Garden Report: A New Found Bed is Planted

A Found Garden Bed

Found garden beds are ones that are not in the original Backyard Project design. They appear in the areas between two edges. This found garden bed appeared between the pergola and the gravel bed garden's east wall. It is a bonus garden bed.

This is another found garden bed. It appeared after the fence was built.

It is a large bed now full of native plants and berry-producing shrubs.This leftover bit of ground was where the extra rock was dumped during the construction of the pergola.

This found garden bed has been waiting to be developed for a number of years. Other garden tasks have had a higher priority and I couldn't make up my mind about what to plant here. The only attention it got was cutting back the thorny bushes.

The first task was to remove all of the weeds and debris.

The second task was to remove all of the rocks in the top few inches of soil.

 It was quite a haul from a bed only about two feet wide and 18 feet long.

'Perlite is a natural volcanic rock that pops like popcorn when blasted in a furnace. Each lightweight particle has a large irregular surface and contains many tiny closed air cells that improve the air-holding capabilities of the soil and increase the ability of water to drain through the soil.' A quote from the bag.

I added an equal amount of organic-rich topsoil and mixed the two together. With our heavy winter rains, the soil needs the help of Perlite to drain the water away otherwise the plants' roots would rot.

I spread the mix on top of the coarse, stony soil in the bed.In making a decision about what to plant in this bed, I was guided by Christopher Alexander's 'A Pattern Language.' Pattern number 245, Raised Flowers. It is about using flowers to soften the edges of buildings, paths, and outdoor areas. 'Raise the flower beds so that people can ... sit by them.'  I didn't want the flowers to touch the benches because that is where people will sit and where artwork will be displayed. I needed plants that would thrive in a hot, south-facing bed of dry rocky soil. I settled on a bed of succulents and sedums. They would be a delightful surprise when noticed while sitting on the bench and their variety would beg to be examined more closely.With daughter Elizabeth, who is a succulent/tropical plant aficionado, we visited The Planted Farm  https://www.theplantedfarm.com/ in North Saanich and came home with the above selection of hardy outdoor plants. It was such fun going through Ryan and Brian's trays and trays of possible plants and making tough choices. I have been growing this collection from individual buds for nearly a year and they had proven hardy enough for our winter.

I had a couple of pots of sedums that had waited a long time to be planted. Their time had come.

I placed the pots while visualizing how each mature plant would look next to another and how much space it would need. After a little tweaking, I went ahead and planted.  Once the sun had dropped down I gave them all a good watering.

It is hard to see the small plants' potential impact, especially with the white Perlite catching the eye. The bed will get a covering of dried leaves to help get the plants through the winter and hopefully will be something more to look at by next spring.

The whole edge area looks so much neater cleared and planted out. Now I need to be patient while the garden catches up with my vision.

Garden Report: Slugs and Raccoons - Garden Companions or Pests

Pacific Banana Slug

Here on Vancouver Island our gardens are enjoying spring rain which happens mostly at night. This coincides with the emergence of slugs. The Pacific Banana Slug, the second largest slug in the world is the only native slug residing in the Pacific Northwest rainforest ecosystem. It plays a vital role in recycling litter on the forest floor converting it to rich dark soil.

The 2020 vegetable garden bed

Knowing rain was in the forecast that night, I spent the afternoon planting out some of the small plants I had grown from seed thinking I would leave the rain to water them in and save me a garden task.

The next morning I was crushed to see the rain had activated an army of waiting slugs who then proceeded to devour most of the seedlings I had planted.

In desperation, in the hope of saving the few remaining ragged plants, I erected a copper mesh forcefield around the bed. 

The jury is out on how effective copper is as a slug deterrent. Does the slime & copper combo cause the slug to experience an electric shock? I'm not sure this is true but I figure at least a copper mesh acts as a physical barrier. It would take a lot of slime to glide up and over the mesh fence and may put off some slugs.

While the large Pacific Banana Slug hangs out mostly in the forest it is the nonnative European Black Slug that is the garden pest. It crawls four times faster than the Banana and has a voracious appetite for garden vegetables.

There are many slug deterrent suggestions out there. Any that involve sprinkling the deterrent on the soil such as salt, coffee grounds, wool pellets, or beer doesn't work here on the North West Pacific Coast where rain is a regular occurrence. People have also tried making the ground difficult for the slugs to slide over by sprinkling around plants coffee grounds, eggshells, nutshells, petroleum jelly.... For every suggestion Grandma Google has articles debunking the same.

Last fall I did try putting pots of diluted beer in the garden beds. A few slugs lured by the sweet smell fell in and drowned but the beer also attracted the raccoons who couldn't resist the slug-beer combo and cleaned up both. Gardener friend, Sharon, suggested I try again only to place the beer pots away from the garden beds to lure the slugs in the opposite direction, especially since we haven't seen the raccoons this year, yet.

The raccoons are great slug eaters and rarely disturb a plant when digging for worms so I don't want to deter them.

But they do enjoy tasting a ripe apple. 

One proven way of eliminating slugs is practiced by my sister, the Garden Queen. On rainy nights she and her husband make it a date night and venture outside with flashlights/torches to handpick the slugs. This is effective and I have the brave members in my household join me on these nightly forays.

In the meantime, I am holding off on planting out my seedlings until they are a little bigger and their leaves less succulent so they have more of a chance of surviving night-time slug raids.

Garden Report: New Garden Bed with Path Construction Before the Rains Start

Here on Vancouver Island, we are waiting for the rains to start after our dry season. By waiting I don't mean we are lying around waiting. I have a whole list of garden jobs timed for just before the rains start.

On the list is a path through a garden bed to a tap and hose. Last year Ron installed the hose reel on a stand which is now so easy to use. The soil he dug up then went crazy producing a deep-rooted plant and quack grass. I am always on the lookout for grass because it is banned from the garden beds in the backyard. Shovel by shovel I have spent several weeks sifting out all the roots and grass from this area. Also, as is usual, I removed all rocks in the soil. It was slow going and I hope I don't see either of those two plants here again.

Next, I dug a trench and placed in it a layer of the rocks I had removed from the soil. I get a checkmark here for following the permaculture principle of using what you have.

I reused paper grocery bags to make a pattern of the paver size I was planning on using. I needed to know how many pavers to bring up to the bed.

At this stage I consulted the resident civil engineer for advice on materials and fluid mechanics. Phew, I got the go-ahead. I was on the right track.

The next path layer called for smaller gravel. We have a little gravel pile leftover from making the main garden paths. Another checkmark earned.

I started putting as much gravel in the wheelbarrow as I could manage to lift up the stone steps to the path level. This was hard work. I was getting tired but I was determined to finish the project before the rains were forecast to start at 2:30 pm.

I requested more muscle power with the heaviest tasks.

Five pavers were needed.

We selected five of the best pavers leftover from reworking paths and the new guest patio. 

 Another permaculture checkmark earned.

The gravel had to be leveled to ensure the pavers were stable and didn't move when walked on and well supported so they didn't break. The notches in the pavers will not be noticed once plants have grown over and softened the edges.

While the stronger of us worked with paver placement...

I dug out bucketsful of soil and took them up the steps to another bed to use later. I had been advised the soil level needed to be lower than the path so the water would drain off and away.

Arrgh, the rain started two hours earlier than forecast. I planted the north side and got thoroughly soaked. Against the rock, I planted a new perennial garlic bed. The large flower heads will look elegant when walking up and down the steps. In front of the garlic are broccoli plants I started from seed about a month ago. Next to the broccoli, following the path, I planted another 'best buddy', beet/beetroot seeds, quite densely because the thinnings, leaves roots and all, are delicious. These winter vegetables apart from being our food will protect the soil over the wet winter. Once the crops have been harvested I will plant more perennials in their place come spring.

Wet through I gave up before I planted the other side of the path because there is still a lot of extra soil to move before I can plant it out. I'll get that done once there is a break in the rain.

 I don't like the way the large rocks look like they are sitting precariously on top of the soil. I will put tall plants in front of them to hide the bottoms of the rocks. 

I look forward to planning over the winter months which plants will go where in this bed and in the others. 

Garden Report: Spring in the Backyard

The bird's cherry tree will have a bumper crop this year.

A month before the Famers' Almanac predicted April 14th as the last frost day, I set up my potting area.

 I filled the soil-bin with a yummy mix suitable for sprouting seeds.

I planted seeds in reused plastic pots, egg cartons and cut down paper tubes in anticipation of finding the most successful potting container.

Once planted the trays were moved to the Propagation Room to be bathed in the weak early spring sun while being protected from frost by the glass. The sides of the room are open to cool breezes which slows germination rates but it also serves as a hardening-off area once the seeds have sprouted.

I call this the Propagation Room but what really goes on is seed germination and it is a place to safely store plant purchases. I manually water every day but if I find this inconvenient I could get a sprinkler system installed. In the meantime, I enjoy checking daily on what is happening.  Recently I went away for a week but before I left I moved every plant out to a fallow bed that is watered by the automatic sprinklers. I came back to a happy bunch of plants.

The strawberries and peonies have been magnificent this spring.

Yarrow in the 2nd apple guild is loving its sunny location.

Two years ago I planted a trial asparagus patch. It has proven to be most successful. This spring I filled the bed with more asparagus roots/crowns and their companion plants. Now we have to be patient and wait a couple more springs before we can harvest the spears.

The results of my seedling container experimentation. 

I liked the way it was easy to unroll the paper tube and pop the plant, with soil, into the hole without disturbing the side roots. But the tray of tubes became unstable in the now soggy egg carton lid tray and it took a lot of care to not drop the tray.

The roots of the plants in the egg cartons quickly grew into the carton pulp and had to be torn off before planting. My Garden Guru sister recommends not planting with the egg carton attached because the paper pulp takes a surprisingly long time to break down and in the meantime, it restricts root growth.

The reused plastic pots were ideal for the larger seeds, though I have been advised to wash the posts to sterilise them between uses to avoid passing on pathogens.

This spring it has been evident the beds are beginning to mature. I have moved a few shrubs to more suitable locations but this year I am focusing on establishing the herb layer in the beds.