Planted this small tree guild last year.. now being choked by weeds and encroaching grass 🤦♂️
Dwarf Mulberry Tree (About to wake up)
Red Clover Nitrogen fixer (Re-sprouted)
Native Lupine Nitrogen fixer (Re-sprouted)
Baby Cakes Dwarf Blackberry (Just started waking up)
3 Strawberry plants (Crowded by grass)
Rhubarb (Fully awake)
Lets do something about it…
Dug and pulled and pulled and dug and dug some some more…
This took way longer than I thought. Grass root mats were strong. 😒
Shook all the dirt and dirt ball clusters (worm castings) from all the pieces of sod I removed and put it back in the bed.
Made a simple raised bed with some extra fence boards I had laying around.
I placed the bed frame a couple of inches into the soil, added some fresh top soil, a bit of garden-tone fertilizer and soaked the entire bed for a few minutes before covering everything in pine mulch.
I'm hoping between the boards and mulch, that will keep the weeds and grass at bay.
A few weeks later, and all the plants are looking much much better now!
The strawberries are even putting out their first flowers 😁👍
Wife added some perennial flowers ( to attract pollinators and will be adding some Marigolds in the corners as well.
Now… I know this spot is small for a "tree guild" (about a 5ft x 5ft bed) but this is a "dwarf Mulberry" and "dwarf blackberry" we are talking about here.
I'm a bit more concerned about that Rhubarb getting too big but I'm sure the kids will keep that from happening 😅
So my question to you all…
What else should we plant in this small (dwarf) spot???🤔
This spot sits on the north western side of two big spruce trees that shade it at noon but gets 6 or more hours of direct morning and early noon sun followed by dappled light in the evening.
Ph is 6.5 and we are at zone 6B in Eastern Washington state.
by Latin_Knight_
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