Garden Report: Hugelkultur Bed - Bird Haven

This past summer was a bumper year for berries in the garden.

Mahonia bushes produced large bunches of berries. Individual berries weren't as large as other years but this year there were so many mid-sized ones the bushes were heavy with them 

The birds loved them.

The birds also started to enjoy the newly established Bird Haven Hugelkultur bed.

The original site for the Bird Haven bed was a tired grass lawn and a few natives under a Douglas-fir tree.

One of the first tasks Tom tackled with his big machine was to carefully bring the logs from a pile made when the lot was cleared to build the house, out into the backyard.

He picked up the native plants and placed them in a temporary bed outside the construction zone.

Construction of the Bird Haven began with Tom scooping out a trench inside the outline I had marked with yarn. Next, he laid logs in the trench to roughly fill the space.

He covered the first log layer with topsoil he had saved when he had cleared the Backyard site...

...then stacked on top another layer of logs....

...and covered it all with a layer of soil he packed down lightly.

Tom had made a hugelkultur bed (mound culture), a garden building technique long common in forests of central Europe. 

No scrap of wood is ever wasted. Piled up and buried the wood acts as a water reservoir accessible to plants during the dry season.

Here I am planting pieces of comfrey root around the base of the bed. The quick growing comfrey with its deep taproot will hold the base of the mound during the rainy season.

Ron and I began adding a variety of organic materials to the soil mound as a protective mulch - fallen leaves, grass clippings, coffee grounds, composted shredded garden clippings.

I cast a number of different types of seeds planning for them to grow as a green mulch cover. The birds thought I had laid out a smorgasbord and feasted before heading south. Oh well, I rationalised, they wouldn't have eaten every single seed. The remaining seeds will germinate in the spring and do their job.

The birds are enjoying the bed even before it is fully planted.

Backyard Project: Soil Building in the Lower Patio

The construction crews may have left back in May but it was then our real work on the Backyard Project began. One of the first things we did was build soil in the Lower Patio area. A broken down hot tub had been removed and concrete walls built to support new garden beds in this very sunny spot. We have great plans for this spot but first, we need to build the soil.

By build I mean provide the right conditions for soil organisms to do what they do best - make soil.

I began by sifting through all of the remaining soil to remove all of the rocks and construction waste dumped there when the house was built.

Then I laid lots of different wood down, including alder branches high in nitrogen. A lot of household paper and cardboard was also recycled back into soil building.

Keeping in mind the "Brown then Green" rule I alternated thin layers - green garden waste - a woody mulch mix - ash from winter fires...

..more green garden waste...

...with harvested comfrey leaves rich in minerals...

...another layer of much - with a good watering in between each layer.

Fungi mushrooming was an excellent sign. It meant the mycorrhizal fungi are actively building up networks and making food available for future plants. 

A large number of roly-polies and woodlice/slaters was evidence they were happy with the conditions and working hard to break down the wood making the nutrients available to other soil organisms. 

We kept going with the layers until the contained beds were 3/4 full.

The soil probe scientifically registered the happy conditions with temperatures in the active zone.

Sammy dropped off a load of very good quality topsoil. The more soil building activity going on the more the level in the beds dropped down. Over the summer months, Ron has been keeping the soil level topped up. It has been a dry summer and I have been watering the bed to keep the soil organisms alive and busy. 

In the fall the irrigation will be installed then finally I can add the plants. I have a number of the plants bedded down in other gardens patiently waiting for their new home.

Garden Report: The First Flowers in May

At the end of May, the first flowers bloomed in the garden.

I had planted lupines around every tree because they are one of the best-known plants for working together with rhizobia who fix nitrogen from the air and make it available to nearby plants.

Chives were also an early flower.

The comfrey plants were already getting large so it was time to cut them back.

The cut leaves quickly wilt and decay providing valuable minerals to the soil.

With so many new beds I haven't been able to plant very many of them yet the bees are visiting looking for food. It was for the bees and other nectar seeking insects that I left a lot of comfrey plants to flower.

The bees love comfrey flowers and were too busy to stop for a quick photo op.

Next spring I plan to have a greater variety of flowers to attract a greater variety of insects.

Backyard Project: Progress Over 2 Weeks While I Was Away

Completed Pergola Paving

While I was away for 2 weeks visiting family work continued. On my return, it was exciting to go around the job site to see the progress.

The potting area cabinets

The project area cabinets

Electricians had been again and installed the outside lights.

The growth in the garden beds had taken off.

In some beds the comfrey was flowering. Normally this is the time when I cut it back but the bees are loving it and there are hardly any other flowers out for them to feed on so I left the comfrey to grow and flower.

The kale is nearly 6 feet high. I am leaving it to flower, seed and dry. The plants will be left in place to provide organic matter to the soil and I am hoping the seeds will germinate to keep us in greens over the winter again.

It was pretty exciting to see all of the changes after a break away. The progress doesn't feel as dramatic when observing it every day.

Backyard Project: Garden Sheds, Garden Beds and Rock Edges

The cladding on the 2 sheds is coming along. This is the south wall.

Interior north wall

Interior south wall where my potting counter will be built.

West wall with its 2 windows. Glimpses of this wall can be seen from the road.

Outside north wall. The drainage chain will be replaced with a downspout.

I am in my studio cutting up lengths of garden cloth...

...while Taylor is carrying buckets of drainage gravel up from the back driveway to the new Lower Patio bed area  (used to be the hot tub).

Taylor is placing the gravel on top of the drainage filter cloth...

...then wrapping the cloth around the gravel making a drainage sock. The filter fabric keeps soil out of the gravel so it will continue to drain water away.

As soon as Taylor had finished I added a thick layer of recycled paper then a layer of wood as the beginning of the soil making process. I am looking forward to planting these beds but I will have to hold back until the soil organisms have done their job.

Taylor then moved on to continue making the rock edge of the new garden bed. Didn't he make a nice curve using the blasted rock? I think he has discovered another talent - stone masonry.

I gave him my shortest path stick to use as a guide when placing the rocks.

Taylor was able to work with me for the morning and we got so much done.

I like it when several areas of the Backyard Project are being worked on at the same time. It feels productive.

Garden Update: When Life Started to Stir From the Soil

Back towards the end of March life started to stir and appear from the soil.

First were the spring bulbs in the Cut Flower bed.

The first to show was the hyacinths with lots of iris leaf growth.

The meadow plants started to put on new growth and the comfrey (left) appeared after being dug under when the irrigation system was put in.

I got the eagerly anticipated call from Verna at Fruit Trees and More that my order was in. I went straight away and picked up an Italian plum and many different shrubs and berry bushes.

I also did a thorough search of one of my favourite nurseries Le Coteau Nursery and found many of the trees and shrubs on my list.

At this stage of planting the beds, I am making the big decision about which tree will anchor the ecosystem in each bed. Next, I look for the compatible shrub layer. However, I was sidetracked by the beautiful condition of these hostas at Le Conteau Nursery and bought a collection for the new bed between the cedar fence and the hugelkultur beds. They settled in straight away and put on new growth within a few weeks.

The locals thought the Hostas looked delicious too but nibbled only a few of the lower leaves.

I had said to Sammy I wanted to plant native Dogwood shrubs. One day he brought around some sticks and pushed them into the ground. Already their lovely red stems are a feature in the bed.

While continuing to build up and protect the soil with a mulch layer, I was focused more on planting while the rains continued.