Rustic Church Farms

Today, I want to share what else we've been growing. It's a long post, but anyone interested in waterwise landscapes should read on. I chose to downsize my big flower garden so that I would have more time to focus on the landscape around our house. We've been here for 11 years, and aside from some pretty flowers right next to the house, we have lived with dirt and weeds for a yard. Our plan has always been to have some grass, but it just never got done. I started researching xeric and native plants last fall and decided to try growing a native lawn using a buffalo/blue gramma grass seed mix. In the highest heat of the summer, it supposedly only needs about 1" of water every 2 weeks. And, if it gets too hot or goes too long without water, it will simply go dormant. Another plus is that the grass tops out at 6-9", so mowing isn't totally necessary. The cost of the seed or plugs to cover the area we want to cover is out of budget for us, so I got creative. I bought 1 pound of seed and then started the seeds in 128 trays under lights in my garage at the end of April. I did 4 trays to start with and ended up with about 500 plugs (and only used a small fraction of the seed I purchased). I let the plugs grow for about 5 weeks before I put them in the ground in the fabric I already had from my big flower garden. This allowed the seedlings to take root and the weeds to stay at bay. After a few weeks of watering, I started to see signs of the plants trying to reach out and grow, so we removed the fabric. The 500 plugs only covered about 400ish square feet, but it is taking off like nobody's business. We did no amending to the awful soil, and the grass doesn't seem to care. Since the first bunch has done so well, I have planted another 9 trays, about 1,200 seedlings, that I will plant out in a few weeks. Eventually, we will fill in about a 1/2 acre. This Wisconsin girl is excited to have some green in her surroundings! The recommended seed rate on the ground is 2-3 pounds per 1,000 square feet. I have used 1/4 pound or less of the seed and will have around 1,500 square feet of grass going into winter. Considering the seed costs around $40+ per pound, I call this strategy a win!

This past fall I made a decision to downsize my garden and move it to my front yard so that I could better enjoy it. Our soil is like concrete and doesn't really support life beyond bindweed and russian knapweed and maybe goatheads... so, I hopped on the tractor and moved my dirt from the former garden to the new garden and hoped for the best. I used seeds that I already had and put most of my energies into xeriscaping my yard (to be shared in a future post). This is the result of my haphazard garden, and I am quite impressed that it is doing as well as it is. There are a few flowers that really don't seem to like the new location while others are giving me a superb performance. I have never had success with veggies, but they are knocking it out of the park this year. The garden is so pretty, and is definitely my place to re-center each day in the midst of 4 kids at home while I'm working a desk job from home. Enjoy! And please let me know if you'd like a bouquet. It's going to give me a steady supply into the fall.

Hello, to my Rustic Church Farms friends! It's been a while since I have posted, but I assure you that a lot of work has been happening behind the scenes. I am excited to say that my garden is finally blooming well, and I am expecting to have about 5 bouquets per week starting this week. I currently have 4 available for $15 each with pickup in Loma. They are recently picked from my garden and assembled in quart sized jars for you to enjoy. Considering that they haven't had to trek around the world to get here, they typically last at least a week, often more. Feel free to message me on here if you'd like to pick one up! Also, let me know if you would like to order a future bouquet :) I will share more about my garden in another post soon!