to the side of the terraces had plastic on it last year to kill the grass? Well we added about 4-6 inches of compost and added two apple trees that we moved from our orchard. It's no longer and orchard because we moved all the trees into our gardens where they will get more attention. 

I've spread wild flower seeds as well as some others here. This is my plan for the Bachelor Buttons. They can go here with other wild flowers. I'm going to let the whole space be filled with wild flowers and use more perrenials in the terraces.

​The bushes you see are choke cherries? I can't remember! Tasty little treats anyhow!

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Earlier this year the goats got into the orchard and chowed down on our trees. Yikes! They  look pretty pathetic now but they are coming out of it. Just one more reason to move them into the gardens. When these trees get bigger they will provide shade for the animals in the pasture that is on the other side of the fence.

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Say hello to our goaties! The sheep are busy mowing the yard for us but these goats are in the pasture now. It is so handy, we just throw all the weeds we pick over the fence. Weeds are actually better for the goats than grass and they devour them.

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This is the entrance to the terraced pollinator garden from the back garden. We had been using all these old cutting blades for a dozer? My husband knows exactly but I may not  be remembering right. Anyways, we had been using them to hold down the plastic. So when I was putting the brick in the steps there they were. I thought it would be fun to use them as edging.

This is what we came up with. All that soil has been planted with seeds and that's more sedum in the little bottom section.

You can't see it well in this picture but these steps turn. I always like turns and curves in my gardens. I think it makes them more interesting. You can see how the steps above turn a bit as well.

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Now to give you a good ol laugh, here is a picture of me after I worked on putting all these steps in with the North Dakota wind blowing like it always does and my bandanas in the laundry. Scary looking but happy to have accomplished that work!

I hope you guys enjoyed this little update. Now please tell me your ideas for the area of the steps behind the bricks, what should I do there?

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