Planning

Today i planted lettuce, and a couple bulbs i had laying around. So far this year i have worked on the landscaping of my plot twice. This inspired me to discuss planning. If i wasnt so confused, and weary of vancouvers unusually warm winter/ early spring i would have started at the beginning of febraury.

I just wrote a big post on densification and its 3 am so i probably wont finish this tonight and will add more likely after sundays work party when im inspired.

Make a map, put your plants on it, this helps in a couple ways: figure out what works/ where you want to plant next year, know where you planted things, weeding out your seedlings is not fun (then again if your doing row hills probably not as much of an issue). When you create your map or planting plan keep in mind the sun path and any shade provided by outside obstacles, where are things going to end up a couple months down the road?. Also when deciding where to plant consider densification (see densification right up) and soil. Different plants like different soil. Some plants want a normal layer then a layer of sand and all sorts of varities. Soil itself i do not know that well, and even less about which plants like which type. Drainage is an important aspect of soil, as you will see in densification the hydrologic ecology influences when plants go to different stages of growth. The entire hydrologic system of the world is something that needs to be allowed to heal and agriculture has been one of the influences on where it is now.

I dont use nails, i pile logs and when using boards i stack them on top of each other then use a stick stuck in the ground to hold them in place. Its an exercise in impermanence. So at this time of year i often have a few repairs in which i remove the slanted board, use the shovel to edge out a flat surface and put the board back into its place. After one year (this will be my 4th at cottonwood community gardens, 3 in the same plot) the ground becomes compact enough to stand on its own and the boards are there as a little extra help in case a dog steps in the garden or something. I havent used rows much, this year though i plan to. My issue for the last 3 years has been how to hide the "good" plants in plain site so that they dont get stolen. This coming year i think ive learned enough about hiding that i can have some rows. My gardens physical landscape is going to be based on a tiered layers and the continuous bed is pretty much a spiral. If i could i would build a cone, but the path way underneath/ in it would be spiraling in and i would have tiers down the side of the cone.

Where are you going to compost?. Where are you putting invasive plants you have no use for?

I often plan to grow a couple plants that have leaves suitable for mulching. I also in general put all of my non- invasive composting right on the soil. Some plants such as rhubarb and pumpkin/squash leaves have been reported to work at keeping some pests out. this form of mulching/composting puts nutrients back into the soil and if placed properly provides shade and moisture for the other plants.Kale is a good source of mulching, it grows leaves vigorously and manages to either bio-synthesize or uptake a lot of nutrients. My invasive weeds i put in a corner of my plot on the other side of the far west path. I do not have a whole lot of direct light in the summer but if i had an abundance i would put them in it so that the sun would dry and scorch the ivnasive roots to death. Where they are now they do die fairly well, but in mid summer they get lots of humidity and shade which their roots thrive in.
K its almost 4 am, i will finish and re-vise on sunday night.

Feb 16th cottonwood community gardens.

i did not take a lot f photos this day as i was focused on some repairs to my garden boxes, terraces and other landscape needs. Non of these are of my plot.

Blueberry bush budding.

A goose berry bush In early spring. I plan on eventually doing write ups on various individual plants, including photos through out their growing phases. Of not about gooseberries is that they collect a lot of natural yeasts making them ideal for a catalyst in making homemade alcohol, which is something i will also do a write up on in the future, as i further develop the site.

 

These are my indoor yam plant at about a week since the start of growth The first one, in the blue dish is hydroponic. The second is in a large plastic salad box with dirt. My father built a rectangle out of 1x1 boards for it to grow along. I need to be careful with the ditrt one because fungal growth will cause an out brake of fungus gnats in the house, which i may post pictures of the amount fo dead gnats that were around the house.

This is one of the eagles that lives in cottonwood community gardens. This one is hanging out a couple trees west of the gardens

One of the eagles that lives near the gardens. this is their second nest ive seen them live in since ive started visiting cottonwood community gardens. This next and eagle are near the north west corner of the gardens.

This is the west entrance to cottonwood community gardens. The eagle nest is to the right of this picture.The original picture are all on a friends computer, which is lame because i had to save these from my facebook account which im pretty sure degrades the quality. Originally oi named every plant in the first 3 garden plots because the quality was so goo d i could zoom right in.

 

This is facing east 180 degrees of where i was facing previous. The placement of the other pictures is messed up and wont give me a place to write up on the other photos, so i will make note of them here.The first is a hollyhock, i do not name the succulent that is under neath it, though i have 3 varieties in my garden.One variety is edible, i have it booked marked somewhere and if i find it i will update. Theres also a plant in the top left that i can see very well in this format but i believe its mellisa officianalis. The next photo should be crocuses in a tribute plot, i cant see the other plants well enough to idnetify them, but with a good picture viewer this is an amazing picture the colours and the textures are great.  The next photo is of a magenta primrose. The photo after that is one of the elder gardeners of the community gardens gardens, wow, does that sentence make sense. He use to be the benevolent dictator until some fools wanted democratic process. Democracy in this situation takes to long, we only spend an hour and a bit talking all together at the work parties. He new the layout of the whole gardens and being benevolent and all was fair and allowed people to do things as long as it wasnt going to be harmful to the gardens.

My Plot

My plot is at Cotton wood community gardens in strathcona, vancouver. It is completely organic. There are no weeds, as i weed out some stuff but it never leaves the plot, and i never remove all of a species until ive identified it. My plot has zero budget, no money spent.

currently giving away almost daily because of weeding;



Currently in my garden i have:

-Chocolate Mint
-Great Mullien
-Love in the mist ( white and blue flowering)
-Iris' ( blue, yellow, orange, red)
-holly hock (purple flowers)
- orange Calendula and orange with black center (interesting 3 coloured calendula near mainstreet to collect seed from)
- A type of sage
- white and purple flowering oregano bushes
- chives and garlic chives
- a variety of poppies (including opium and california)
- valerian
-Rhubarb
-Peas
-borage
-violets
-Bulls blood Beets
-Evening Primrose
-Dark Pink wild roses
-garlic
-potatoes
-2 varieties of wild lettuce
-Dandelion
-white morning glory
-locust trees
-Butterfly bush
-3 varieties of thistle (i know ones milk thistle)
-2 varities of artemisia
-lambs ear
-Marshmallow
-Fennel
-Carrots
-three varities of radish
-Foxglove
-Lemon Balm
-Spearmint
-Black berries
-chickweed
at least 30 that i dont know the names of yet

Experiments at the plot
My plot is currently being developed in the likeness of a pyramid so that i may do ecology tests for my pyramid/ garden city project


- a lot of cuttings on the go that i dont know the names of
-potatoe light defecincy
-potoatoe minimal dirt
-composting
-various water table experiments
-erosion experiments
-water absorption experiments
-ant experiments
-vision distraction/illusion experiments ( what works for hiding plants)