The PE&A is back

Welcome back! There were two recent things that prompted me to resurrect the PE&A blog this week. First, the days are getting longer and while it is clearly still winter (it is snowing as I write this) I can tell that spring is quickly approaching and it will soon be time to start working outside on the garden and the railroad. Second, a blog I've enjoyed following (My Sewing Machine Obsession) was suddenly brought back to life after a nearly two-year hiatus, a reminder that I should be doing the same.

The new train/garden shed for the PE&A

So what has been up on the PE&A in the 18 months since the last post? In January, 2021, before the garden train season had even started, we made the decision to move to Spokane. So rather than my usual spring cleaning I instead spent the early spring disassembling the railroad. I may have taken a few pictures of that activity but I didn't post any as it was too sad to see everything come apart.

We moved into our new house on Moran Prairie, just south of Spokane, in April. Building a new garden railroad was not a priority so I set it aside thinking I might get to it by late summer or early fall, but by then there were still so many other outdoor tasks at hand that the railroad never came to the top of the list. The new house in on a large lot that was almost entirely turf when we moved in, and my top priorities were to reduce the amount of turf (and water usage), put in native plants and trees in the ground for shade, and come up with an overall management plan. And figure how to get a 1980s-era irrigation system working, a first for me.

I had no idea that we would have the hottest summer since weather records began in Spokane in 1881. It was a struggle to just keep things alive, and some patches of lawn were completely killed off as it was so hot that the turf didn't even have a chance to go dormant. The dahlias, which I watered every day, looked near death for the first half of the summer. Even mature, well established trees around our neighborhood, species that were considered appropriate for this environment, are now dead.

The long term outlook from the NOAA Climate Prediction Center is for a warmer and drier summer than average this year, but I expect it won't be as horrible as last year. Here's hoping for regression toward the mean! I will move forward with planning and planting with the assumption that my new plants will at least have a fighting chance this year.

Here are a few pictures of the new PE&A location I took earlier today. The snow you see fell almost four weeks ago—it started as 16" of fluffy white powder and has gradually compacted and melted down to a 1-2" sheet of ice, strong enough that I don't break through when I walk on it. Looking out the window right now, everything has been covered over in a new layer of white, peppered with foot prints from California quail.

The corner of the yard behind the train/garden shed. All of this area will be occupied by the PE&A

View of the area behind the shed. My plan is to have an access door in the shed by the corner nearest the camera to allow trains to roll out on to an elevated trestle which will drop down to ground level along the fence.

This view shows an elevated planting bed that is thrust out into the yard. This will likely be the key featured area for the PE&A as it's what visitors will see first.

Along the east fence is where I will be creating my own piece of the Palouse prairie including native grasses, forbs and probably a few small shrubs. I removed around 1000 square feet of turf here. The tags are where I've planted forbs so I don't lose track of them.

And in this area of the yard I'm creating a native forest. I've planted a couple dozen shrubs and trees so far. I removed around 1500 square feet of turf to put these in.

For the next six to eight weeks I'll focus on my vision for the new PE&A, figure out where and what I want to start with, then break the work up into phases for this year and beyond. I'm now going through old photos and back issues of magazines to help spur my imagination as I brainstorm about what I would like to see in the new PE&A. For my next blog post I'll share some of my ideas.