The Yard is a Mess

Remember when I first started writing this blog I didn’t claim to be a Master Gardner, just a backyard gardener trying to help all pollinators. It is a good thing, because if I was really a true Master Gardener I would be “Fired” as Donald Trump would say. My yard is truly a mess. I put so much work into the yard in the early spring, but now everything is overgrown and out of control!! I am actually depressed about it. Since my bees stung the yard guy several weeks ago, they are now refusing to mow my yard until I get rid of the bees. Well I have no intention of getting rid of the bees. Do you really think that having no yard guy will make me get rid of my bees? Well, I feel very badly that Francisco got stung, but I truly think something happened that day. I’ve seen him literally run the weed whacker in between each hive. I think the girls were feeling particularly temperamental that day, and he must have gotten a little too close for comfort. It has only been a few weeks since the yard was mowed but now it is starting to get way out of control. My little Chihuahuas can hardly walk through the grass. I called Oscar, who helped me earlier in the year, to see if he wanted to help me mow the yard. He is friends with my normal yardman, and he was the one who called me when the bees stung Francisco. I think he is a little afraid he might get stung also. He wanted to mow the yard at 6 A.M the other day before the bees were out foraging. I told him: first of all, it is still dark at 6 A.M, and secondly, people are still sleeping. He has said he will try to come on Saturday, but I am not sure he will. He really doesn’t need to mow around the hives since the grass doesn’t grow very quickly on the west side of the yard. I am actually thinking about planting a good ground cover on that side of the yard so the grass won’t need to be mowed at all. That will solve the problem of the yard men getting too close to the hives with their machinery.

Although Isaac was only a tropical storm it still wreaked havoc around my yard. The Cassia Senna tree has now completely fallen over and the popcorn Senna is leaning from the fence. Part of the problem is that my yard guy, who is supposed to maintain my yard, and who I pay extra to maintain my yard, has not been doing a very good job with the maintenance. Since I don’t use any pesticides in the yard I do not allow them to use “Round Up” to weed. I have asked them to help me maintain but that doesn’t happen. Several times a year they expect me to pay them extra to cut everything back. If they just did a little bit every week things could be maintained, but that never happens until things get so out of control that I have to pay them to clean everything up. I think that is why they don’t maintain, because they know they will make extra money when things get out of control. Well maybe Francisco getting stung is kind of a blessing, because I need someone that will do a good job and care about what they are doing. A prime example of their lack of maintenance is the bougainvillea over by my pot belly pig “Moo”. It has totally taken over his fenced in area. It provides shade for him during the hot summer days, but now he has no sun light at all. In fact we cannot even get into his fenced in area to feed him.



It is very frustrating, because unless I do the yard myself, it doesn’t get done properly. I know I am kind of bitching here, but it is very frustrating to pay for a service and not receive it. I have to admit however, I cannot do it all in my yard. I definitely do need reliable help. It is so important in Florida to keep things maintained and cut back, because everything grows very quickly. Especially this year with all the rain we have had. The plants have grown like weeds, and the weeds have gone wild. Many of the trees in the yard are completely overgrown, and that is why the Cassia Senna is now completely split in half.

It has been difficult for me because since I had the anaphylactic reaction to my bees, I have been cautious about gardening in the bee’s flight path. That has left my garden in major need of weeding and pruning. I am disappointed in myself that I haven’t been able to maintain the yard through the summer, especially because it looked so beautiful at the beginning of the season.

I called a friend, Cindy David, to help me. Cindy and I go way back. Our children actually went to preschool and kindergarten together at the Heritage School. Through the years our paths have crossed because of my interests in Butterfly Gardening. Cindy is actually a landscape artist, and has been lecturing on Butterfly Gardening in Miami for years. She has helped me many times with consultation for my garden. I have tried to hire her to maintain my yard but she is extremely busy. Well I called her again out of desperation to see if she had any time to help me. She has agreed to find some time for me several times a year just to maintain the yard and cut back the trees and bougainvillea that grow so quickly here in Miami. I look forward to Cindy’s expertise and help in my yard. Since Cindy is a perfectionist like me and understands butterfly gardening, I know she will do a great job helping me. I am going to a plant sale this Saturday at Veber’s Jungle in Homestead that Cindy is sponsoring. Hopefully she will recommend a good ground cover to plant around the bee hives.

Speaking of the bee hives the new Italian Queen is doing well. I checked on the hive on Sunday of last weekend, and again today. The population is being maintained, and the Queen was out of her cage. I still don’t see many new eggs but I need to give her time to start laying. I will keep you updated in the weeks that follow!

Despite the yard being a mess the butterflies continue to love it!