Golden Gardening

I just had to return Carol Deppe's book The Resilient Gardener to the library, and put it on hold again because I didn't have time to finish it. But it's a good one! In the meantime I have some quick notes from chapter 2 regarding her stated "33 Golden Rules", which can be found in complete list form here. Personally I think some of them are redundant but I understand why she repeats certain principles for dramatic affect. The first three and last three are the best.

1. All gardening is local
2. Plant things that grow where you live
3. Variety, variety, variety

31. Slow down
32. Notice everything
33. Save, cherish and distribute seeds of the varieties you care most for

So how am I doing? I really need to... relax and pay attention.

Soil, what are you?

It's always nice to have more information. Dita was visiting the past few days and right before she left she asked me to make sure I plant peas. I was like, I got you! How about some chamomile and dill too? Dill is a most prized herb in Latvian cuisine. She said she had trouble growing it here for the last two years. Is that because she was trying to grow Latvian seed in Seattle ground? I have seed variety special for here. Or is there something up with the soil? Today we are in the Capricorn constellation (earth/root). Yesterday I looked for a soil tester kit at Swansons but they didn't have one. Today I googled "soil testing Seattle" and came up with this. There are many services here in Seattle (of course) including a resource at UW. I have a couple days to check this out. I'm also super excited to visit the Botanic Library for the first time. I've always wanted to get soil tested before, just for the experience. The King Conservation District has FREE SOIL TESTING SERVICES. I may even do something with the information I will gain.

Pruning For Prunes

Went to another workshop at Swansons this morning co-organized by City Fruit, promoting the production and maintenance of urban orchards and fruit trees in Seattle. I went so I could learn tips for caring for this very old plum tree on the property that hasn't been maintained for who knows how long.

Each year in the Spring, fruit trees should be pruned back to no more than a quarter of the total canopy surface. This is to promote fruit production and health, for purposes of increasing air circulation and greater light access. Branches situated at 45 degrees (rather than inward, vertical, horizontal or downward) are optimal for spaciousness. As can be seen in this photo the branching is heavy and mostly positioned horizontal or downward. The canopy is very dense.

Which makes a lot of sense because it's an old tree, and surely has a complex root system. The complex crown exists to balance it out. As can be seen in this photo, though, the tree was trained well in the beginning, there is good structure coming from the trunk. But at some point the maintenance was let go.

My task will be prune back the "4 D's", as Ingela the instructor put it, that is those parts of the branches dead, dying, diseased or deranged. All of the unnecessary complexity getting in the way of light, air and space. Cutting smartly, though, so I don't damage the tree by creating too many wounds. Carefully now. In the middle of March the moon will be in descent (waning) in the Saggitarrius constellation (warmth/fruit) which seems like a good time to battle the plums.

Grapes & Berries in Aries

We entered the Aries constellation today / warmth / fruit. And so appropriately, I went to workshop at Swansons this morning called "Grapes and Berries in Your Garden", and have walked away with some informational handouts and increased excitement for caretaking the berries and grapes currently established, and perhaps adding a few plants this year. Now is the time to plant bare roots. With the enormous rhodendron hedgerow shading out half the garden I will probably add currents, which are able to tolerate some shade. Other berries are said to need at least 6 hours of sun, which some beds in this garden cannot provide. Soon I will need to prune the table grapes.

 At the workshop I learned that in order to maximize sunlight, foliage should be cut back. Also the rows should be planted North/South. Unfortunately for these grapes, they are planted among a rhodedendron hedge East/West. Since I have to go in to prune, and can barely find the canes anyway, I'll be cutting back some of the rhodedendron.

For berries, we have one flowering current, one gooseberry, two blueberries (do not self-fertilize, so need at least two kinds of plants nearby each other) 

and lot's of ever-bearing strawberries (one main crop in June and smaller crop end of summer)!!! I found out contrary to my previous understanding, that strawberries, too, prefer lot's of sun, and like roses and other berries, should be watered from below - don't water from above and avoid fungal problems.

 I love this photo because it makes the strawberries seem like they have super intense root systems. What you are seeing here is a need for me to trim back some runners. I really need to clean up these strawberry beds because more space is better for productivity. One farm I worked on let the strawberries go and it because so dense in there, nothing much came out. The farmer decided to take out the entire bed altogether, but better maintenance would have ensured more crop. I'm one to talk. I should not have all that foliage as seen above. Strawberries are supposed to be "mowed down" after harvest to an inch to overwinter. I did this to some extent last fall. Since I'll be removing the border beds to plant alliums and nitrogen-fixers I'll finish the job soon. Months later. Today I will clean up the strawberries, tomorrow I will prune the grapes. Full Moon is on it's way.

Re-Store Resolve

With the day off after 3 long ones, I visited the Re-Store for the first time (after having biked past there so many times! Yep). They currently have a wheelbarrow for $30, which I may purchase, it's just a matter of getting up the hill to North Beach. I was overwhelmed by the amount of material, like I would be in any hardware store, but the people are so nice. I have until March 10 to design the bike cart and make a supply list, for the chicken coop too... Because there are these workshops coming up:

Salvage Chicken Coop Design Class
March 10th, 10 AM - 12 PM The RE Store, Seattle - 1440 NW 52nd Street
Price: $10 (includes discount to the store)
Questions or pre-register with Bray

Interested in keeping chickens in your backyard but don't know how to get started?  Brad Halm from The Seattle Urban Farm Company will help guide you through the process of designing a chicken coop and run and figuring out where to put it.  He'll discuss the basics of managing a flock in an urban backyard, sizing and siting the coop, design tips to keep out predators, and how to personalize your coop and save money using salvaged materials for construction!

• Keeping Chickens in the City
Time: 6:30 PM to 7:45 PM
Location: Ballard Library
Want to keep chickens but don't know where to start? This class covers the basics of keeping chickens in the city. It includes information on starting with chicks, feed, housing requirements and resources to continue your chicken education. This class is part of the four year anniversary celebration of Seattle Free School. Four years ago on March 15th Seattle Free School held it's very first class, Keeping Chickens in the City! Register Here
Awesome! I've wanted to attend a free school workshop since they first started organizing themselves upstairs in Cafe Allegro. I can't believe how long it takes me to organize myself. I'm about to bike over to Portage Bay Grange  to say hello.

How Green Is My Garden?

In lieu of "high yield" or "productivity" comes the book High-Impact, Low-Carbon Gardening by Alice Bowe (Timber Press, 2011) filled with talk of sustainable strategies. Of course I can get behind that. Although one major discredit is that the book lacks discussion on distribution of resources. No chapter on the sustainable obcurement of resources (although there is a section titled "choosing plants from sustainable sources"). It's a problem because each garden is much larger than the garden itself. I suppose if I were to quiz the author on this point she'd say, that's a whole other book, not my project. But how do you talk sustainability without talking larger scales?

Regardless the book is beneficial to encourage me thinking about how I can make this little North Beach garden (and the BCC kids garden) as sustainable as possible. Plants to capture carbon emissions, a bike cart to transport plant starts, a drip irrigation system made out of reused materials. I still haven't been to the Re-Store, so I guess I have some homework to do. I'VE BEEN WANTING TO MAKE A BIKE CART FOR SO LONG WHY HAVEN'T I DONE IT YET. Baby on the way. (Make sure to check out the links on each of these projects, they are awesome)

"One Cow"

Watched this documentary about biodynamic farming as portrayed through the work of Peter Proctor, and farming in India. Called "How To Save The World", quite an ambitious project, right? No need to be turned off by the title. Although the film is propaganda for the biodynamic movement, it's at least a do-gooder. And it's atleast reflexive enough to address the criticism of this philosophy as "voodoo doo doo". Though I haven't been convinced biodynamic food production will save the world (it's hard for me to wrap my head around how the preparations can be produced on a mass scale) I still appreciate the heart and attention this system offers, in the relationship between the grower and that which is grown. My instinct says these preparations designed by one man, Rudolf Steiner, not that long ago, are just arbitrary formulas. The more important thing as a farmer or gardener is to be engaged at the depth Steiner was, working through their own formulas. At the same time I think the herbal preparations make sense, because nettle, dandelion and chamomile plants are full of wonderful properties, but to follow Steiner's precise recipes seems unnecessary. But what do I know?

My instinct also says that cosmic forces are indeed operating in our microcosmic lives and gardens. I don't want to get hooked into beliefs like in the constellation capricorn root crops will behave this or that way. But I still want to pay attention. Today was New Moon, and we are entering a period of ascent as the moon moves to Full... Tomorrow we enter the Aquarious constellation (flower)... I'm working 3 8-hour days when all the daylight abounds so I probably won't get to the garden.

I want to live in a city where cows are unfenced and chilling by the side of the road!!!