Garden Report: Spring Growth while I wasn't looking

While I have been away the garden has been at work doing what it does best - growing.

I have officially declared the Gravel Bed Garden test a success. Plants are growing and flowering profusely, much to the insects' delight. I will continue planting according to the plan.

I have left several parsley plants to go to seed.  I am hoping to transplant lots of parsley seedlings next spring.

The Globe Artichoke plant has come back again this year, evidence our winters aren't too cold for a lot of hardy plants. I have planted 2 more mainly because they provide a mulch cover for soil I haven't planted yet and supply a lot of biomass when they die back. I'll leave this top bud to flower because it will look magnificent standing tall in the bed and the insects will enjoy visiting it. We hope to catch the other buds before they open and enjoy eating them. Everyone will be happy. 

Jostaberry

Wikipedia says, 'The jostaberry is a complex-cross fruit bush in the Ribes genus, involving three original species, the black currant R. nigrum, the North American coastal black gooseberry R. divaricatum, and the European gooseberry R. uva-crispa.'

I have planted 2 shrubs and they are doing well. I am looking forward to tasting jostaberries for the 1st time.

The potato patch is telling us it is ready to harvest. This is a self-sown patch grown from potatoes I inadvertently left in the ground after the last harvest.

I bought a number of Borage (Borago Officinalis) plants as annuals. Here in our garden they are happy and acting more like perennials by growing back each year. The insects visit the flowers constantly. With the last of the flowers, I am now cutting these large plants back and placing them on the soil as a mulch layer. They will start to grow back again in a few weeks.

Swiss Chard/Silver Beet is another plant I am experimenting with leaving to go to seed. The plant is over 6 feet tall and I'm not sure it has stopped growing yet. I am waiting for its seeds to mature before harvesting them.

There was lots of action in the garden beds while I was away. It is time to give the plants some attention which I am very happy to do.

Backyard Project: Winter Activities While Waiting for Warmer Days

The last of the flowers bloomed through late fall.

A pleasant surprise was to see the Russian Tea plant flowering in the cooler late fall weather.

We  kept squirrel-busy cutting and storing firewood a few steps away from the fireplace.

The off-cut, untreated, paint-free construction wood had been cut to fit the fire box. We stacked it in a satisfying pile under the propagation table. With plenty of firewood, we looked forward to the cold weather and sitting in front of a fire.

This winter we had a number of significant snowfalls, something that doesn't happen every year.

The cherry tree while still in full leaf and under the Douglas-fir canopy was sheltered from an early snowfall.

The exposed young medlar tree couldn't cope with the wet snow weight. It and the other fruit trees had to be staked.

We took several trips out to Vancouver Island's west coast to enjoy the wild weather.

And now the soil is stirring and the new growth has started.

It feels like it has been a short winter and the garden is enticing me outside more often these days.

Backyard Project: Pattern Language #167 Six-foot Balcony

Lifting and stacking pavers for reuse in reworked walkways and sitting areas.

Pattern Language #167 Six-foot Balconies, verandahs, terraces, porches, and arcades along the building edge or halfway into it.

The Problem: 'Balconies and porches which are less than six feet deep are hardly ever used.' Pattern Language, p. 782.

Here is the 4-foot deep original guest bedroom patio. The pavers are 1 foot by 2 feet in size. It is not a walkway either because it doesn't lead anywhere. According to the Pattern Language, it wasn't used as a patio because nowhere was it at least 6 feet deep. 

'Balconies and porches are often made very small to save money; but when they are too small, they might just as well not be there. A balcony is first used properly when there is enough room for 2 or 3 people to sit in a small group with room to stretch their legs, and room for a small table where they can set down glasses cups, and the newspaper. No balcony works if it is so narrow that people have to sit in a row facing outward.' p. 783.

Arial view of what is left of the original guest room patio after construction trenches were dug and the river stone garden bed was removed. 

We had reworked some other paved areas to make the walkways more obvious by reducing their width. This one is now 4 feet wide instead of being staggered up to 6 feet wide. This gave us extra pavers to work with elsewhere and a bonus garden bed (yet to be developed).

The new guest room patio is now 6 and a half feet deep and 14 feet wide. The Pattern Language has found 'almost no balconies which are more than 6 feet deep are not used.'  It is going to be interesting to see if this reconfigured patio will be used.

The original patio was hardly inviting. Pattern Language explains why it was not a popular place to stop a while.

'Two other features of a balcony make a difference in the degree to which people will use it: its enclosure and its recession into the building. As far as enclosure goes, we have noticed that among the deeper balconies, it is those with half-open enclosures around them - columns, wooden slats, rose-covered trellises - which are used most. Apparently, the partial privacy given by a half-open screen makes people more comfortable.' p. 783.

Sitting out on this original patio one would feel exposed and vulnerable with the forest on one side and the dark underside of the balcony on the other. The flat wall of the house offers no protection or comfort. These are situational feelings humans still carry with them from hunter/gatherer days.

'Enclose the balcony with a low wall - sitting wall (coming), heavy columns (check - 6" x 6" cedar posts), and half open walls or screens (check - Propagation Room wall). Keep it open toward the south (partial check - it faces south but looks to a large cedar fence made of slats that will be covered in vines, while the east view is out to the forest). p. 784. 

The new patio will not be recessed into the original house but the addition of the Propagation Room has visually extended the building envelop and now gives the feeling of being tucked into a corner of the house.

Here's hoping we got enough of the Pattern Language # 167 incorporated into the design to make this patio a welcoming place for our guests to hang out on while offering privacy, protection and a view.

Backyard Report: Reconstruction of the Guest Room Patio

Through the sliding gate, outside the deer fence...

...is where the guest room patio will be reconstructed. There used to be a narrow paved area with a river stone covered garden bed against the house.

The area is next to Gunilla's Garden, a semi-cultivated native plant garden functioning as a transition to the forest zone. 

The Propagation Room wall and sliding gate are part of the deer barrier making the guest room patio open to the forest, browsing deer and the many other animals that live here.

The first task in the guest room patio reconstruction is to move all of the river stone out of the way but not too far away because the stone will be reused. 

Ron lays down the ubiquitous blue tarpaulin to hold the stones.

Ariel view from the balcony above. 

We have saved all of the pavers left over from modifying the walkways along the back and west sides of the house. We would like to be able to reconstruct this patio without having to buy more pavers, following a permaculture principle of using what you have.

The stone moving task in progress.

Garden Report: Katherine's Water Drop Shaped Hugelkultur Bed

Daughter Katherine loves flowers. 

The Water Drop hugelkultur bed is dedicated to Katherine and will be covered in flowers.

The Water Drop is tucked in beside her sister's feather-shaped bed.

They are both partially under the canopy of a Douglas-fir and in the first spring, they were planted with their lower canopy trees. Katherine's is a white flowering pear tree.

Comfrey has been planted around the base to both build up the nutrients in the soil and to hold the soil in place.

Katherine's hugelkultur bed is water drop shaped because she studied fluid mechanics and works at managing the flow of water on the land.

A garden bed full of flowering plants can become a magnet for insects - an insectary.

"Not only will insectary plants improve your garden's health, but the flash  and shimmer of multicoloured buzzers and flutterers will both delight the eye and attract many varieties of birds to eat them, further increasing your yard's biodiversity." Gaia's Garden a Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture by Toby Hemenway, p. 109.

Katherine's favourite flower colours are pinks and whites so I added that to the plant list criteria.

Almost any pollen or nectar producing flower will attract pollinating insects needed to set fruit and seeds. Predator insects are needed to gobble up unwanted bugs. I needed to find a variety of different types of plants to attract many different insects to this bed.

Another design goal was to have something flowering throughout the year.

These chives are pushing the colour scheme into purpley pinks and are something Katherine remembers helping to deadhead when she was very young. They are an early spring bloomer providing nectar when there is little else flowering in the garden.

A fall bloomer is this Autumn Joy Stonecrop Sedum that can be covered in different types of bees when the sunny days are getting shorter.

Behind the Liatris and Echinacea/Cone Flower is a Russian Tea (Camellia sinensis) plant forming the shrub layer in this ecosystem. It fits the criteria having masses of white flowers from September through to January as long as it gets enough hours of sun. This bed is south facing but our winters can have many cloudy rainy days so we will wait to see how much it flowers. 

It thrives in slightly acidic soil conditions which is a good thing with the bed being under the Douglas-fir. 

Bonus features are it is a nitrogen fixer to the benefit of plants around it and one can make tea from its leaves. 

It is the early stages of developing this Water Drop hugelkultur bed...

...while I have this picture in mind of Katherine with her wedding flowers.

Garden Report: Feather-Shaped Bird-Haven Bed

The feather-shaped, bird-haven Hugelkultur bed is inspired by and dedicated to our daughter Elizabeth. She has a special way with animals which is why this bed is feather-shaped. 

I needed a theme to guide my planting. When I asked her for suggestions she gave the obvious answer - 'Make it a place for the birds'

The plantings will include a full range of plants to create a complex ecosystem known as a guild.

The first layer of plants in a guild is the overhead large tree canopy. The Feather Bed has a Douglas-fir tree over its north end. It is a source of food for insect-eating birds and those that like the cone seeds. The falling litter of cones and needles continually adds to the soil below making it more on the acid side, something I have to keep in mind when making my plant selections.

At the edge of the Douglas-fir drip line, I planted a cherry tree to provide early spring food, perching sites and hopefully nesting sites when this tree matures.

A few flowers blossomed in the 2nd year then the fruit appeared and was eaten by the birds within a few weeks - a sign this tree is going to suit the birds' needs well.

At the south end of the bed, I planted a medlar tree to provide winter food for birds that stay around. The medlar fruit is edible after it has bletted, that is, turned soft and brown, usually by November. It will also provide perches and hopefully nesting sites.

On my sister's advice we have nipped off any fruit for the past 2 years but come next spring we will enjoy watching the fruit grow.

Each tree has 3 herb type plants under its canopy, plants to support a healthy soil -comfrey to provide minerals and biomass to the soil ...

...and lupines to support nitrogen-fixing organisms making nitrogen available to the trees. The 3rd plant, borage, attracts pollinating insects who may visit the trees' blossoms also.

While still building up the soil in the bed and before I had settled on what the shrub layer would include, I pushed squash seeds into the soil. Squash plants grow quickly to cover and protect the soil and provide it with a large biomass when they die back. Birds enjoy pecking at ripe squash too.

I placed a big bundle of left-over embroidery threads onto the bed thinking the birds could use them when nest building. However, I noticed they only picked up the straw mulch. After I read about how long threads can be a problem for birds because their feet and wings can easily get tangled in them, I took the thread bundle off and put it in the compost bin.

For the shrub layer, I have focused on berry producing plants - black currants, red currants and sea buckthorn. Hopefully, they will produce fruit next season and I will have pics to show you. 

The vine layer in the Feather Bed ecology is a kiwi vine. 

 It is being encouraged to climb up and over the Arbor. We have noticed the birds sit on top of the Arbor cross beams a lot already. At this stage they are vulnerable to raptors flying overhead so they don't stay long but once the kiwi has grown its leaves will provide the birds with protective shelter while resting on their lofty perch.

I researched the types of flowers attractive to hummingbirds because we are seeing more of them over the years and I would like to provide them with a more reliable food source. Hummingbirds like red flowers. I planted a number of them along the east side of the bed where I can see them through my studio windows as they visit the flowers. Flowers planted to date are red daylilies, deep red echinacea, liatris (also called gayfeather), and red crocosmia. I haven't cut back the stalks or lifted any of the bulbs because the stalks are full of seeds and are natural bird feeders over the winter. If a plant doesn't survive our winter then I will find another one to plant in its place. I am not interested in annuals.
The dried stalks also provide nest-building materials come spring.
With this mass of red flowering plants reaching their peak blooming in a sequence, we noticed early each evening our resident California quail family climbed up the mound to forage - a bonus I hadn't planned for.
A thriving Bird Haven attracting a greater variety of birds and more of them is of great benefit to the whole Backyard Garden.