Permaculture Growing

Permaculture bed June 23, 2012

Permaculture is  a concept that I have just been learning about the last three years or so. Taken altogether permaculture is actually more a design method rather than a gardening technique. Permaculture aims to provide for people while also providing and caring for nature. The principles can be applied to anything you are doing, from designing a landscape, a community, a home or even a business.

One of the things that permaculture stresses is to make everything multi-functional, called 'stacking functions'. One example would be to build a trellis over a deck or patio for shade and grow a grape vine on it to provide shade and fruit in summer, as well as bird and insect habitat, while still allowing warm sunshine in during winter when it is welcome.

Another example is to plant a bed with a variety of vegetables, annuals, bi-annuals and even perennials  all mixed together. As you harvest the fastest growers you leave room for the other plants to mature.

I experimented with the concept this summer. This small bed in my front yard gets a  far amount of afternoon shade, helping to keep it a little cooler than more open areas. In mid-May I planted salad bowl lettuce and some Golden Bantam corn. It was still just cool enough to get the lettuce to sprout. The lettuce acted as a kind of ground cover, helping shade the soil and keep moisture in and gave me several cuts of leaves before it got too hot.

As the lettuce disappeared in the heat I planted some white scallop summer squash. I also allowed a few edible weeds to grow. (I did take out that sunflower in the first picture; this type has tiny seeds which the gold finches love, but it produces a huge amount of pollen that really causes my allergies to act up).

Permaculture bed Aug 22, 2012

Here is the bed today, the corn has been harvested and the squash is slowing down. There are still a lot of red root pigweeds in here that I harvest for the rabbits and chickens. Pigweed is a type of wild amaranth and has a good protein level, besides the animals love it.

This bed is not very big, about 34" wide and 8' long, making it less than 24 square feet of growing space. Also it is a fairly new bed so the fertility of the soil is not up to full speed yet.

Despite these problems it has been fairly productive, so far this year it has yielded about 5 pounds of lettuce, 3 pounds of squash (with more on the vine) and 10 ears of sweet corn. In addition it has contributed several buckets of amaranth and lambs quarters to feed the rabbits and chickens. I'll be experimenting with this concept some more next year and in the meantime I'll be working to boost the soil's fertility and organic matter.

To learn more about permaculture, it's principles and ideals and how to apply it to your garden I highly recommend Gaia's Garden by Toby Hemenway

Harvest Monday

Summer Apples

Welcome to Harvest Monday! I can't believe another week has gone by already and we are entering the second half of the year. Oh my where has time gone?  Harvest Monday is a great blog hop sponsored by Daphne's Dandelions, so hop on over and visit with other gardeners from around the world.

One day the wind was blowing the apples off the tree plus the birds were starting to get into them, so I picked the tree clean. They are a bit sour, was waiting for them to ripen up a bit. I have been trying to find out what is causing that brown corky growth on the tops of some of them. When I search for cork in apples the pictures look different from this and shows corky spots on the inside. These are fine inside, just have that dry brown spot mostly on the top part and not all of the apples show it. I'm wondering if it's sunburn.

Golden Bantam Improved

This year I have some of the best looking corn plants I have ever had, they went 7 feet with the tassels, almost all had 2 ears per stalk and some put out tillers and tried to make more. BUT it was so very hot and dry when it put out tassels and silks that the pollen was just drying up, so my beautiful 10-12 inch ears are nowhere near being filled. What is there tastes delicious, however. So, note to self, corn should not tassel the last two weeks of June!

Eggplant

I harvested some more eggplant. These are not as big as they look; that is one of those little cereal bowls from the dollar store.

tomatoes

The small salad tomatoes are winding down, only 3 pounds this week instead of nearly 5. They are now split about half and half, Princepe and Snow White.

In addition there were two Black from Tula, along with a paste tomato and a small round one from volunteer plants.

Rond di Nice

And of course some Rond di Nice squash. This one weighs about a pound. The five pound monster that was imitating a green pumpkin was fed to the chickens. The other sorts should be coming on shortly, maybe next week. I think I'm going to stuff this one full of tomatoes and cheese. Maybe I"ll add a little sausage to it. mmmmmm.....

See this post for a garden tour and the newest additions to the poultry flock.

Around the Garden

the back garden

The back garden is becoming quite a jungle. In the front is the Red Burgundy Amaranth, with chard and bolting lettuce. Behind that is the corn and bolting carrots along with random volunteer hollyhocks.

 On the other side of the corn patch is this hollyhock. For whatever reason my camera, which usually takes great pics, cannot seem to get the true color of this flower. I've adjusted it some here, but it is really more a purple color than this shows.

corn silks

This patch of corn is doing well as you can see above. The ears and silks are showing on some of the plants now, so fresh sweet corn is not too far away. This is Golden Bantam Improved, from the Seed Savers Exchange.

bush bean seedlings

The bush beans are sprouting right up in the heat. Here on the upper right you can see some parsnip flowers bending over to get in the pic and on the lower left the stems from a new planting of red amaranth with is in the corner of the bean bed.

squash plants on greenhouse

Here you can see the buttercup and tromboncinno squash plants running on the greenhouse frame.

squash plants from inside the greenhouse

Here are the plants from inside the greenhouse.

melon

Also growing in the greenhouse beds are some cantaloupe, and look at this beauty, can't wait for it to get ripe.

Eggplant #2

Out on the patio eggplant #2 is growing. This is a white one.

Baby Blue Hubbard

Here's that compost pile out front with the Baby Blue Hubbard squash. Three of the four plants are doing fine after I sprayed them with liquid iron a few weeks ago, but the fourth one is even more yellow now. It's way too hot to do any foiliar feeding now, so I poured the rest of the liquid iron from the sprayer directly around the plant. Since you spray a more dilute mixture than you pour on the soil I don't think this will burn it but it should help it out a little. If we get a couple of cloudy days where the temps are down a bit I could spray, but it's way to hot right now.

carrots and potatoes

This is a small bed where I've been pulling the rainbow carrots from. It's also a lesson in checking the records before planting. Apparently in Jan. I planted some sprouting russet potatoes in this bed and then a couple of months later I planted the carrots. Got a big surprise when the potatoes came up. But those potatoes are done and need dug, so I will not be able to wait for all of the carrots to size up; I need to get them out of the way so I can get the potatoes out of there.  (If I leave them too long they will resprout and the crop will be spoiled).

corn & more

In early May I planted this small bed of corn. At the same time I planted some lettuce seed all over and put on a thin row cover. The row cover as well as the partly shady location really helped keep the soil moist and I've been able to pick a good bit of lettuce from it. Later I also planted some squash plants down the middle. The squash are beginning to spread out and the lettuce is almost down. The yellow flowers are a wild sunflower that I think must have come in some wild flower mixture. The seeds are tiny and the little finches really like them, but they put off a lot of pollen and make me sneeze so they will be coming out.

corn, beans, lettuce

This bed has a bit of corn at one end, a teepee of Kentucky Wonder pole beans, a couple of Aunt Molly's ground cherries, some kabocha squash and under the window screen in the middle of the teepee is a little bit of lettuce.

The rabbit pen

Back in April I planted this bed inside my rabbit compound, with a little fig tree, comfrey and kobocha squash. A month ago the squash plants barely had a few leaves on them (seen here), now look at them!

The rabbit pen from the inside

Here's a shot from the other side of the fence. The lemon mint, also called bee balm is blooming. I don't know why they call it lemon mint; to me it smells more like oregano. The little fig tree is growing a few figs, but they aren't very big yet.

The patio

Along the patio the weed trees are making a comeback, so I''ve been trying to whack a few when I get the chance. The tomatoes are doing well and the tromboncinno squash are running and blooming.

Tromboncinno in the old washer liner

tromboncinno in a tub

Harvest Monday

Purple Dragon Carrot blossom-white

Boy what a week, so glad that's over! In addition to working my 40 hours I promised a friend to help with their vacation bible school because they were doing a weaving and dyeing unit and I know how to do those things. So all my evenings were taken up with that; I had to get up at 4am to water things.

So I didn't really get any pictures of my harvests this week, although I did harvest tomatoes, chard, amaranth, sorrel, some herbs and more of the Red Pontiac potatoes. Love this Harvest Monday blog hop sponsored by Daphne's Dandelions!

pink carrot blossom

The Purple Dragon carrots and really blooming up a storm. And I spotted an unusual blossom; this one is pink instead of white. I'll tag the stem and save those seeds separately just to see if it's passed on to the offspring.

corn

The Golden Bantam corn seems to have taken off overnight. It is now taller than the blooming carrots (on the left of the bed) and showing signs of tasseling, although I don't see any ears or silks yet.

Hale's Best

The Hale's Best Jumbo melon that I planted in the cold frame has a good sized fruit. Something is digging under the plants tho, either a rat or a ground squirrel and I have a rabbit nibbling on the outer edges of the vine. The digging killed some of the vines and a couple of the bean plants. But I don't see any hole in the ground around the frame where I could easily set a trap.

Bonanza Dwarf Peach tree

I came home on Friday to find a large branch had broken off my little peach tree (seen here under some nylon net to foil the birds). The leaves weren't very wilted so I took it in the kitchen and stuck it in a jug of water. The leaves revived and I'm hoping that at least the peaches will soften up enough to eat. It's my own fault; I didn't thin it nearly enough, there are probably 30 peaches on that branch!

Italian Heirloom Tomato

The Italian Heirloom Tomatoes out front are setting fruit.

Tomato Alley

The tomatoes on the patio are going like gangbusters, especially the Princepe Borghese. You can also see that the Tromboncinno squash have grown past the roof line and been guided sideways.

plum tree with bird netting

I put bird netting over the plum tree. Maybe I will actually get a few really ripe plums for me this year!

Eggplants in pots

The eggplants are doing well and beginning to bloom

pepper plants

I did manage to amend the bed where the peas had been and planted out the peppers that were in 1 gallon pots. Some of them are beginning to bloom.


I didn't get any pictures but I did take some chard, mixed greens, tomatoes and potatoes and sold most of it at the farmer's market on Sat. The tomatoes were snatched up quick. In fact most vendors were out of produce in about 45 minutes! Hopefully this week will be a little less crazy and I'll get a chance to take more pictures this week.

Garden Tour

honeybee on red poppy

Wow there is so much going on in the garden lately! Things are just growing, blooming and going crazy I can't hardly keep up with it all! While harvesting is a bit slim at the moment, it's coming to a tipping point, where I will be over run with things in a very short time.

There are still a few oriental poppies blooming, the bees love them and come get all the pollen as soon as they open in the morning.

All Blue potato blossoms

The potatoes are really blooming now, except the German Butterballs which haven't started yet.

squash & cantaloupe on compost pile

This compost pile, made mostly of horse manure and wood chips was made on the terrace garden to kill a tree stump. In the four corners are Baby Blue Hubbard squash and in the center under the Victorian style cloche (just love that thing!) are sprouting some cantaloupes from Italy. Yes, that's going to be crowded, but I figure over a cubic yard of manure should be able to feed them well.

mushrooms on compost

The other compost pile, built to kill an oleander bush next to the rabbit cages has sprouted a great lot of mushrooms. I think they are inky caps, but I'm not trying them. I don't know enough about fungi to risk killing myself.

squash and ground cherry on top of compost pile

On the top of that pile are three Tromboncinno squash to grow up the fence and shade the rabbits and in the foreground an Aunt Molly's ground cherry which I'm growing for the first time. I suspect it will be much like the wild ground cherries in TX which were sweet and tart at the same time.

Tromboncinno in a tub

This Tromboncinno in the old washing machine tub on the patio is beginning to take off. Keep in mind the house roof here is only about 6 feet off the ground.

1st Princepe

1st Currant tomato

Which tomatoes will be ready first? Princepe or Currants?

back garden overview

The back garden is becoming a jungle, the beds on the left, from front to back, Red Pontiac potatoes, then corn with squash and the bolting Purple Dragon carrots, the next bed is the lettuce and turnips, with hollyhocks on the edge, the next one is Red Burgundy amaranth with bolting lettuce, then the bed of peas across the back. On the right, from front to back, you can see the asparagus fronds that are growing by the apple on the fence, the bed with trellis has bolting lettuce, the next one are the Italian paste tomatoes, then the onions and parsnips and then the bed I just planted with quinoa, beans and amaranth. Remember you can click on any picture to see it larger.

turnip and lettuce bed

This is the lettuce and turnip bed which you last saw in this post. (it's the picture labeled 'new lettuce bed'.)  The lettuce was getting bitter, especially those plants in this now mostly bare area where they got a lot of sun and dried out quickly. So I pulled them out along with some weeds, leaving some volunteer pepper and tomato plants and planted 5 yellow zucchini seedlings. In the back are the turnips along with a bit of lettuce now being over run by volunteer tomatoes. In the front and along the right are volunteer hollyhocks.

tomatoes & basil

The bed of Italian paste tomatoes got 6 basil plants along the sunny end.

Hales Best Jumbo Cantaloupe/Muskmelon

In the greenhouse bed the Hale's Best Jumbo is taking off and beginning to run. I've used strips of old cotton sheets to tie it up. Around it are some nasturtiums, on the left is a Florence Red Bottle onion going to seed. On the right is a patch of Rainbow chard seedlings, on each side of the Rainbow chard are patches of Perpetual Spinach chard which are older. Oh I checked the seed packet, they are labeled Hale's Best Jumbo Muskmelon. Because actually, what we call cantaloupes are actually supposed to be called muskmelons. cantaloupes are a similar but different thing. Americans have a lot of things backwards from the rest of the world. Netted melons are muskmelons and smooth ones are cantaloupes.

squash in the new greenhouse bed

In the newest section of the greenhouse bed are more squash, from front to back, 2 Tromboncinno, 5 Buttercup, 1 Baby Blue Hubbard.

I'm sure you are wondering why so many squash plants? (And I have more seedlings underway, they are in those soil blocks in the tray in this pic). Because first I will be selling at the farmer's market this summer and because second squash, especially winter keepers will make good food for me and the chickens this winter. I'm hoping that by next year perhaps I will not have to buy any feed for them at all. We shall see!

Around the Garden

strawberries

Well I lost the first strawberries that tried to ripen in the greenhouse to rotting. They were touching the soil and were buried under the henbit and chickweed. So I cleaned up the bed and broke down and bought a bale of straw $11, ouch. But I mulched around the berry plants, the potatoes that I planted in Jan that are sprouting up and sprinkled a bit on one of the beds on the terraced garden.

Cantaloupe seedlings

The cantaloupe seedlings in the greenhouse are doing well. I'm going to have to thin them down to just one or two plants tho! Also sprouting up are some nasturtiums and there is a California poppy peeking in.

corn seedlings in soil blocks

I've started some Golden Bantam Improved corn in soil blocks. I usually don't start corn until May, but we are already having May type weather so decided to go ahead. I start them in soil blocks because of the birds, they are so terrible, pulling pea, bean and corn seeds out of the ground. This way they seedlings won't have root damage but will be big enough to hopefully escape the birds notice.

Eggplant seedlings

 I have 10 eggplant seedlings that I started indoors weeks ago. There is a hybrid eggplant that is a shocking pink called Neon. I grew it a few years ago and saved some seed. So these will be all different forms and colors. I'll pick my favs and save seed from them again, eventually developing my own. Of course I"m hoping for a shocking pink open pollinated eggplant....

volunteer pepper seedlings

 Remember the Yellow Marble tomato plant that lived all winter? Well apparently when I tried to get it to root on it's stem I broke the stem and it died before rooting. But it looks like there are some pepper plants of some sort volunteering from the compost I put in the planter.

Amish Paste tomato seedlings

I have about 25 canning tomato seedlings, about half Amish Paste and half Italian Heirloom. They will be going into the ground soon.

Little green plum

The plums are getting bigger, although we did lose some in a bad wind the other day, there are still a lot on the tree.

Dwarf Grey Sugar peas making seed

It is getting so warm that the Dwarf Grey Sugar peas are growing faster than I can keep them picked. They have also billowed out into the walk way at the bottom so bad that I can't really reach the tops without breaking the stems along the bottom. So the tops are loaded with pods going to seed. Which is ok, I needed to replenish the supply.

turnip seedlings

I have a small patch of turnips and thinned them out this evening. I tossed the greens in with some chard, lamb's quarters and spinach and cooked them up with bacon and onion for dinner.

one part of the front yard

Here is one part of the front yard, left, some Princepe Borghese tomatoes, some green onions and sweet alyssum. Buried in there are a few new strawberry plants. On the right behind the wire trellis are bunches of Italian Red Bottle onions, in front of it are more green onions and sweet alyssum. Oh yeah, one lone pea plant that the birds missed. The mass of green in the front is madder, a red dye plant.

Headboard trellis & Victorian cloche

Next to that bed is this one. I haven't planted the main part of it yet. On this end is an old head board I picked up off the side of the road. My cute little Victorian cloche is now protecting some watermelon seeds.

terraced garden

Over on the hillside terraced garden the first snapdragon is blooming. You can see I've added some straw to help keep the soil moister and to prevent erosion when it rains.  I've also added some more herbs to these beds, a citrus flavored thyme and two sages, a purple and a golden.

native penstamin

Around these terraced beds are clumps of native penstamin. They really attract bumblebees and hummingbirds.

Tall bearded iris

Here's a close up of my tall bearded iris.

sweetpeas

More sweetpeas began blooming this week. I can get high on these things, they smell soooo good! I planted all sorts of seed, some I collected from a garden fence I walk by sometimes, some from several old seed packets. I'm always attracted by labels that say "highly fragrant" and "old fashioned".  I just wish cameras could capture that fragrance to you could enjoy it too!