Our first order of business at the dome was planting the new septic field with wildflowers. My goal was to plant native grasses and wildflowers that would attract and sustain pollinators. I made the mistake of skipping topsoil, so we started with this inhospitable field:
Yes, I should have cleared out all of the rocks, roots and stems!
For seed I selected the Northeastern Pollinator Conservation Seed Mix sold by Ernst Conservation Seeds produced in collaboration with the Xerces Society for Invertibrate Conservation .
I spent a lot of time trying to match the new seedlings to online photos of the seeds we planted. Luckily a neighbor helped me identify our most enthusiastic crop, native staghorn sumac:
I have spent a substantial amount of time weeding out the sumac, and have managed to weed about 1/2 of the meadow. I’ll keep weeding until the ground freezes.