urban thicket feb 2010

Facing north this is the right side of the garden. Those were unbleached coffee filters, i cold composted a lot on this plot because im trying to increase moisture, amount of soil and soil quality because it has all been stripped. The bottom right of the picture is dianthus. bottom left is trailing archangel, there is blue irises, herb robert, fox glove, in the majesty palm fronds is jacobs ladder, in the clay pot is a plant i cant remember the name of (i took a tiny baby out of the garden from the a and w on hasting near victoria), in the back is a plant that is similar to iris but is orange and has many flowers along the stem its another one that i knew the naem of last year but forgot over winter,  on the top left in the container is grape hyacinth, next to that is more herb robert, the vine at the top right I do not know the name of, though there is a tag next to it so i will look it up.

 

 

Still on the right side of the plot.

 

  

 

 Ive been growing snap dragons in here for years and finally this year theres a new one coming up from the seeds. It is possible that i got bored of waiting fo rthe seeds to come up and took a cutting, but this garden was starved of water last year so i dont know how likely it would be for one to have survived unless i did it around fall.

  

  

 

 

  

 

This picture make me dizzy, its over looking the balcony, its about a thirty foot drop and the thicket hangs about ten feet of it. The person who lives there is moving so i dont know if im goin gto be trimming it back or not, though it needs it as that is the undeground parkade entrance and after this year i estimate it will be dragging on the tops of cars.

 

  

I did a poor job of prunning, this is my first unsupervised pruning and ainc ei thought theat the maple tree is so vigorous it could handle something that didnt fallow guidelines. I was wrong, pruning has some clear guidelines taht can be played in. when you dont things happen, as you can see in this and the next picture the tree has a disease/fungus, i dont know what it is, the orange stuff at the badly positioned cut.

There is so many rose switches in this area becaues i was training the rose bush around the maple, i was attmepting to slow down the growth of the maple becasue it probably shouldnt be in this small contained plot with as it takes up to much resources, while also increasing smell and beauty, it does look really great when in flower.

 

This is a bit south of the last picture, it is a dangling water group of rose switches. Now its grown a lot and looks really nice, but should be removed as when the wind picks up it swings over to where the owner sits to smoke. 

This vine is reaching about 2 feet above the highest part of the maple and rose. This is the same vine that starts in the first picture. supposively it fruits but this is a north facing balcony.
 

  tulips and poppies starting in a box.

  

 

 

Ive planted herb robert along the wooden boarder.

trailing archangel on the left and spearmint on the right, didnt get much water last year so they are stunted.

My garden in febraury 2010.

The plant in the pot is feverfew, behind it is where my chocolate mint grows. My chocolate mint is meant to be temporaraly there as it doesnt get very much sun. I intentionalyldid that so it wouldnt spread as bad through out my garden while i store it there for a couple years.

The first and second teir has strawberries and at the top i planted three varieties of lettuce.There is also a couple patches of succulents growing here.

 The leaf at the top of the page is sage, i do not know the name of the variety, though commonly it is referred to as culinary sage. The photo is of the two snail shells which i almost buried when filling in the whole that i dug jerusalem artichokes out of. Keen eye to detail is a highly revered trait of a gardener, taking the time to really look at things strengthens this. Looking at the world like im looking for a photo is a way to really exercise this.

This photo is of day lillys, which i have not yet been brave enough to eat a flower but will commit myself to it this year. In the background along the base of the logs is valerian, which i harvest for its sleep benefits.

Garlic at the bottom. Rhubarb in the second tier. A variegated plant(?) around the rock. Bachelor buttons next to the rock.

This is a picture of the same space as the previous one. above the rhubarb next to the variegated plant is a teasel which i grow a few of every year.

Kale that over wintered.

This is the area that i grow calendula for food and i make extract the oil. I do not know what this is growing here, i remember removing it then learning what it was and putting it back in. It starts growing early enough and dies early enough that it doesnt interfere with anything else that i want to grow in this space, maybe find more plants with similar earlyness and fill out this area in spring.

This is a hanging basket i have at my garden that i grow lemon balm in, i like it when it blows in the wind and smells the place up but i also use it to rub inbetween my hands before i wash them or drink out of them, adds a nice flavor to the water. I do not know the flowering plant that is also in there, though last year i had figured it out, so may be i will find it in my bookmarks and update this information.

I think its a membber of the mallow family, but i dont know, another one that when itts bigger ill be able to identify.

 I do not know the name of the large plant in the front center of this picture, it has radish like flowers early summer.

Lambs ear, kale, blue irises (maybe tulips also, pictures to small to see) in the bottom right corner.

The area in the front is where i removed lambs ear from. The large plant is broccoli from last year.beneath it is lambs ear and tulips.Holly hock and a tiny tulip beside it.

 My cloning/intermediary transplant box. Spearmint dangling. Mullein. Garlic chives, kale, herb robert.

chocolate mint rhizomes, or runners that i pulled form my garden. They should be going into someone elses garden but i have no contracts.

on the left of the containers is bachelor buttons. In side is honeysuckle, there is also likely valerian and variegated feverfew and mugwort.

I do not know the name of this plant, its a nice landscaping plant. surprised it hasnt been stolen like my other nice landscaping plants and plant pots. It hasnt grown vary much because its only in full sun as long as the other plants that grow around it (usually a variety of flowers) are not there to shade it.

I grew jerusalem artichokes in a bucket last year, not very succesful but a good way to store them until i have a better place for them.

 The first fork of soil dug up to remove jerusalem artichokes from my garden. I still havent eaten jerusalem artichokes, this year i commit to it since they grow so well adn store in the ground through out the winter vary well.

 The bucket load of jerusalem artichokes or sun chokes i pulled from my plot. To remove these i had to dig about two feet down.

Some of the chokes, the larger ones. The one on the bottom left is the size of two of my fists side by side.

I do not remember what plant species this is. Im sure i will figure it out in a couple months.

 The lettuce (butter crunch (?) that survived winter. A week later it was quit a bit larger.

Vining archangel taken from my urban thicket project. I am watching it closely to make sure it doesnt spread.

This is a stray lettuce, (i believe). It is not in my plot but off to where the old weed pile was before the gardens expaned. I was there a few weeks after this photo was taken and there is also swiss chard about two feet away.

When facing south on the path this is the right side of my plot. By the bucket is where i pulled jerusalem artichokes from. There is also in the vicinity garlic chives.

This is a climbing hydrengea on the east side of the shed of cottonwood community gardens.

One final close look at the jerusalem artichokes/ sun chokes.

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.

Densification

There is this strange balance with garden ecology. no its not strange, its undeniably normal and in constant use by the processes of nature. It is a  peculiar process that balances the growth of things.

Growing two plants of the same species with in its parameters of allotted or optimal sun. One plant each in two of the categories: full, partial (morning, mid, evening), and the variants of shade.

In this case lets take two plants of the same variety that thrive in full and partial sun and place one in full sun and one partial sun, morning and evening. The variety of plant flowers in early summer when grown in full sun. The plant in partial sun would then, (if given the same amount of water or no odd variables interact) flower in mid summer when the moisture/ heat variables are similar since the more shade the longer the moisture remains and the heat stays low. At the further extreme this same variety of plant placed in mostly shade will flower at the end of summer, or, as in many occasions shade and full sun the plant may flower in fall as would be the case the camellia (north side of building ) and Scotch broom (in full sun often flowers a second time but much less flowers). Likewise a plant which would die normally if planted in full/mostly shade will survive if given less water and a plant that would bolt (maybe die, i havent tried though) in full sun if given enough water will continue to stay in vegetative growth.

This becomes important if your garden is to have layers, which is a step towards dense bio-systems. When creating a dense garden one ought to be weary of water consumption, if you need to use a lot of water then the plants that are in it are not well balanced for the ecosystem. After all gardening attempts to be your opportunity to mold an ecosystem. Besides your ecologys' hydrologic system you should be aware of air flow. Sharing your crop with insects is one thing but mold is not very fun. This is important to remember if you've been mulching through out summer as mold is naturally going to be there as a part of a healthy ecosystem, dealing with decay and transformation.  Proper wind flow will help the plants that are susceptible. Wind flow will be based on a few variants; The wind outside of your small contained ecosystem, temperature of your area and physical shape of the area including the plants shape. It will be the warming of the cool air from shaded areas that rises until it hits the hotter air from the not shaded area that will drop that air before it warms up. Or when you water the garden the cold air will push across the surface (see anecdote about urban thicket and watering the balcony to bring cold air through the house).

The term forest floor gardening speaks volumes of the method of layering. Plants in the spaces up high, medium height and on the  ground. The next step towards densification is accounting for the root shapes. There are roots that are short and span a half circle these plants often need more water when in full sun as the top layer of ground dries first, if there is no upper layer to shade it i recommend mulching and not taking off any of the first leaves. Plants furthest reaching leaves are there to shade the roots, you can use the shading and the sun to minimize or encourage a plants growth. There are plants with tap roots which are thick and usually one or a few root branches. These usually will need less watering if left alone in full sun compared to the previous type and work well with the previous variety because they take different niches in the ecosystem. Another type of root is cylindrical and usually thin, such as morning glory roots and rhizomes. Each type of root has varieties of shapes branching type and other form related adaptations.

Hills and landscape construction elevations is another way to densify , both are methods of literally expanding the amount of growing space. As an example if you built a pergola and grew gords on it, or train a fruit tree along it, you now have the space underneath that is partially shade and still has room for plants in the ground reaching high medium and low. Hills make a bit of a difference also. consider a flat line, now make it a right angle triangle, the hypotenuse is longer. A pyramids hypotenuses are shorter then they would be if it was a right angle triangle but there is more of them and it adds up to a bit more. Pyramids are also better in that the sun crosses the sky and comes down at different angles. In the morning the east side of the pyramid and half of south and north are lit. In the evening the west and half of north half of south. Depending on longitude/ time of year mid day may light up south/ half east/half west or the entire pyramid. With hills one must keep in mind that the bottom of the hill will hold a lot more water then the top and should plant accordingly.


Some plants do not do well with other plants keeping their lower section shaded, i believe it is the moisture provided by the shade. Some plants do not do well with mulching, apple trees for example. Be weary that rot can happen with some plants, while roots in others, speed or inhibit growth.

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.

I now have 43 house plants and at least another 12 cuttings on the go. I havent been to my garden in 3 months, but am planning on going soon to bury a pumpkin and a squash. The urban thicket is needing some reworking as the owner now has a young bow who will be two in the summer, roses  dangling everywhere may not be so good.

Its very mild right now in vancouver, crocuses, snowdrops, tulips are all sprouting. I have cat grass growing on my balcony and many trees are starting to bud. If we have a cold snap in February or march as we have in other years i wonder what the affects on the plant life will be. As soon as i have a way to upload pictures from my digital camera i will post pictures of my house plants, which include cat grass growing in a medium mostly of coffee grounds, indoor catnip (my apartment is north facing so this was a little surprising) and a yam plant that is growing in my kitchen. I a yam plant two months ago that was hydroponic and it grew so incredibly fast. We put some wood across the top of our cupboards so that it could grow along looked really nice. That one died because my place became infested with fungus gnats. so trying again.