I think I mentioned this somewhere here but a while ago I purchased some property that joins mine that curls around the lake at our house. I did a prairie grass restoration on it and since then we've had a resurgence of deer, fox, birds, and butterflies. Everyone around our lake loves it and tells me they are so glad I did it. Except Joan and Charlie. Who are the bane of my and everyone else in our little clump of houses, existence. So maybe a couple months back we got a letter from a lawyer politely telling us that it should be removed and well kept grass should be put there because this is somehow a hazard to the community. I of course just sent it to our lawyer, who basically responded [expletive] you. Today everything was dropped and Joan and Charlie are putting their house up for sale. lol
I think I mentioned this somewhere here but a while ago I purchased some property that joins mine that curls around the lake at our house. I did a prairie grass restoration on it and since then we've had a resurgence of deer, fox, birds, and butterflies. Everyone around our lake loves it and tells me they are so glad I did it. Except Joan and Charlie. Who are the bane of my and everyone else in our little clump of houses, existence. So maybe a couple months back we got a letter from a lawyer politely telling us that it should be removed and well kept grass should be put there because this is somehow a hazard to the community. I of course just sent it to our lawyer, who basically responded [expletive] you. Today everything was dropped and Joan and Charlie are putting their house up for sale. lol
I think I mentioned this somewhere here but a while ago I purchased some property that joins mine that curls around the lake at our house. I did a prairie grass restoration on it and since then we've had a resurgence of deer, fox, birds, and butterflies. Everyone around our lake loves it and tells me they are so glad I did it. Except Joan and Charlie. Who are the bane of my and everyone else in our little clump of houses, existence. So maybe a couple months back we got a letter from a lawyer politely telling us that it should be removed and well kept grass should be put there because this is somehow a hazard to the community. I of course just sent it to our lawyer, who basically responded [expletive] you. Today everything was dropped and Joan and Charlie are putting their house up for sale. lol
Hey, if they are really that against wildlife restoration, then I hope they find a wonderful residence in a concrete jungle.
Love a prairie restoration. Just add native seeds and never touch it again. So good.
Yeah pretty much. I did go in and field cultivate the old grass out. Then planted the new seed. Put down some straw so it wouldn't erode before it had a chance to take hold. It was easy and the results are great. We have about 5 acres of "wetland" at the farm that we can't do anything with and I'm trying to get the local USDA office to release it so we can do a restoration there as well. Seems like it will be an easy thing to do but it looks like it will be next spring before we can do it.
My mom has a long country drive with a steep incline on one side that was a pain in the ass to mow, so I did the same thing. Much smaller scale, but the birds are loving it.
I think I mentioned this somewhere here but a while ago I purchased some property that joins mine that curls around the lake at our house. I did a prairie grass restoration on it and since then we've had a resurgence of deer, fox, birds, and butterflies. Everyone around our lake loves it and tells me they are so glad I did it. Except Joan and Charlie. Who are the bane of my and everyone else in our little clump of houses, existence. So maybe a couple months back we got a letter from a lawyer politely telling us that it should be removed and well kept grass should be put there because this is somehow a hazard to the community. I of course just sent it to our lawyer, who basically responded [expletive] you. Today everything was dropped and Joan and Charlie are putting their house up for sale. lol
Hey, if they are really that against wildlife restoration, then I hope they find a wonderful residence in a concrete jungle.
I have no doubt they are moving to somewhere like Phoenix or Las Vegas where they can have a perfectly manicured yard while wasting water resources. I swear running the sprinkler is his hobby. We live in the Midwest, you don't need to water your yard. lol
Love a prairie restoration. Just add native seeds and never touch it again. So good.
Yeah pretty much. I did go in and field cultivate the old grass out. Then planted the new seed. Put down some straw so it wouldn't erode before it had a chance to take hold. It was easy and the results are great. We have about 5 acres of "wetland" at the farm that we can't do anything with and I'm trying to get the local USDA office to release it so we can do a restoration there as well. Seems like it will be an easy thing to do but it looks like it will be next spring before we can do it.
Do you have to do anything to the native plants in winter? Like burn them or cut them down to the stalks? My building in Chicago has some pretty big sidewalk planting areas that are fenced off from where pedestrians walk. It's a pretty decent square footage probably like 100 feet by 10 feet. It's currently just empty but I've thought about trying to do native plantings there. Our landscaper came back with a pretty high cost to seed native plants there. Is the seed expensive?
Love a prairie restoration. Just add native seeds and never touch it again. So good.
Yeah pretty much. I did go in and field cultivate the old grass out. Then planted the new seed. Put down some straw so it wouldn't erode before it had a chance to take hold. It was easy and the results are great. We have about 5 acres of "wetland" at the farm that we can't do anything with and I'm trying to get the local USDA office to release it so we can do a restoration there as well. Seems like it will be an easy thing to do but it looks like it will be next spring before we can do it.
Do you have to do anything to the native plants in winter? Like burn them or cut them down to the stalks? My building in Chicago has some pretty big sidewalk planting areas that are fenced off from where pedestrians walk. It's a pretty decent square footage probably like 100 feet by 10 feet. It's currently just empty but I've thought about trying to do native plantings there. Our landscaper came back with a pretty high cost to seed native plants there. Is the seed expensive?
We did not do anything in the winter. There are plenty of birds and other critters that live in there during the winter. I have a buddy that works for IDNR and he said after 5 years or so we may consider doing a burn on it, but it's not always necessary.
We planted 5lbs of seed an acre. So your 100ft x 10ft area is 0.02 acres. I think our seed was about 60 dollars a pound. So it's not really expensive IMO.
