Permaculture Lecture

Posted on November 2, 2015 by Ashland Garden Club

Permaculture Gardening Strategies
Prepared for Siskiyou Permaculture, Permaculture Design Course January 2011

1) Plan for plant succession. Start gardens on your worst soils. Remember trees and shrubs fill in and are the natural successors of pioneer plants like vegetables. Ideally, start with veggies and end with forest garden. Be aware of arrested succession.

2) Rainwater harvest. Consider size of storage and amount needed, seedlings love rainwater, planting basins, swales, deep mulch, gravity feed from rain tanks, greywater, city water costs.

3) Frost drainage. Layout the garden to drain cold air from planting beds and down paths. Cold air flows like molasses and can be drained from garden under gates and fences.

4) Sheet mulch. Suppress weeds and increase soil fertility and moisture by mulching with newspaper and cardboard. Deep (1 ft.) straw mulch for late summer.

5) Attract Pollinators and Beneficial Insects. Plant a series of flowers that provide nectar flow and habitat year round to encourage insect diversity to your garden.

6) Small ponds. Create habitat for frogs, toads and birds by building small ponds in your yard.

7) Collect micro-climate information. Set up a mini-weather station in your garden with a rain gauge and a maximum/minimum thermometer. Weather information will help you determine where and when to plant your garden. Record on desk or large wall calendar.

8) No till. Plant perennials. Perforation, mulch, top dressing and plant roots build soil structure from the top down.

9) Benefits of home gardening: Psychological health, fresh medicinals, increased nutrition in your food, seed saving, developing soil for future needs, learning how to do it in case we need to know.

Garden Elements: Additional things to think about in planning your home landscape and garden.

Wind protection for both house and garden
Sun bowl
Shade your house in summer, preserve solar access in winter
Water drainage
Outdoor rooms
Wildlife to invite in and wildlife to keep out (distract)
Frequently visited areas near the house and main walkways
Height layers
Maximizing usable space
Dynamic accumulators
Plant guilds
Plan for the amount of time you can spend gardening
Field crops (corn, beans, squash) in community gardens and open spaces
Share specialties from home micro-climates

____________________________________________
A FEW FAVORITE GARDENING RESOURCES
Books:
Designing and Maintaining Your Edible Landscape Naturally, by Robert Kourik, 1986
A permaculture based overview with extensive sections and charts on fruit trees, companion planting, cover crops, and more. Author based in northern California.

Garden Guide for the Rogue Valley, Year ‘Round & Month by Month, Jackson County Master Gardener Association. Not strictly organic, but it de-emphasizes nonorganic methods. Gives you important local recommendations for timing and success in our climate.

Gaia’s Garden; A guide to Home-Scale Permaculture, by Toby Hemenway, updated 2009
The permaculture backyard classic explains how to get your garden to pop.

Sunset Western Garden Book
Still the landscapers essential guide. Organized as an encyclopedia, and addressing western climate issues, it includes lists of recommended plants for wind, deer resistance, sizes, etc.

Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties, by Carol Deppe, 2000

The Resilient Gardener, by Carol Deppe

Four Season Harvest, by Eliot Coleman, 1999

The One-Straw Revolution: An Introduction to Natural Farming, Fukuoka, Masanobu. Reprinted 2009. Edited by local permie Larry Korn!
New Roots For Agriculture, Jackson, Wes, 1981

Teaming with Microbes; the Organic Gardener’s Guide to the Soil Food Web, Lowenfels, Jeff and Lewis, Wayne

The Ruth Stout No-Work Garden Book, Stout, Ruth. 1979

On-line Resources:

The Future is Abundant, Species Index, by Shery Litwin. Available on the Siskiyou Permaculture website. http://www.siskiyoupermaculture.org

Plants for a Future, database for edible and useful plants. http://www.pfaf.org/user/plantsearch.aspx

OSU Extension Gardening Encyclopedia online: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/gardening/

Sowing Calendar, Hardiness Zones 7-8; Local chart for numerous vegetables prepared through research not experience, but likely still useful.

Click to access Sowing%20Calendar01-14-11.pdf

Pros and Cons of Deep Mulch Gardening, article, http://theprepperproject.com/the-pros-and-cons-of-deep-mulch-gardening/

Siskiyou Permaculture
Melanie Mindlin

Lecture: Nov. 2, 2015

Posted on October 31, 2015 by Ashland Garden Club

Garden of the Month: Sept. 2015

Posted on September 2, 2015 by Ashland Garden Club

The home of Barbara and Len Eaton at 841 Beswick Way was purchased in 2011. The house was remodeled extensively, and a year later they had their daughter-in-law Kelly Eaton design the landscape plans.

Barbara requested that Kelly use native plants and grasses to provide habitat for bees, butterflies and birds. They had two oaks and a small madrone in front, and the few tall pines in the back that were the backbone of the garden. Some grading was done, the paths and structures put in and the drip irrigation and dry creek bed Installed.

The front was done first with many native tall and short grasses, manzanita, echinacea and an orange witch hazel next to the dry creek bed. In addition, a royal purple smoke tree and a crepe myrtle grow on the right side of the walkway. The wood arbor at the entrance has an Akebia vine which will shade the lovely swing from which you can sit and view Grizzly Peak. Star Jasmine climb the screens on the right. The large pots, overflowing with bright orange lantana and red geraniums, give a happy welcome to visitors.

Walking down the driveway you can look up and see the bee hive in the oak. Kelly put in a few plants that have drip only to preserve the oaks. When you enter the back gate you will be met with a lovely cascade of hardy geraniums, alyssum, yellow lantana, a family fuchsia and a pink crepe myrtle. Lizzy the family dog sits on the stairs to greet you and lead you into a path that takes you to the center three-tiered fountain.

When you look to the back garden there is a very large wood-beamed arbor with a wisteria that will shade the right side. In the center is a fireplace. Again Barbara has filled some large pots with blue black salvia and more lantana which the bees are feasting on. To the right and down behind the garage are raised vegetable beds that produce a variety of tomatoes, string beans and pumpkins.

The garage wall has a large espaliered Star Magnolia and two pot stands filled with cascading Creeping Charlie and Creeping Jenny. Under the towering pines is a Cherokee Chief dogwood and a flagstone pathway which has Blue Star Creeper and flowering thyme covered with many happy bees. Another lime- leaf smoke tree and a yellow witch hazel complete the path. The city of Ashland did audits for water use and fire safety which passed, with the City even putting photos of the garden on their website. This garden was on the garden tour of the AAUW in 2014.

Len has a shop where he will be building the gate to their own piece of paradise. He also mows the lawns and helps with the fall cleanup while Barbara maintains the gardens. They have achieved their desire for a habitat that keeps the bees, birds and butterflies happy and “at the end of the day” they both enjoy sitting in the swing and looking up at Grizzly Peak.

Garden of the Month: August 2015

Posted on September 2, 2015 by Ashland Garden Club

The garden at 973 C Street, owned by John Price and Erin Keller, was a blank site following the home’s construction in 2009. The next year, retaining walls and fences were built, with plantings beginning shortly thereafter – all designed and built by the owners.

Passing through a beautiful front gate leading into the garden, past dahlias and zinnias, one can see vine covered arbors. These add interest and dimension to an ordinary lot. Two of the arbors are covered in two species of Kiwi. In addition to peach, pear, plum, fig, and apple trees, the garden also features Rudbeckia laciniata, hazelnut, honeysuckle, and Cornelian Cherry.

Succulents and drought tolerant plants grow as a green roof on the back shed at the end of the driveway. As the owners stated, “The green roofed woodshed just seemed like a fun thing to do. Actually most of it was fun!”

A blueberry hedge growing along the east fence was successfully planted over a buried wood swale. This has proven beneficial in helping the soil retain much needed moisture. In fact, permaculture principals dominated much of the design, with beauty, food production, and privacy playing a key role. I think you’ll agree John and Erin have succeeded and have provided the community with a lovely example of what can be done with a simple, empty space.

Garden of the Month: July 2015

Posted on July 6, 2015 by Ashland Garden Club

Driving past 128 Wimer Street I often admired the beautifully landscaped front garden and the lovely home rising up from the street, but my eyes were always drawn to what lay just beyond the home. A tall deer fence marked the back garden and what appeared to be two “sheep” standing among the roses. I just knew there had to be something special behind that gate.

I met with Cindy Barnard, the owner, and was able to get a closer look at her garden and meet the not-so-real sheep that guard it. What I do know, is that there are no words to adequately describe the beauty of the landscaping or any pictures that can capture what you’ll find there. What I can tell you is that the yard holds two majestic trees – a Coastal Redwood (planted approximately 1906), a Douglas Fir and a stately oak – that have been there for many years. The Conrad and Lavina Mingus home, built in the late 1880’s, and at the time nestled in the middle of a small fruit and nut orchard, was originally designed to accommodate the harvesting.

Cindy bought the home in 2006 and in 2007 began planning an extensive remodel. Joanne Krippaehne (Madrone Architecture, Ashland) was the architect chosen to redesign the home and Kerry Kencairn, the landscape architect, who, with the involvement of Cindy’s son, Seth Barnard of Solid Ground Landscaping, turned this property into the inviting garden it is today. After several planning workshops and sessions, the concept simplified into: “bring the outdoors in and the indoors out.” But, even as the project grew more complex than originally anticipated, it is now easy to believe that Cindy wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.

The garden, originally on the Spring 2009 AAUW garden tour, contains a variety of trees and plants – old fashioned quince, a new Asian persimmon and two fig trees, hydrangeas, peonies, berry bushes, roses, hostas and so many others, too numerous to mention. After recently spending winter days at Hidcote garden and Yew Garden in England, Cindy found joy in the winter color included in those beds and, after lawn removal, added a beautyberry bush (genus Callicarpa) to her back garden. A thriving hand-watered vegetable garden and three compost piles take up a sunny location in the back of the property.

Submitted by: Kaaren Anderson

2015: Feast of Will

Posted on June 22, 2015 by Ashland Garden Club

Every June members of the Ashland Garden Club create 150-180 beautiful Feast of Will table arrangements with flowers cut from their personal gardens. This Lion’s Club’s sponsored event celebrates the seasonal opening of Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Elizabethan Theater.