Lawn transformation

Berm and basin by the road used to be lawn. I dug it up and planted it to shrubs and other various plants (see older post for more info). Late spring found the place overrun with gopher activity. They ate the roots of mature hollyhocks & lavateras (both in the mallow family), and then wrecked havoc by tunneling and disturbing various plants. For a while the area looked rather unattractive. I seeded with daikon radish, squash, sunflowers, melons, and other seeds. It took a while to recover, but now the area is high with sunflowers, daikons are growing as are other the other plants. It is lush and lovely with a variety of textures, colors, and plants.


The back side of the berm/basin is still lawn, but this trombetta squash is making a run for it.

Humulus lupulus in bloom

The Hops are starting to flower.
Depending upon how many hop cones the plant produces, they might be used in a brew later this year. Humulus lupulus is a member of the Cannabaceae family.

Bean trellis, squash, alliums

Pole beans are finally heading up the strings and the squash beneath has taken off and provided us with some delicious, young summer squash. The squash is taking over the scattering of alliums that grew there from seed I sprinkled from leeks that went to seed last year. At least, I think they are from leeks. Some of the plants I pulled from there had garlic-like bulbs, so perhaps some crossing has occurred. At this point I am more into abundance than purity of type, so I'll keep growing these out and maybe I'll find something interesting. Last year some of the volunteer squash produced some flavorful flesh. The squash in the photo is a volunteer that seems to have butternut parentage (I grew a lot of butternut squash last year).
The young ones were of two colors, a dark and a ligther skin. The flesh was very pale yellow, like young butternuts.
The pole beans are a dry bean variety. They are grown for the dry seeds rather than the green pods, though one can eat the young pods. The beans have mottled pods with reddish coloring. I believe they are called Bird Egg pole beans. I got the seeds from someone who got them from the National Plant Germplasm System.
A grape vine and a pomegranate are beyond the beans.

Hops

Humulus lupulus 'Nugget' on the hops trellis. It is sending out side branches from which the flowers will form. The rhizome came from Nichols Garden Nursery in Corvallis, Oregon. We also ordered Kent Golding rhizomes, and they're not performing as vigorously. They'll probably get moved to a new location once they go dormant. Hops is a thirsty plant and it gets lots of deep watering and likes a good, deep mulch.

Fig - Conadria

Ficus carica - edible fig - Conadria puts out an early (breba) crop and a late crop. The breba crop has been ripening over the last week or so, a few at a time. Sweet fresh figs, right from the tree, are one of my favorite things to eat.
Figs are drought tolerant after being established. Conadria starts out with green figs, then they start to droop a little, then more, and finally turn yellow. When the fig pulls easily from the tree they are ripe and sweet. Conadria can be dried too, but I haven't tried that yet.

Other fig varieties in the garden include: Verdal Longue, Celestial, Brown Turkey Improved, and Panache Tiger. They are all young trees and it looks like the Brown Turkey Improved will fruit in the summer, and possibly the Panache Tiger.

Siberia 8 days later

Eight days later the Siberia tomato has put on quite a bit of growth.

Siberia Tomato and Top-setting onions

This little tomato plant is a variety called Siberia. It is allegedly able to keep setting fruit in cool temperatures (down to 38 ˙F).



Top-setting onions make little onion bulbils at the top of a long stem. These are just like little tiny onions and can be used to grow more onions or they can be eaten.

Progressions

Artichoke

This lovely artichoke is starting to bloom.
Just a hint of hairy purple has started to peek out of the center of the flower bud.

Garlic and coreopsis.

I left the garlic in the ground for as long as I could stand it. Gophers have recently made their entrance into the garden and garlic roots are first on their preferred menu. I lost enough bulbs to justify digging them all. The plants would have done better with a week or two more, but I lost so many garlic plants last year I couldn't stand the thought of a repeat. The garlic is curing in a dark place, and then I'll trim and clean the bulbs. This garlic area has been sown with seeds of tomato and lemon cucumber now. The coreopsis is still blooming away.

Just for Pretty

This peony plant came from a friend whose garden doesn't get enough sun for the peony to bloom. He had wanted to grow peonies because they are his mother's favorite flower.
It bloomed two days before Mother's Day, and I had him over to take a look at it.
It had two of these outrageous blossoms.

Berry, Berry, Seed

The hot days have started becoming the norm and the garden is getting nice and full of plants, insects, flowers, and fruit.

Gold Raspberries
These Fall Gold raspberries have been fruiting for a week and they are earlier than the red raspberries, which are just starting to ripen today.

Blueberries
Many of the blueberry plants are fruiting, having started a week, or so, ago.
Each day we get more ripe berries.

Peanut
This is a peanut plant, just a week old. I planted Tennessee Reds and Virginia Jumbos. Peanuts need a long, hot growing season, which we have here in Chico, California. Peanuts are legumes and will create pegs that the plant thrusts into the soil toward the end of the growing season.

Feijoa in bloom - Edible flowers

Feijoa sellowiana in bloom. This is the first feijoa I planted in the front yard. Four other followed with the expansion of the swale system. This plant only had two blossoms last year. Now it is covered in blossoms and flower buds. The outer petals of the flowers are sweet and slightly fleshy. I wonder if any fruit will form.

Ginkgo - update

The ginkgo tree has fully leafed out and is sending up lovely new growth. The leaves toward the top of the tree are very large and split rather deeply.

Useful Border - update

Our first 100+ degree Fahrenheit day of the year was today. The useful border I wrote about a back in March is now looking a little fuller. The leeks have sent up their flower heads, one of them taller than I (170 cm) and will start blooming soon. The hollyhocks have just started to bloom, attracting carpenter bees, among other pollinators. The English lavender is looking perfect, while the french lavender appears a little unruly.

The Importance of Observation

It is important to have a nice shady spot from which to observe the garden progress, or lack thereof.
The hammock (an essential tool for Permaculture) is sited under a canopy of American persimmon (the multi-stemmed tree in the photo), almond, and oak trees. A very old grapevine climbs these trees and makes a lovely, cool, and shaded habitat for various animals in the garden.
Birds eat many of the small, dark grapes in the late summer, and there are plenty left for putting up as grape juice.

A guild of sorts

This selection of plants happened to come together in a rather unplanned way. Leeks, chard, borage, fig, parsley, clover, and alpine strawberries. I also grew daikon and fava beans as cover crops. I feel like something is missing from this guild, but I am not sure what it is. This area is located near the oaks and the plants benefit from the oak leaves. I usually don't dig the leeks when I harvest them, rather I cut the below the soil line and they do grow back from the roots. Borage is a mineral accumulator and bees love the blossoms, which are edible, as are the leaves. I think maybe it needs nasturtium or perhaps a melon for the summer. Something to cover the ground after the daikon, fava, and borage are cut. I don't want too much clover since it is known to attract gophers (they also love fig roots and alium roots too).
I loved looking at this planting progress through the fall and winter
Here is a photo of the same spot in November 2008. Note the droopy chard plant, fungi, very small borage plants, lots of blossoms on the alpine strawberries.

Garden in April

This is a photo of the SE section of the back yard.
Fig tree at far left, mature peach tree further back, cherry tree is at the right.

Warm April Day Pictures

A few 80+ degree days have finally arrived and the garden is starting to explode in growth and flowers. The bees are still loving all the borage and now they have the neighbor's mature orange tree to visit (the smell is magical) along with salvia officinalis, lots of daikon is still blooming, lots of calendula too. I've harvested some artichokes and fennel bulbs that I steamed and ate and shared with friends. Some of the leeks are starting to form flower heads, the arugula barely had a chance before it bolted, but I managed to have a few salads with it before they bloomed. Some of the red chard is starting to push up flower stalks. Apricots are filling out and I've been thinning the tiny peach fruits on the white peach tree. Strawberries are just starting to ripen, and I have been forced to share most of them with pill bugs and slugs so far. Melon seeds are germinating in the ground and in pots, as are winter pie pumpkins. Here are some photos of various things from today, which is called Earth Day. Why have a special day? Everyday should be Earth Day.

Fennel blossom (yellow) and borage (blue)

Carrot Blossom


California Poppies


Artichoke - ready to pick

Bees & Butterflies with Alliums

Ishikura scallions blooming. The scallions overwintered and grew thick, similar to leeks, but the green portion of the plant has a good onion flavor.
Bees and butterflies are always visiting these flowers.
I'll save the seed heads and disperse them with the autumn rains.
These seeds came from Turtle Tree Biodynamic seeds. They are a non-profit seed company based in NY.

Compare and contrast

Last week I posted a photo of the backyard at the end of March 2009.
I recently found this image of the backyard from late February 2007 – before we started any work on the place.
You can make out the leafless oak trees in the right side of the frame, and of course the evergreen tree in the center.
The sea of green is English Ivy covering the ground and fence.

Ginkgo Tree leafing out

The Ginkgo Tree is one I grew from a seed a few years ago. I planted it in the ground two years ago and it has grown about 12" each of those two years. Eventually it will offer shade and leaf litter for the planting underneath it. The leaves can also be used medicinally I've read. Blooming Daikon in the background.