30 MARCH 2022 WHAT HAVE I GOT TO LOSE?

Yesterday I was discussing possibilities for planting the hell strip in my corner lot. Depending on how I go about it, it could be a major undertaking since it will require removing the grass and weeds currently growing in the area. If it was a home that I owned, I would have covered it with black plastic weeks earlier, allowing the sun to bake the annual weed seeds and prevent the perennial weeds from growing. The grass would be quickly composted in this method, rendering the soil suitable for planting. This can also be accomplished using thick layers of cardboard. It breaks down quickly in the soil and draws earthworms to aerate and fertilize it. Using the premise of permaculture, it is a good choice because I would be recycling cardboard that might otherwise end up in landfills. Plastic, of course, is plastic, which we all know is bad for the environment, but it can be used over and over again for similar projects. The faster way to rid the strip of existing grass and weeds is with a spade, cutting out squares of grass one at a time. This is labor intensive and time consuming, but the grass that is removed can simply be turned upside down, exposing its roots to the sun and air, which helps it to break down and become soil. Whichever method is used, the soil will, more than likely, still need to be amended with compost and manure before planting in it. 

What have I got to lose by taking on this kind of project? I have asked myself this question before whenever it was to be for a property I did not personally own; but I never questioned my motivation at all if it was to be on my own property. That was when I was younger and stronger and I believed with all my heart that anything I did to improve a property, meant I was leaving the space more beautiful than I found it. I was also creating habitats and justified my hard work knowing that I was helping out wildlife. I believed that whomever lived there after I left it would appreciate it, and perhaps they would be gardeners, too. That is what I believed in the last place I rented here, before I went on my adventure to Arkansas. 

I had worked so hard on that property. I created four hügelkulture beds, in which I planted a polyculture of more than forty plants, many which I had started indoors from seed. I had the aid of the chickens I had raised from peeps because they helped to fertilize the soil and turn the compost for me. But, after I had moved out and returned to this town less than a year later, the landlord had rototilled the entire 30’ X 40’ space and replanted grass. I was heart sick.

Prior to having to sell my property in Virginia, I had done an enormous amount of work as well. I had created habitat around the pond for the swans and other water birds that came to visit. I had put in an asparagus bed and planted butterfly habitats. After I returned to Colorado, my former neighbor would call to tell me the new owners were tearing out plants that I had lovingly planted and nurtured. 

I have planted and had to leave far too many gardens. The cost of seeds, plants, soil amendments, and mulch has probably exceeded a few thousand dollars. I never kept track of the cost because I knew I was giving back to the earth. So what have I got to lose, by planting the hell strip surrounding this house? The physical tax on my body will be a deciding factor. Decades of bending, kneeling, walking, carrying, and digging has taken its toll. I move more slowly these days. I have a shorter span of endurance. Yes, I could lose more money, more time, and it could all be for nothing. The biggest loss; however, is the little piece of my soul that will be left behind; for in every garden I have ever made, a part of me has been left there.

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