Backyard Project: Slugs and Trench Composting

Attempted break out

After it has rained I go out to do slug patrol. I collect slugs from the garden beds then relocate them to the pond. My sister says they are a good protein for ducks.

I tried another method to build up the soil - Trench Composting.

Kitchen waste was put in a trench dug the length of the garden bed. When it was full I covered it with soil. It is a no sweat technique but it did look unattractive, especially with this bed located right next to where we sit outside. Also, various animals regularly visited the trench at night. I don't want them getting comfortable coming that close to the back door. In hindsight, this was not the best garden bed to try the trench compost technique in.

So I went back to the lasagne method layering 'brown then green.' I added layers of shredded prunings and harvested 'weeds.'

A layer of coffee grounds with their combined green and brown, was added on top.

Rough 'n' loose.

This is the kitchen bed. I want the soil to be high in organic matter and I will keep it damp. This is where I will plant some of the few annuals in the backyard garden - salad greens, parsley, basil and other food plants I will pick from often.

Now to leave the bed to let the soil organisms do their job. I just need to keep the soil damp for them. The soil thermometer will tell me how much action there is. The soil temperature started at 64 degrees F and needs to get up into the green zone at least. I will lightly turn the soil each week to stimulate the break down of material.

Another soil bed is on its way to becoming productive.

Backyard Project: How Long Does it Take to Build a Deer Fence?

The line of the fence is marked out.

Fence post holes are dug into the soil and drilled where there is rock.

Metal posts are cut to length.

The posts are cemented in place in the holes.

Branches and shrubs need to be removed or cut back in places.

The supervisor checks the width of one of the gates in the fence.

Heavy gauge wire mesh is tied to the fence posts.

In the steeper areas, it is more of a challenge to get the wire in place. Skirts are tied to the bottom where there are dips in the ground.

Cross bracing is added at the corners.

The supervisor checks one of 4 gates in the fence.

A temporary fence between the house and the studio is erected. After the new conservatory has been built and it is linked to the studio with a more decorative cedar fence the temporary fence will have done its job and be taken down.

The last job was to Bambi-proof the fence. I went around the whole perimeter inside and out and stacked all of the rocks and stones I could find along the bottom of the fence where there were small gaps. We are coming up to Bambi season. I didn't want a baby deer to squeeze under the fence then the mother to go crazy trying to rescue her offspring. I want to avoid someone getting hurt or something getting damaged.

Ron and I also strung heavy fishing line from tree to tree, about knee height over well-trodden deer paths. The idea is to deflect the deer from their established routes before they get to the fence. They walk into the line and feel it at their knees. Not being able to see what it is that they feel they turn back and take a different path. It is going to be interesting to see how long it takes for the deer to establish new grazing paths in the areas we have not fenced.

How long does it take to build a deer fence?

It depends on the terrain and how long the fence is.

This deer fence took the team a month to construct.

Fencing Donnington Food Forest

The dear deer are wondering what is happening. 

They are creatures of habit and their foraging paths are being disrupted. They are confused.

The Nordic Fencing team is doing an excellent job.

Cutting pipe to length.

The fence needs to be 8 feet high to keep these agile jumping deer outside.

An impressive array of specialised shovels, diggers, and other tools is carried on the back of the truck.

The back of the truck tray has an ingenious concrete making set up.

They are able to make a small batch of concrete, tip it into a wheelbarrow or bucket then carry it to the fence post hole for filling. This method results in minimal disturbance of the forest underground. We really appreciate the care they are all taking.

This looks like a graffiti artists kit but it is what a fencer uses to mark post locations.

The fencing project continues and we see the progress being made each day. It is getting closer to the day when I will be able to plant something and wake up in the morning to find it is still there.

Backyard Project and Work in the Studio

Ron and Nordic Fencing team leader, Mat, plan the location of the deer fence along the south boundary.

Nathan is digging trenches for irrigation pipes.

The main pipe will be located under the path going around the pergola and arbor. If there is ever a problem with the pipe it can be dug up without disturbing any garden beds.

Meanwhile, I am collecting leaf skeletons from under the tulip trees.

The damp conditions are ideal for the soft parts of the leaf to rot away leaving the leaf skeleton in tact.

After washing and laying the leaves out to dry...

...I am sewing them onto an embroidered afternoon tea cloth that spent a year or so outside wrapped around a tree trunk. I have been adding leaves to this cloth for the past couple of years. The repair of the decayed cloth with darned leaves speaks of how leaves fall to nourish and repair the soil, the skin of the earth. I will keep adding to the cloth for another season or so to demonstrate how soil building is a long term continual process.

The work is called, 'Earth Repair.'

The hyacinths are blooming in the studio bed. There is such a lovely smell as I come and go from the Green Shed.

Now that the winter rains have eased we can continue with the Backyard Project tasks

My New Studio - Big News

The big and exciting news in my life is I am getting a studio built.

So far it has taken many hours of planning, discussion and decision making. I developed my ideas to the concept stage, incorporating the studio into my back yard project. We have been working with architect Jonathan Aitken Aitken Design who has ably translated my ideas and sketches into a realistic design.

A surveyor came out and marked out the building footprint. The person who approved the house septic system was consulted as to its exact location. An engineer was consulted for an initial design of the building structure for the building permit. 

There was little to show for all of this activity and money spent, except for a few test holes dug and some pegs in the ground with plastic ribbon around them. 

Plans were submitted to the city for approval and, to Jonathan and husband Ron's credit, a building permit was issued in a record two weeks.

Then Tom Mann, of Pioneer Excavating Services, appeared on the scene with his monster machine. Tom looked like a transformer sitting inside his machine, controlling it with such care and skill.

He cleared the old track that had been used as construction access when the house was built 12 years ago.

He carefully took off the grass and top soil and piled it up. 

This is the garden bed where the front of the studio will go.

I told Tom which plants I wanted to save. He laid down a bed of soil a safe distance away then scooped up each plant and placed in its new temporary home. I don't think the plants even noticed what had happened to them.

So, an exciting 1st day in the construction of my new studio.

Dialogue Gardening vs Nurturing

This is another dialogue i have going on with a Douglas-fir and an arbutus.

I staked out under these 2 trees a grid of round knit and crochet doilies and squares of agricultural cloth.

I was anticipating the plants in the ground would grow up through the knitting/crochet....

...and be suppressed by the agricultural cloth.
This dialogue is still in place. i didn't send it to the UK with the rest of my work because i haven't responded to it yet except to photograph changes regularly.

Textiles in the Environment

Another of my projects where I am getting very little interaction is this one where I put a length of unbleached cotton in the pond.

It has submerged and moved around a bit, probably been moved by the Canada geese that have returned and use this spot to waddle in and out of the pond.

After a couple of months, the cloth has become brown and a little green but I am sure this isn't the staining I was hoping for and it will wash off when I throw it in the washing machine. In fact, I think the clear spring water is preserving the cloth.

The best part of this experiment has been the lovely photos of layers and reflections I have been able to capture at different times of the day and in different weather.

Once again, I will lift this cloth when I need it for the next 'brilliant' idea I think of.

The Ups of Spring

When I got back from the UK some work I had produced for my BA(Hons) studies with JC School of Textile Arts, I put it out in the garden. It is a paper version of a men's suit jacket. Much like the paper possessions sold in Chinese funeral stores, I made a paper suit to return it back to nature as an obsolete, inappropriate garment for the contemporary male to wear since I found it was based on armour.

So far with all of the rain and fog there has not been much decay, just a bit of discolouration. The anachronistic male suit may be harder to get rid of than I thought.

The 'up' spring news is I spied our first spring flower yesterday. I feel as though the garden is waiting for just a small rise in temperature and it will burst into life. I have not been in this house in the spring so I am looking forward to it.
As part of spring and part of this module of work, I put threads out in the garden for the birds to take their pick while shopping for nest building supplies.

We get a lot of different birds visiting so i put out a variety of threads to suit every one's tastes.

We have a plant called charity that has been flowering all winter and as a result we have had regular visits from a variety of hummingbirds. We also saw a pileated woodpecker, well heard it hard at work before we saw it. Being a key ecosystem species, I was very pleased to see it because it means its activities allow a whole web of other fauna to visit and live on our property.