Maximizing water on slopes: berms, swales, and countour

My Master Plan to plant my full-sun real estate (aka "the front yard") continues this fall....I learn by doing, so I tend to go do something and then revise it based on what I've learned. Several years ago, I build a sheet-mulch bed on the side of the house, which has done well, especially after I added a few berms to control water. I've been reading up on permaculture design over the last year or so, and plan to change that layout of that bed this fall to dig some swales/paths "on contour" for the permanent design.

In the front part of the yard, I built a circle bed two years ago, which is a nice feature. The first year, I planted it with Scarlet Runner Beans (growing up a "tepee"), which the kids loved. The second year, I put all my tomatoes there, and this summer, I had beans, chives, flowers, and an artichoke that grows well but hasn't bloomed.

Last winter, I saw this great idea in Mother Earth News to use straw bales and old windows to make some cold frames, so I plunked some down on my hillside to see if it would work. It did!

Cold frames with straw bales and old windows protected plants from several days of single-digit temps (Middle TN).

Once spring arrived, I put the windows away, added some compost, and planted the area with tomatoes, herbs, peppers, eggplants, and flowers. I was very pleased with this new "bed" area. It runs right next to a natural (and well-traveled) path, but I wanted to expand it for the next growing season.

Enter the simple A-frame, which is a great tool for figuring out where the natural contours of your hillside fall. I used a level with mine, but this video uses a plumb bob...it's short and explains how to do it if you're interested.

The "well-traveled natural path" is not  on contour, but I'm hoping to build/move my beds to intersect it. Today I dug out a swale, and I'm posing this to share my process and to get feedback!

Here is a longer view from the same angle as the "cold frame" picture above.

Envisioning the future....

The green lines on the left show one side of the natural path -- I planted the border with some liriope (monkey grass) that I got from a friend this spring. I'll mulch the area to the side of it well, and plan to add creeping phlox and possible some perennials, though the Magnolia tree does offer quite a bit of shade. The orange area shows one side of my "cold frame" hay bales, and I plan to make this my path border....I have plenty of large limestone rocks I can use to set the path border.

Intersecting with the path, you can see the swale I've dug, which is on contour. I have some hay bales out right now to kill the grass and hold the berm. The plan is to build a small wall in spring (purple lines), using stone pavers that match my circle bed. I can build another berm/swale bed (lower purple line) next spring or fall, depending on my time.

Here is the swale (so far) from the opposite side:

The swale is about one foot deep right now, and about 1.5 feet across (maybe slightly less). I plan to make it a little wider/deeper, and fill it in with small rocks/mulch to make a permanent path. The top "triangle" portion of the bed will be planted with perennials/herbs.


And here's one more view, from the perspective of the middle circle garden. Next spring, instead of hay bales, we'll have a low wall of matching pavers. (Also, you can seem my awesome hugulkultur bed in the background.)

I'm planning to plant the berm in some kind of cover crop this fall, and will use some low row covers for winter planting in the old "cold frame" beds. I had great luck with all my herbs/veggies there this summer, so I have high hopes for winter gardening!

What do you think?

My Neighbor's Garden: tomato in the flowerbed

My very first post on this blog was about planting edible landscaping, and my first foray into that endeavor was putting squash into my flowerbeds. In the four years since, I've gradually been digging up and planting my only prime, full-sun space...which is the front yard. 

Now, I live in a rural/suburban area, and several of my neighbors have always had gardens. But this year, I've seen all sorts of wonderful edibles springing up in front of people's houses, and I decided I want to start sharing some of them. The house above is one I pass by daily, when I take my dog for a walk. Sometimes I chat with an older gentleman who has a morning cigarette on his porch. There are always lovely flowers/bulbs blooming here, and it's always a treat to pass by. This year, I was really pleased to see a few tomato plants keeping the flowers company (you can spot a few ripe ones if you look closely!).

Keep it growing folks!

Joyous Southern Spring: Garden Tour May/June 2014

Peas

After the longest, coldest, loneliest winter in a long time, Spring has been truly welcome here South of Sunnybrook. I started lettuces from seed, but got most of my peas in later because of all the late freezes. Lesson learned: plant peas anyway, most of them will survive if they're mulched. Plus, pea seeds are cheap (I plan to save some this year also)!

Harvest

Spinach, basil, strawberries, and lots of lettuces (like the ones in my Teacher Appreciation bouquets) have been devoured by the family. We've been listening together in the car to the audiobook Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life (which is the book that first inspired me to try cheesemaking and join a CSA), and I think it's inspired appreciation in my children. It is truly wonderful to hear them go on and on about how "nothing tastes so wonderful as a good, fresh strawberry you pick yourself."

Baby Basil

For the last two years, I've planned to start various herbs, veggies, and flowers throughout the summer, so as to have filler for bare spots as I harvest, and to have lots of sets for fall veggies (which need to be planted in September-ish). I never do it though. In January, making paper pots filled with earth and seed is like planting hope, but in July I don't want to sit at the table...there is too much to do outside. 

So I am starting things in large pots, like the basil above, and will thin them and move them to the garden. I also have some German Chamomile and chives started this way, and plan to keep things growing throughout the summer.

Garlic Hat

This is my first year planting garlic. I got some Red Russian seeds from the Seed Sharing program at my local library (how cool is that??), and a few cloves of a different hardneck variety from my father. I am going to try harvesting some seeds from the flower this year. I did cut one of these flowers and fried it up along with some stuffed squash blossoms, and it was delicious! Experiment!

Scape

Garlic is a beautiful addition to edible landscaping. The scapes (or long stalks that hold the flower) can curve around into wonderful shapes that are very pleasing to the eye. For hardneck garlic, there seems to be a difference of opinion about whether you should harvest the scapes, or keep them...so I am trying both. All of the garlic plant is edible!! The leaves have a mild garlic flavor, and I add them to pesto. The scapes are also delicious in pesto, but can be grilled/steamed like asparagus! ....or you can leave them to harvest flower seeds.

Corn - Three Sisters

My baby corn is sprouting for my Three Sisters garden!! Wanting space to plant the Three Sisters was the whole inspiration for the sheet mulch project, and it's wonderful to see the life springing from the soil. Traditionally, one plants the corn in little hills 3-4 days before the full moon. While planting, offer prayers of thanks for the elements that make the plants grow (yes, I did this).

When the corn is 4-6 inches tall, I plant the beans, then when that sprouts, I plant the pumpkins. The beans are supported by the corn stalks and replenish the soil (corn is a heavy feeder). The pumpkins shade both, crowd out weeds, and discourage predators. The three also complement each other nutritionally.

Blueberry

Blueberries are not yet blue, but I am looking forward to eating them. Even when they turn blue, we don't "pick" them -- if you touch them and they don't drop in your hand, they're not quite at their perfect sweetness.

Hyssop

In the Bible, it says "purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean" but I use my hyssop to attract pollinators, and for cut flowers. It's an excellent companion plant in the garden, and has an attractive "small shrub" shape. I do plan to try some in tea, as WebMD notes it can be helpful for everything from menstrual cramps to cough/cold.

Fig

The fig lives!! Thank goodness! This fig was propagated by my father, from the large fig tree that grew outside my bedroom window when I was a child. I was working to espalier it against the brick, but the long, cold winter caused it to die back to the ground. The current plan is to "roll with it" and use the dead branch as a trellis of sorts to train the new, flexible branches.

I know that some years it might start where it left off, and some years it might begin anew, and I am okay with that. Plus, then I can string Christmas lights on the branches either way!

Teacher Appreciation = Edible Bouquet

Who wouldn't want a beautiful bouquet....that you can eat? (Well, all except for the bright yellow Rudbeckia, but they are sunshine itself, aren't they?)

Includes freshly-harvested lettuces (grown from seeds I saved), Thai basil, parsley flowers, and chives with the blossoms. Grown and given with love for all of the amazing work and creativity our teachers share with our community.

Dog Days: Garden Tour August 2013

Espalier

In the transition to edible landscaping, I have to practice patience, as I wait for the blueberries to reach their mature height of 5-6' (still another year or two off). My fig is a cutting from the fig that grew outside my bedroom window when I was a girl. (That espaliered tomato on the left is Matt's Wild Cherry, by the way, which only needed the merest help from a small trellis to grow right up the wall!)

Breakfast

The figs are ripening now, and are an amazing treat halfway through a gardening "workout". This fig is the direct descendant of the very first fig I ever tasted. 

Brandywine

My tomato harvest this year is paltry, compared to years past. I planted them late and staked them late. I put them in my sheet-mulched bed, which I am still finishing, so things there had to fend on their own, in large part. I was a little surprised to see how well my Brandywine (started from seed, no less!) fared, so you can bet I'll plant that one every year. This plant is beautiful, and I expect it to keep producing till frost. 

Chard

This is the first year I planted chard, which has stayed lush and delicious all spring and summer! Excellent sauteed, or made into a "sauce" with ricotta cheese (thank you, Moosewood Cooks at Home, for a recipe so delicious my 5-year-old requested leftovers for breakfast). 

Pollination

My favorite new "edible landscaping" structure is my stone circle in the middle of the yard. This year, I planted it with Scarlet Runner Beans to form a teepee (that yes, the kids can play in). I planning to rotate crops here. After the first frost, I'll put in a cover crop, along with diggables (garlic, shallot, maybe some carrots), do a design with different color lettuces in the spring, then tomatoes for summer.

Spicy

Porch

I've had good luck with pepper plants this year, including one in a pot on the front porch. Jalapenos, a "salsa" pepper from a local nursery, and sweet red peppers are all *almost* ready to harvest. The spicy salsa peppers are ready when they turn red (maybe two more weeks, now that they've gone from green to yellow).

Fallow

This time last year, my front beds were bursting with tomatoes and flowers. This year, as I've cut back herbs and removed spent flowers and cabbages, I've left spots bare/mulched, so as to plant fall vegetables. Above, you can see the bottom of the cherry tomato from the first picture. All those small bunches of green plants scattered across the bareness are oregano and parsley that have self-seeded (or been moved by me in clumps). By October, they'll have filled in the areas around the fall vegetables, acting as ground cover. 

Autumn

First starts for fall: cauliflower, broccoli, chard (many colors), fennel, mustard green, kale.

As an aside, I learned this year that "Dog Days" aren't really in August at all, but are in July. They

Loving Edible Landscaping!

Picked from my "hedges" this morning!

from "Grow Food, Not Lawns"

https://www.facebook.com/GrowFoodNotLawns

Beauty in the early winter garden

This kale is gorgeous in the flower beds, and just as pretty as kale chips!

More kale. I love the purple and wish I'd planted about twice as many of these. I'll  be interested to see how they fare with a hard freeze.

Tarragon blooms in fall! Who knew? Leaves are tinged with purple where the frost has kissed them. Bumper crop for this year's holiday Bernaise.

We haven't gotten below 20 degrees yet at my house, so even the Gerber daisies are still blooming a bit, though their red is not as bright as in summer.

Also hanging on are lovely clumps of Sweet Alyssum, which will decorate rocks/overhangs until we get a truly hard frost. 

 Baby lettuces (all seeded by me from the summer's spent flowers.)

Broccoli in pot on porch.

 After the crape myrtles flower, they produce their own seeds. This dry, tulip-shaped pod is what remains for the winter dormant season. I have learned to find the beauty in the fallow season, the fallow spot. There is always the promise of new life.

Seeds are the Strongest Magic

“Oh, heart, if one should say to you that the soul perishes like the body, answer that the flower withers, but the seed remains.”  Kahlil Gibran

I teach my children that there is magic in a seed. Inside a tiny seed is a whole plant, which will grow and be pretty and give us lots of food...and it will make hundreds of more seeds that we can plant again if we wish. A seed is Holy.

Back during the August Garden Tour, I shared a picture of my lettuces going to seed. About a month later, when I found the dry seed pods, I finally broke one open and was amazed at the bounty. I started sprinkling them back into my garden since this is the perfect time to plant a fall crop, and then realized that I need to save some for spring so I won't have to buy new ones! This is my first year really attempting to save seeds of all my favorite things, like the Matt's Wild Cherry and Super Sioux tomatoes, the Rosa Bianca eggplant, and my wonderful lettuces, of which I hope to enjoy fall/winter crops here.

Above, you can see the flowers. When they fade, and all looks dry and dead, don't be fooled. There are miracles inside the pods where the flowers bloomed! Below is a picture of one cluster of "flowers" I picked and brought inside, so you can get an idea of size/appearance.

Inside each dry pod are about 10-15 seeds. I'm pretty sure they're probably Bunte Forellenschluss, which is my favorite of all the lettuces I've planted. The Buntes have beautiful bright green leaves dotted with a reddish-purple, and a lovely mild (almost sweetish) flavor and a gently crisp texture.  I did plant other varieties nearby, so this year I will be getting the luck of the draw! I'll have to update again when they sprout leaves in the coming months. Magic. Miracle. Life.

For those of you who want to save tomato seeds for the first time, I have learned that you cannot "just" save the seeds; they need to ferment a bit before you dry them. It's not difficult and Mr. Brown Thumb has a terrific picture tutorial so I don't have to do one!

I also need to note that only with heirloom plants can you be certain the fruit that springs forth will be the same as the plant from which it was harvested. This doesn't mean you can't save seeds from hybrids, of course, just that you should expect to be surprised at what grows! I mostly grow heirlooms because my goal all along has been to save seeds, but each year I do get a few volunteer (natural) hybrids, including one year something that seemed to be a Purple Cherokee plum tomato that was terrific. 

"Keep on sowing your seed, for you never know which will grow — perhaps it all will." Albert Einstein

Garden Tour - August 2012

"And when your back stops aching and your hands begin to harden,

You will find yourself a partner In the Glory of the Garden."

-- Rudyard Kipling

July 2012 was the all-time warmest, month in the United States since we began keeping records, but having (reliable) rain barrels this year helped us keep food/flower areas growing without racking up a huge water bill. The beautiful ed/yellow Rudbeckia (love that name) seen here in the top left part of the photo is a Tennessee Native plant. Native plants are wonderful choices for gardeners, as they are more likely to make it through extreme weather with a minimal amount of care. They also attract pollinators and other beneficial insects to your garden. This year I've truly mixed flowers, herbs and vegetables and have seen more bees and butterflies than ever before when I walk along beside the plants. It is a wondrous sight to behold!

The bushy flowers in the front are moss roses (Portulaca), and they begin to bloom well in Mid-July through frost in my garden; they also are drought tolerant and do not require a lot of water, so I can put the soaker hoses around the tomatoes you can see in the background.

I love watching lettuces going to seed! Lovely! Also in this square-foot bed I have some peppers, some flowers (of course) and a cucumber vine that has finally died thanks to the cucumber beetle. But at least I have identified the pest so I can be prepared next time.

I finally have a baby eggplant growing! The plant itself is beautiful and I hope the Rosa Bianca eggplants will be tasty.

I am sheet-mulching this area, and really want to put a Three Sisters garden here next spring. However, I am going to have to move most of my tomatoes out of the flower bed next year, as the blueberries and fig will be too large to accommodate so many plants. I am also toying with the idea of going ahead and using the front yard...if I can find a design I like. 

Here is a long shot of my front flower bed. I really love how this looks this year! In the August heat, it has exploded with color and texture. The rosemary on the left (against the wall) is a Blue Spires Rosemary, which can grow up to 5' tall; I planted it to replace a very prickly holly bush that wasn't very pretty and had grown totally out of control. Eventually, we should have a large rosemary shrub here and the fig tree at the other end that is growing nicely to bookend our blueberry "hedge." I really love how it's coming together!

Contrast that with the desperate plants in my side yard bed, which used to be almost full shade until we lost a hickory tree this year. I have been trying to keep things (at least) watered here, but as you can see, those shade plants don't enjoy the morning baking in the August sun. I am going to cluster the survivors into the shadiest areas at the end of September, but I do relish the opportunity to plant some lettuces and bulbs and maybe even some peas back here for spring. After all, there's no great loss without some small gain!

Oh, Eve she was a gardener, and God who made her sees

That half a proper gardener's work is done upon her knees,

So when your work is finished, you can wash your hands and pray

For the Glory of the Garden that it may not pass away!

(edited slightly by me!)

Give your veggies some company!

Company? for vegetables? As in "invite friends over for cocktails and talk to the tomatoes?" No, I'm talking about introducing Companion Plants to your garden, which will attract beneficial insects and deter garden pests.

Borage is beautiful and edible.

I've always planted basil and marigolds around my tomatoes. I've also always had parsley, sometimes cilantro, oregano, thyme and rosemary in the garden. But this year I picked up some borage and nasturtiums at a local herb fair. Both are gorgeous! The borage is large and covered with pollinators. The flowers are lovely and the tiny hairs on the plant sparkle in the sun. Nasturtiums grow up around the base of tomatoes and wind up the trellis with cucumbers. I have also learned that their flat leaves will attract both slugs and cabbage worms, so next time I'll plant them around my cabbages.

Look closely for the tiny caterpillars, aka hungry cabbage worms that decimate all types of brassica.

I planted cabbages fairly early and they were attacked again and again by several varieties of cabbage worms. Within a week of adding the companion plants to the garden bed, I noticed a distinct uptick in the the number of insects in the garden and was fascinated to observe a wasp attacking and eating the cabbage worms! 

Wasp eating cabbage worm.

 Besides being good for the garden, companion plants add beauty in the form of foliage and flowers. My "garden" is largely in my front flowerbed this year, and will always be in the front/side yard since that is where the sun lands. I love "edible landscaping" or "kitchen garden" approach -- functional can also be quite beautiful, and companion plants offer a cost-effective, beautiful and organic approach to building a healthy garden.

Bee pollinating cucumber.

Companion plants can also be other vegetables! Onions mix well with strawberries...chives will improve the flavor of carrots...this is important knowledge that we must not loose! I also intend to learn to use some of the medicinal herbs beyond "just" for cooking.