Rainy weather and planting blueberries

The weather took a turn toward cold, wet storms, with plenty of wind. It has been going on like this for weeks. The sun is a distant memory. On days when we've had a break in the downpours and howling wind, I've been able to get a little gardening done. I've been doing some weeding, mulching, observing the progress of various plants - red currants, gooseberries, black currants, raspberries, honeyberry - all of which are doing great in this type of weather. The blueberry plants are pushing out new growth, and in a moment of splurging I ordered eight more blueberry plants, which I managed to get into the ground and mulched with pine needles.  I'm not exactly sure how many blueberry plants I had already planted before these eight, but it could be a dozen. I've been working on building up my shrub layer, and the blueberries seemed a good shrub to increase in number. The berries are delicious and I have a good source of pine needles to use for a nice acidic mulch. The plants are also attractive once they get a little mass to them.

The cold and wet weather is  likely to continue for several more days, longer perhaps, so it is a good time to plant such things.

Blueberry plant with pine needle mulch.

Nanking Cherry Harvest

Almost half a pound of nanking cherries in today's harvest. These fruits are about the size of a garbanzo bean that has been soaked. They are a little tart and have a pit, but not so large as to make it undesirable to eat the fruit. The pit comes away easily from the flesh. This is the second spring for these plants, so I'm impressed at the amount of fruit on such young shrubs.

In future years, and larger harvests, I imagine I'd make preserves out of these, but this year they'll just get eaten up.

Front Yard before and during (when will it be after?)

The front yard (above in winter 2007) was basic lawn with overgrown foundation shrubs before any work was started.
Now (below in July 2009) there is still plenty of lawn (it takes lots and lots of shoveling to dig up lawn) but also plenty of other plants. The foundation shrubs are still here and overgrown, though they offer shade from the late summer sun, so not totally useless. A mature gardenia is located outside the bedroom window, and since we don't use A/C our windows are open often at night allowing the heady fragrance to drift in.

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.

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.

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!