Propagation success

I pruned my pomegranate during the winter. When I found myself with some long pieces of pruned  material I thought I'd stick a branch into the soil and see if it would take. It looked mostly like a dead stick poking out of the ground most of the summer, and I planted all sorts of other things around it. Squash, tomatoes, beans, and some weeds grew there too. It is in a spot I don't get around to very frequently, and today I noticed, beneath the cover of some squash leaves, the stick had sprouted leaves, about 8" high. This has been a good year for various of my propagation projects. The seedling peaches made good fruit, a fig I've nurtured from a cutting finally took off and is fruiting like mad, and it looks like even one of my olive cuttings might have survived. Seeing the pomegranate leaves today made me very happy.

The plant from which I cloned is about three or four years old and is finally fruiting. I will try propagating more of the plant when I prune again this winter. There is a time vs. money trade-off in the process. I have the time to increase my plants in this manner. If I didn't have the time I'd be spending about $25 each for almost any of those trees. More than those two factors, I like the challenge of propagating trees in this way.

Fall Gardening

The temperatures were in the 80s this weekend, a little warm for the chickens so I put the mister on to cool down their yard, but not too hot for me to move a pile of old ivy and sticks. This pile was created  out of branches and pieces of cut ivy. I piled and piled and finally I decided the pile wasn't doing much but making a comfortable home for a few mice. We get such little rain here that it would take so very long for that pile to break down. I had tried planting squash to grow upon it, but the rodents chewed through the squash plants, killing them.


Old ivy on top of new...

I've been saving up cardboard boxes and flattening them for use as ivy suppressors. There is still so much ivy, even though a huge pile has been pulled out. I've put down cardboard in a large area, spreading out a little at a time. I finally had a critical mass of cardboard and laid it down on top of the ivy, then I took the pieces of the pile—sticks and dried out ivy mostly—and spread that on top of the cardboard. Geoff Lawton of the Permaculture Research Institute of Australia says that a forest grows on a fallen forest and so my food forest will have plenty of organic matter to build upon and grow into.

With the pile gone, there is a rather large space, maybe 30ft by 30ft (I've yet to measure it), that is ready for a garden. I am thinking about making a small lawn in the middle, upon which to lounge, and then make the edges into a chicken-friendly pasture. At the back end of the space is a very old almond tree and some old lilacs, at the base of which I am thinking of planting lavender, keeping it pretty drought-friendly. Beyond those trees is the chicken house and yards, with a small foot path connecting the spaces.

At one edge is a group of trees that has been acquired as scaffolding for a large grape vine. The wild birds love to come and eat the grapes when they ripen, creating a cacophony of bird song and various bird arguments. At the parallel edge is an island of ivy with a mature cypress tree and some old fence posts covered in ivy that haven't been taken down yet. Still lots of ivy remains. And at the other end, is the entrance from the decomposed granite patio, where much outdoor time is spent, and also a male American Persimmon which had been coppiced many years ago and how has several long trunks. The grape has made its way from another almond, which resides next to the fruitless Persimmon, into the Persimmon. Once the pasture is installed, it should feel like a nice meadow in a ring of various trees. It will require summer irrigation and I am looking at tall fescue for the more refined lawn area, as it has lower water requirements than many grasses. Plants suitable for chicken forage will go in the rougher area.

I was somewhat surprised at my desire for a small lawn in the backyard. I've been spending time and energy removing the lawn in the front yard and replacing it with various useful plants. We've lounged around on the remaining front lawn in the summer, and it is rather pleasant, save for all the dog walkers and other people who can tend to take a look at whatever we're doing. Our street also gets some maniac drivers who roar down the 25 mph street at 45 mph, or even faster. That makes our little cat nervous, and us nervous about our cat. The shrubs will grow up taller in a few years, but I am not interested in having an audience when I'm hanging out in my gardening clothes and having a refreshing beverage. So I feel that a small lawn/pasture area will make a nice lounging setting that is more private, and have a more pleasant feel for the people and the cat. It will also provide a nice forage area for the chickens.

. . . 

Nicotiana tabacum 'Havana'

This year I grew some tobacco plants, just to see what the plants looked like. Tobacco has a long history with humankind and I am interested in plants that people have found or do find useful. The plants made very large, sticky leaves, which smelled of tobacco, and they bloomed with these long pink flowers at the tops of 3-4 ft plants (in partial shade). They are the prettiest plants in the garden bed they're in, and they brighten up our fall evenings.

Olives

I planted three olive trees in January 2008. The first olive fruit came this year and is on a tree that gets the least amount of water and attention.
Olive trees can live many hundreds of years and are evergreen. I planted the olives along the back fence to provide some greenery in the back yard during the winter when other plants have gone dormant. I chose olives because they are drought tolerant, live many years, and can produce a useful fruit. I planted two Maurino and one Taggiasca olives. The fruit is on a Maurino, which is a Tuscan oil type.

Along the front walk

Chipping away at the lawn started along the front walk, near the front door of the house. First a hollyhock, then some lavender and some heuchera, then a kumquat.
The area got expanded and now hosts bush beans, purple basil, and a cucumber. All just a few steps from the front door. I go out for basil almost daily now.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Swale Progress

This photo was taken in mid-February. Fava Beans & daikon have a good start and leaves are building up. The plant in the foreground is a Pineapple Guava, Feijoa sellowiana. It is an evergreen plant with glossy green leaves that are muted green on the undersides. The plant grows about 15 feet and makes edible fruits. I planted five in this area. The planting of mixed evergreen and deciduous (2 ginkgo trees) will offer some privacy from the street (lots of dog walkers & joggers go past) and it eventually act as a windbreak. Across the street is an empty field and an orchard, so we get lots of dust when they mow the field and orchard alleys.
Our entire lawn will eventually be replaced with more useful plants.
See earlier posts swale progress and planning a swale for comparison.

Update: April 1, 2009 photo of swale:
Blooming Daikon!

Backyard in Late March

Chicken house (in progress) in the far corner, new supports for a hops tunnel over by the ladder.
The yellow flowers are calendula (foreground) and collards blooming (background).
Over to the left, white flowers are daikon radishes that were planted in the fall. Bare paths need mulch, I'm working on it. That brown stick in front of the collards on the left (look for a white plastic plant tag at its base) is a saijo persimmon tree I planted bareroot. It started leafing out about a week after this photo was taken. In fact, everyday the leaf cover noticeably increases.

Anticipating Spring

We're bracing for a winter storm of high winds and up to 4 inches of rain. On this cold windy day I photographed the garden. It is looking rather rag-tag in general, but bright spots are out there too.

Blueberry flower buds

Helleborus

Rosemary

November Harvest

Vegetables from the garden, picked Nov. 12, 2008.
Clockwise from top left - Collards, Chard, Mizuna, Butternut squash, summer squash, baby red chard, trombetta summer squash, tomatoes, daikon radish.

Oh, a pumpkin pie sits to the right - made with butternut squash - and it was delicious!

Berm & Basin (swale progress)

Swale expansion went well. Many hours of digging, shaping and planting have produced a basin and berm next to the road. The first few rains happened after the first digging/planting stage of the project and the water came in, filled the basin, then infiltrated the soil. It worked. Now with the larger area ready to accept water, it should be ready for our heaviest downpours. The pineapple guavas look very pretty out there, as do the lavender plants. The fava beans from the first digging/planting stage are up a few inches. I planted more fava beans in the newly-completed area and Daikon, salvia verbenacaea, and others. I am lacking in much mulch materials but I did bring some mulberry leaves and pine needles from the back yard to start that. I'll continue gathering materials to have the area better mulched before the rains really get going.

Amaranth starting to bloom

Amaranth is an ancient food plant, used by the Aztec, Incan, and Mayan cultures. Both the leaves and the seeds were used for food. Much information is available on this plant and its uses at Wikipedia.
The flowers on this small planting are just starting to open and will develop into bright pink plumes.
If I leave some of the plants after they go to seed, the birds will enjoy eating the seed.

Planning a swale

This section of the front yard is currently a buffer of plants along the road. I am planning on creating a swale here instead. 12 ft wide at the widest and 4 feet wide at its narrowest. I am currently making calculations on the appropriate depth and appropriate berm height. Also planning the vegetation to go in the swale and on the berm. Trees and shrubs will go on the berm (ginkgo tree, pineapple guava) and annuals and perennials go in the swale (italian parsley, daikon, bell beans, chard (biennial), valerian, thyme, lavender and more). The plants currently along the road (lavender, lavatera) will be moved to suitable sections of the swale. These plants are drought tolerant plants. This swale will help deal with the deluge of water runoff from the road during the rainy season and focus that to a target tree (ginkgo), which will offer shade from the afternoon sun. The swale will replace a section of lawn with a wider diversity of plants, create visual interest from the road side and the house side, and encourage diversity of insect and bird life.
I'll start digging as soon as the temperature cools to a more reasonable range (80s).