I began making ready my yard backyard within the fall of 2019. Earlier than that it was simply naked weedy garden, with a concrete slab, two historic lilacs, and plenty of Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica, Zones 5–9). The years 2020 and 2021, as difficult as they have been, gave me a once-in-a-lifetime alternative to get an entire lot of gardening finished. (I additionally managed to eradicate all of that knotweed, which I really feel needs to be worthy of a medal.) This third 12 months has been about buying expertise about what actually works right here on this explicit backyard. It’s one factor to have goals—certainly, it’s indispensable!—however they should be tempered by the realities of local weather, soil, and time constraints. Listed here are a few of the success tales from my backyard in japanese Iowa, Zone 5b, with clay-loam soil (pH 7.5).

One factor I’ve discovered that fully