Lilacs are in the ground
We went round and round with ourselves about what types of plantings to use to start to build up some privacy and beauty along the side property line behind the dog kennel. We didn’t want to completely block the neighboring house’s view of the mountain. So we decided on some lilac hedges. These will not grow too tall, and though it will take awhile for them to fill in, who doesn’t love lilac bushes? Spokane is The Lilac City, and you see them EVERYWHERE here. We have a few lilacs planted in front of our garage and over by the electric by the goat barn, so add twelve more to the list! They are planted behind and among the five river birches we put in last fall (which are still struggling a bit, so we are working on them, too!)
Four are planted along the fence that divides our pasture. This picture is taken from our side fenceline looking across the back of the house to the east.
Kind of hard to make out, but this picture is taken from the row of aspens we planted along the side fence behind the shop. The lilacs and river birches are planted on a “diagonal”.
We did our best to set these fairly deep, tamp the dirt well (something we didn’t do when we planted the river birch), and add soil to create a nice little mounded area for water retention. Next month we will add copious amount of mulch to ALL of our trees and plantings!
These pictures give a better idea of where we are trying to add some privacy. This picture taken from just below the driveway - the dog kennel is just to the front left.
Speaking of the dog kennel, here it is. I recently purchased a ton of used beekeeping equipment, so we have repurposed its interior as the apiary storage unit. Everything is only semi-organized at this point. The storage area was only holding dozens of boxes of Steve Stuff, so it all once again got moved BACK to the shop for future dispositioning. BTW, our shop builder is going to come back this summer to finish the underside of the open peak above the camper that you can see in this photo. We didn’t really want to extend the project at the time, but it will look a lot more finished when this is completed. Plus, fewer spots for the birdies to make their nests.
