When I moved in to the house on May 24, 2013, the northern part of the east fence was covered with star jasmine, as was a strip in front of it. In the top-right corner of the photo, a bougainvillea is poking through the top of the fence from my neighbor's yard. I took this photo on August 23, 2013, before I changed anything along the fence.
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On September 12, 2013, I pulled all the star jasmine off of the east fence and let it lie on top of itself on the ground. I cut some of the vines in that pile and moved it to the back yard nook.
While a couple of friends were here on March 23 and 24, 2014 to help me build the mound, one of them used scissors to cut the long star jasmine vines that had been lying near the back corner for half a year into small pieces that would decompose faster and take up less space. Here is one pile of the vines before she started.
In the month or so leading up to this moment, I had put a lot of sticks on top of the cut vines. As we processed the vines, the sticks spread out over the area.
The area of the fence closest to the back corner was almost completely cleared on March 24, 2014.
The only thing left there on March 28 was a small pile of sticks and cut vine.
By May 11, 2014, the mound by the fence was much larger.
By May 18, 2104, I had added a long pile of partially composted plant scraps a foot or two away from the east fence. The bare spot to the right was where a pile had been shortly before. There was still a pile of pulled star jasmine vines against the fence, as shown in the photo above and on the far left of the photo below. At the same time, a compost pile was still cooking in the back yard nook.
Later that day, I moved the pile of jasmine vines a short distance so they sat on top of the living jasmine by the back fence, leaving that area bare again, except for the beautyberry in the back corner and the hackberry nearby.
On May 22, 2014, I covered the pile I had put by the east fence with leaves...
... and I moved some logs to the back area of the fence.
By June 17, 2014, I had completed a mounded keyhole bed by the east fence with sticks, leaves, and partially decomposed compost.
By September 27, 2014, tall okra plants were bearing fruit on the new keyhole bed. In other parts of the bed, seedlings were emerging.
By October 19, 2014, I had moved the pile of pulled start jasmine vines from the back fence back to the north end of the east fence and added the long branches from the crape myrtle I had just cut down in the herb garden.
On November 9, 2014, I had added large and small branches from between the fences on top of the existing pile.
On January 24, 2015, the hackberry had dropped its leaves. The okra in the east keyhole bed was reduced to a bare stalk, replaced with greens and onions.
On February 1, 2015, the keyhole bed still had onions.
..., and lettuce...
... a Chinese mustard, Brussels sprouts, and radishes.
