Archive: First Quarter 2009
Chicken 101 was an enlightening class, to say the least. Crammed into a small office, our curious class consisted of many thinking about becoming 'chickeneers' and some who already had baby chicks. After discussing our current workload with my better half, we decided that having chickens in the yard would have to wait. Instead, we will support local farmers by buying their fresh eggs. We also will support a local CSA farmer and get fresh fruit & vegetables from them - but we will continue with the growth of our own fruits and vegetables as well. I plant to plant our raspberry starts in 3 large pots this year in our sunniest location at the parking area. The other possible location just wouldn't have the 6-8 hours of necessary sun for them. I will also get my seed potatoes started this week. They will go out into my large terra cotta pot at the back and become a "potato tower" inside the pot. I'll have to get some wire fencing to get the height up to where I can get some serious potato production. Still trying to locate some sweet potatoes slips.
This weekend I worked in the garden to change 2 paths near the pebble mosaic circle into one major path. The location and connection to the circle bothered me because it didn't quite terminate at the center of the 2 circles associated with them. Now the single path relates to both of them. I also have more room to add my pineapple guavas after relocating some plants and adjusting others. I plan to get 3 Euonymus 'Green Spire' to surround the support for my Thai Spirit House. It looks a little awkward in winter with nothing around it. I have at least 2 that I can relocate from other parts of the garden to give a more instant effect. This month is usually a combination of rain and sun. The rainy days can often be more of a gentle sprinkle or occasional showers which is actually fabulous transplanting weather if the soil isn't too soggy.
Progress at the crop
circle. I removed the wine bottles from a path that I am removing to use
them to define the crop circle pattern. Now I just need 84 more wine
bottles! This is when I'm glad I have lots of wine-drinking friends.Over the past week I have been busy revising my crop circle in order to have four clearly defined areas that will allow me to rotate crops and maintain the layout. The layout I have finally decided on actually gives me 5 areas, so I can just have one continuous ring of lettuce going. Today I started to mark out the layout on the ground and dug out the small center circle. I delineated it with upturned wine bottles and planted my Ficus ‘Sticky Fingers’ in the center. It is supposed to reach 8 to 10 feet. During the rest of this week I hope to get the remainder marked and get a substantial amount of turf removed. The weathermen are predicting rain on Saturday.
I’ll be attending a ‘Chicken 101’ class at a nursery in Portland on Saturday. As I talk to other ‘chickeneers’ I am starting to develop plans for the chicken coop and hen house. Yesterday, my fabulous, great, wonderful neighbor, Gordy trucked us both over to Portland to pick up a discarded Chamaecyparis a friend gave me for my garden. (Thank you, Lesley.) Then we visited the Rebuilding Center on Mississippi Ave. Gordy pointed out a great shower door bargain. Ten dollars later I was the proud owner of a recycled door for the hen house (Hey! It's waterproof!!). I’d like to use as much recycled or Craig’s list items for the chicken area as possible. Thus far my design criteria for the chicken coop/hen house is that it have an Asian style and keep out any predators. I understand I need a minimum of 8 s.f. per chicken in the coop. We plan on having 3 chickens. The total area will be about 8 x 20, so I think we’ll have happy chickens with plenty of space. Today I planted my raspberry starts along the north side of the chicken coop. I hope that isn’t going to be an issue. We plan to build a “double-wall” cage, to keep the chickens away from the outer fence and the grasp of predators like raccoons. The base will be concrete masonry blocks set in concrete, to prevent critters from digging under the fence. That’s as far as the design is at the moment. There is a sketch in your future soon – especially after Saturday.
Oh! One more thing. My neighbor saw the eagles back in the tree this past weekend. We surmised they may be browsing just a wee bit south of the Ridgefield Wildlife Preserve. Soon our koi pond will be a thing of the past, so that will be one less worry. Hope they're not after our cats. Eeek!
Revision number 3 of the crop circle - this is the final revision!! I like
the fact that the 2 circles that wrap around the center circle are a little
like a ying/yang symbol.
The white lines
indicate where the crop circle will be divided. The bottles in the center
delineate the circle with the Ficus inside. I laid a few more bottles
on top to discourage my cats, Tashi and Oscar, from digging in the fresh
soil.
I can’t believe it’s been nearly a month since I wrote last. After a trip to Seattle to see the NW Flower and Garden Show, a trip to Chicago for an APLD President’s conference, setting up the APLD booth for Portland’s YGP (Yard, Garden, & Patio) show and giving a presentation for the same show, I was exhausted! We tore down the booth at the end of the show Sunday. Back to normal – writing like my hands are on fire to get my book done. Photos of garden shows? Got ‘em.
I’m also taking time during the day to get a little exercise outdoors – between showers. I weeded and planted peas on Saturday. Yesterday, I received 18 alpine strawberry plants and hope to plant those this afternoon – weather permitting. I am particularly excited about those, because I understand they will grow well in part shade, are tastier than the normal strawberries, and don’t send out runners. I purchased some raspberry vines and a pineapple guava (Feijoa sellowiana) at the YGP show. I will have to purchase a second pineapple guava to get fruit. It’s in the budget for next month’s HPSO spring plant sale. The nice thing about that plant is that it is a broadleaf evergreen, so it will have winter presence. It is supposed to be hardy to zone 8 or 10°. That is on the edge for us, but we rarely get that kind of cold. Even this year’s winter, which has been pretty ugly, would not have killed it. Without pruning it could reach 15’ x 15’. It likes well-drained soil and supplemental summer water only in the driest climates (not ours). It likes sun or part shade. It’s in the Myrtaceae or Myrtle family, so it should love this area.
I transplanted my Meyer lemon tree into a much larger black nursery pot that will be placed in an area of our parking lot (later this spring) that is going to be dedicated to a kitchen garden. It’s a small parking spot that I’ll fill with other black nursery pots to soak up as much sun as possible to grow the “3 sisters” – corn, beans, & squash. I’m going to grow some nasturtiums and other ornamentals with these to not only make it look prettier, but also to draw more pollinators. This is one of the sunniest areas of our garden, so I am hoping this will do the trick to nurture these veggies to produce prolifically.
Since my last design for the crop circle, I’ve had to go back and redesign it. I’m not happy with the original plan and how it lays out with respect to the rest of the garden. See the new plan that allows more flexibility. I will start digging out lawn there this week. Photo progress report next week.
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A
close-up of a green wall at the Seattle Flower show - all sedums.
Beautifully executed.
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Columnar stone
lights - cool, huh?
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A view of my
favorite garden at the Seattle show. Finally someone did something different
with what is normally a covered outdoor sitting area.
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The same garden
displayed some excellent plant combinations. Here: Acanthus 'Tasmanian
Angel' with a pebble mosaic.
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Another garden used a short gabion loaded with wood vs. stone and a cushion
on top for an innovative garden seat.
Here is an artistic version of an egg-shaped chicken tractor in a show
garden at the YGP show in Portland. The entire garden was very cleverly done
and well executed. Probably my favorite garden of the 2 garden shows I
attended. Entirely practical for today's economy - kitchen garden, recycled
materials - including the outdoor kitchen area - exquisite dining area.
My newly revised crop circle plan. Note the design has a "north/south" axis rather than 3 entry points. It works much better in relationship to the rest of the garden. I couldn't get the 3 entry points to work with existing paths and could only reasonably alter those paths very little without tearing half the area out. Couldn't happen this year - too much other work.
Today was moving day – for plants, that is. I had planned to move 2 plants since last year, and a third required moving due to its collapse from too much snow this winter. Landscape contractors arrived to help, since these are all sizeable plants. First they dug a smaller Choisya so that it would temporarily be out of the way. Then they trimmed back the evergreen sword ferns (which need to be trimmed every couple of years anyway). That done, they had access to the 6 ft. tall camellia. It was in too sunny of a location for it to do as well as it should. We moved it to fill a hole created by the removal of a large Laurel. The Laurel was removed because it was a constant battle to keep it from getting too tall as a hedge plant, making the area on the south side of it way too shady. However, it is the right amount of shade for this camellia. Does this sound like a game of dominoes? Shouldn’t plants just have wheels instead of root systems?
After planting the camellia, the Choisya was replanted and we moved onto the Blue Colorado Spruce, planted 1-1/2 years ago. I decided to move it, because after I planted it I also planted a grove of Eucalyptus. Too much blue-gray foliage in one area led me to the decision to move the Spruce to the other side of the path. It was still small enough to move without too much difficulty. First we finished digging a very old Rhododendron and another sword fern to make way for the Spruce. We split the old Rhodie into 2 sections to make it more manageable; each section should have adequate root system to grow into a separate new plant. I’ll plant those in a new location later. The fern just moved about 3 feet. The Spruce was moved easily and now the garden in that area feels more balanced with the blue-gray foliage more spread out. However, there is a gaping hole left by the Spruce – maybe the Chamaecyparis from my friend, Lesley, who needs to part with it and has offered it to me. Just a matter of getting a friend with a truck.
The last task was to pull what was left of the old Pine by the pond. Maybe you recall reading back in December that it fell over? After we wrapped a chain and strong rope around it, connected it to the contractor’s truck, it came out fairly easily, leaving a good size hole. While I still have quite a few plants left to relocate, they are all small ones and easy to move. Most will get moved between now and April 1, which tends to be my deadline for transplanting plants unless I want to stand there next to them the remainder of the summer, hose firmly planted in hand.
Left: the relocated
Camellia blocks the view into the neighbor's garden.
Left: the relocated Blue Spruce will
not only back up the bird bath this summer, it will help balance all of the
blue Eucalyptus leaves on the far left to the other side of the path between
the large arborvitaes.
We just couldn’t go another week with yet – more snow! Yikes! We have seen more snow in the past month than I think we have seen in the past 18 years – total! I’m so done with snow. This week I put together a presentation to one of my groups of landscape designers to whom I belong. Their request was that I talk about 2 different types of projects - essentially the 'good, bad, and the ugly' or what I call an ‘oops project’ and a ‘woo-hoo project’. It occurred to me as I put together the first project (oops-bad and ugly) that I don’t say enough about client-designer responsibilities to each other.
Like any good relationship, communication is key. The designer owes each client the knowledge of how clients will pay for their services, what they will get for their hard-earned money, how services will be delivered, etc. The client also has a very important role. It’s really simple. They need to be honest with the designer. You’d be surprised how many clients hold their cards so close to their chest that the designer has barely a clue of what to do for them. Not a good idea, folks. If you have a budget (what I call the ‘drop-dead’ number – because if you go beyond it a client keels over), tell your designer. That way your designer can actually meet your expectations. I know most of you think that if you don’t tell the designer your budget that the design will cost less. RARELY HAPPENS. During the design process, your designer will give you information about relative costs of something like paving materials. These decisions can incrementally add up. If you both know what the budget is, your designer will not suggest something you can’t afford. This is the way to a “woo-hoo” project, regardless of your budget, instead of becoming an ‘oops’.
A series of steel arbors create a pergola with large swirls and accents of
glass balls for sparkle
A swirl of stone as a seat becomes a fire-pit focal point. Jutting into the
center of the firepit is a gabion wall that extends into the ravine defining
the edge of the lower garden and leading the view from the owner's deck to
the firepit. Another view below. The contractor installed the majority of
the plants last fall and are not yet mature. Some additional plants will be
installed this spring, as they become available.
OMG! Yesterday during a friend's visit, we went outside to browse around the garden. She hadn't been here in a long time and wanted to see the changes I made last fall. We had just stopped at the pebble mosaic when I heard a bird call that I had never heard in my garden before. I looked up toward the direction of the sound. Talk about a garden chirp!! TWO bald eagles were up at the top of my neighbor's 100 foot tall Douglas Fir tree! This tree is somewhat separate from the grove of firs we have - which is something bald eagles happen to like. They stayed until dark last night. I had hoped to see them (at least one) this morning, but alas they are not there. While I hope they come back and nest in the tree. it is doubtful. Bald eagles like to be near large bodies of water (they are fishers). Perhaps they were eyeing our pond or possibly the small creek that crosses the front of our property. Still, it was one of the greatest thrills I have ever experienced while in my garden.
If you click on this
photo, you will see the two bald eagles perched at the top of the Douglas
Fir tree.
note the small text and teensy yellow dot to get an idea of where we are in the distribution range of bald eagles. Thank you Wikipedia for the photo. The darkest red indicates the nesting range.
Remember when I told you that we plan to find new places for raising food in our garden? I took a look at our lawn areas in the back, which we turned into "lawn pools" 2 years ago. They are 3 large circles of lawn. And that's all the lawn we have for an entire acre. However, I finally convinced my dear spouse, that we have a gold mine of food potential where the lawn is. (Nothing like saving money as persuasive technique.) The next issue was how to make it interesting and creative. Well, I turned to the concept of circles and my keen interest in crop circles - get it? CROP circles. The circle in the sunniest location will be planted with various crops that you can walk through or around to get to them, but the design will be evident. The central, small center circle will not be planted with crops but rather all blue fescue to maintain one lawn pool. I'll keep you posted on what we decide to plant inside the circles. Right now I'm researching various seed catalogs (isn't that what everyone does in January besides putting away the Christmas tree????
Click on the image to enlarge our CROP circles.
It's a new year. Despite grim economic news, desperate world news, and more challenges than I can recall on a global scale, I am optimistic for this year. In general, people do not change unless we are forced to. Because we are facing such dire circumstances, it will force us to change, and I believe for the better in the long run. More people are interested in growing their own food, more people are interested in growing a garden sustainably - how bad can these results be???? If we learn from our past mistakes, then we will be the stronger for it. It's kind of like gardening. Don't we all learn from our mistakes - perhaps better than if someone had given us the answer in the first place?
What I've learned from the past couple of weeks (and yes, we did get a little more snow since last week!) is to expect more snow in the future and do an excellent job of inspecting potted shrubs and trees for girdling* before I plant them. We lost a 12-year-old Tanyosho Pine due to what appears to be girdled roots therefore too small a root system to support the tree and its snowload. Result - KABOOM! - no more tree. Sad. Very sad. However, as mentioned above, with catastrophe comes opportunity. We will plant something else, but I'm not sure what it will be as yet. It needs to be something that doesn't drop as much debris into our adjacent koi pond and evergreen to help disguise where the pond equipment is usually so well disguised.
*girdling or girdled roots are roots that are becoming root-bound in a pot. The roots begin to grow in a circle around the outer portion of the pot's interior and continue to grow in that manner even after planting. It prevents the roots from growing outward to help support the plant as the top grows.
Here's our fallen Tanyosho Pine. We discovered that last yellowjacket trap that we were searching for as a result. That's that bright yellow thing near the center of the photo.
Unmistakable raccoon tracks in the snow near our front door. They are really quite lovely - very wabi sabi.
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