Welcome
back to another episode of Lost in the Farmers Market. This is the first post
of April which is the first full month of spring and the point at which the
weather could go either way. It could get cold, we could conceivably have frost
or it could be constantly rainy and miserably wet. There is no predicting the
weather in a year where Easter is late. Just as a note the unofficial latest
frost date is normally Easter Sunday, however because Easter is late this year,
super late! In 2018 Easter was April 1st, but this year it’s the 21st
for reasons that don’t make a lot of sense truthfully. According to the USDA,
this year’s last probable frost date is the 9th of April, since I
cross-checked past unofficial and official frost dates for the last decade just
to see why we have such a holiday anomaly this year. I think it is safe to say
that the USDA date is the safest of them all as long as you utilize the normal
amounts of caution and watch the weather reports.
With
my correction to prior statements about the frost date handled, it’s time we
get into the real substance of today’s garden topics. In the last post we got
waylaid because I stopped the normal order of things to discuss frost and how
some plants have defenses against it. At the time I thought we had a relatively
long wait before we could plant out the warm season stuff but research revealed
the information in the paragraph above and now, we are back on track. April is
a pretty heavy month, because it and the last two weeks of march ideally is
when you should be doing the real heavy lifting because it is just cold enough
that you are not straining, but warm enough that you are not shivering. This
week’s post will cover the planning of a bed, and the next post will cover the
soil science that supports it.
About
bed design, it’s not a complicated thing to do.
The actions that you undertake to create a garden bed are no different
then a sculptor’s work with a featureless block of stone int hat you start with
an idea of what that featureless patch of earth is going to be, and then you
act in measured amounts to make it look like what you imagine. There are errors
and such along the way of course, but that’s part of the learning process. The
final result is your imagination brought into reality, and the reward may
literally be the fruits of your labor. This discussion leads to a question I
get a lot as a professional in the field of Horticulture.
“How
do you design garden beds?”
The
answer is a lot simpler than most would believe, as it follows five stages.
1.
Visualize the Project – I often try to
imagine what the bed might look like, and what I intend to put in there and
what that bed might look like say, five to ten years after construction. I also
consider what impacts new bed-idea will have on the surrounding landscape such
as if or if not, it will alter water runoff, if it needs extra irrigation and
what maintenance it will need and how often it will need it. At this stage a
very rough concept sketch might be drawn.
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| Sorry if this image is a bit light, I used a new scanning method. |
2.
Measurement &
Drafting
– The second stage involves me taking the needed three-dimensional measurements
to estimate what the project most likely will look like. Although precision
isn’t absolutely necessary at this point (see image), when I draw out a
three-dimensional version of the project it helps with stage three.
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| The upper portion is a top-down view while the lower half is a rough three dimensional view as seen from the back of the house. |
3.
Refinement &
Estimation –
In order to estimate the full cost of building a bed, I need reasonable
measurements and research into the cost of materials and the relative amounts
of materials that are locally available. The refinement of the drafted plans in
step two are either just a more precise redraw, or a computer aided refinement
for clarity purposes (see image).
4.
Final Survey – A fair number
of gardeners forget this step, but it is important because it helps you lessen
the incidences of ‘Discovery’. ‘Discovery’ is a Horticulture term that refers
to the things in the landscape that you accidentally encounter that were not
seen at any stage of the process prior and they may pose a serious problem for
your project. Discovery might be buried pipes (call 811 if you are not sure
folks!) electrical lines, buried stonework (yes, the foundations of brick walls
can sink over time) and that’s just the basic hazards. You might save yourself
a lot of trouble if you say spot that yellow jacket ground nest you missed
before. The final survey which can accompany a photo-survey of the work site
can help document your progress for outside scrutiny and if you want good input
a picture is literally worth a thousand words.
5.
Actualization – For those of you
into psychology, this isn’t some Maslow’s hierarchy of needs kind of stuff.
This is the stage at which you have a plan, did your research and have all the
materials ready and the time set aside, you and anyone helping you make that
dream happen. There is room for learning
at this stage especially if the bed you are building is part of a greater plan.
After you are done you can do a critical review and see how to streamline the
process or just move on to the next operation, either way you have accomplished
your goal.
Given that the above project has been delayed thanks to my neighbor's constant disrespect for property lines, I do not have pictures of this project going any further at the time of this delayed post. I will however, post an update and or edit in photographs as the project progresses so that all of you out there can see the whole process. Below are this week's garden
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| It's been a running joke for years that those elusive few blue Bearded Iris on premises evaded photography and were imaginary only, well here is the proof. |
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| This poor crested Iris has had a rough two years, it's story is one of perseverance (see below). |
I bought these in one of those bulb packs in 2017, and then forgot
about the pack entirely. later the same year I uncovered it and found
the shriveled remains of a single iris rhizome that by all accounts
should have been compost so I tossed it in the raised flower bed and figured it would just become fodder. Boy, was I wrong, this bulb sprouted, but did not bloom the first year and I was surprised and decided to let it keep trying, in 2018 it came back, but wasn't too happy in it's location. So I then transplanted it to the pictured location in the compass bed, and amazingly it loved it there and this is the first year it bloomed. No matter how delicate a plant may look, you might find out that deep down you have a tough as nails survivor that only needs the right opportunity to amaze you. I should note the day lilies in the right-hand corner of the picture also had it rough, they were in the front bed and endured frost damage and being run over by the neighbors cargo van, as an act of mercy that bed was evacuated this year and it's occupants, four Shepard day lilies and two Cayenne Red Cone flowers were transplanted to rear beds to give all those perennials a renewed fighting chance.
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| Viola hybrid 'Heart Throb' |
As the final garden photograph of this post, we have Heart Throb Violets, which is a cultivated hybrid of the fairly common English Violet (Viola odorata) which is also known as Sweet Violet because of it's sweetly scented flours and the use of them in confections. If you pay attention to what herbicide companies claim it's is a terribly invasive species that is out to deprive you of the American Dream, steal your significant other and apparently is better at every aspect of your job so it will get you fired also. Now for those of you who read this blog regularly you know I have a favoritism for violets because they have so many herbal uses, also cultivated versions have pretty foliage and flowers in other colors than violet or blue so this is a versatile garden perennial that is semi-deciduous. These plants are very good at breaking down tougher compounds in leaf litter and turning that into topsoil, also it might be possible they have a beneficial link to earthworms as their dense canopy of foliage may or may not provide shelter when rain forces worms out of their burrows. Volets are a partial to full shade perennial that prefers moist (but not wet) soil that is a bit on the clay side but does perfectly well with compost-enriched potting soil. It might go dormant during the winter especially if in a pot. Overall it's a well behaved medicinal herb to have around.
With
all that garden goodness covered this is the part of the blog where I have to
advertise for the Fayetteville City Market. Now I know you readers probably
don’t much like advertisements, but by booth at the City Market helps to cover
the costs of running the test garden and literally maintains the Research &
Development budget that is used to bring you the information that has made up
the backbone of this blog. Also, as of
the start of 2019, my booth can now process credit or debit cards thanks to the
acquisition of s a Square reader so your payment options have doubled. With
that said, if you want to get some GMO-free, Organic vegetables, herbs and
fruiting shrubs come on down to the Fayetteville City Market on 325 Maxwell
Street in downtown Fayetteville between the Hours of 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on
Saturdays. Even in bad weather the market goes on though you might have to look
for me under the ‘arches’ of the Transportation Museum’s front entryway.
Plants & Stuff Available Now:
Herbs:
Basil,
Sweet: 3” - $3.00
Etruscan
Santolina: 3” - $4.00
Eucalyptus,
Dwarf: 3” - $4.00
Fennel,
Black: 3” - $3.00
Garlic,
Jerimiah’s Heirloom 3” - $3.00
Lavender,
‘Elegance Purple’: 3” - $3.00
Rue, Marbled: 3" - $4.00
Tansy,
(Feverfew): 3" -$3.00
Fruits & Vegetables:
Lettuce,
Cimarron: 3” - $3.00
Lettuce,
Parris Island: 3” - $3.00
Mustard,
Red Giant: 3” - $3.00
Peppers, Tabasco: 3” - $3.00
Peppers,
Thai Dragon: 3” - $3.00
Potato, Dark Red Norland: 3" - $3.00
Tomato,
Black Cherry: 3” - $3.00
Tomato,
Chocolate Cherry: 3” - $3.00
Tomato,
Glacier: 3” - $3.00
Tomato,
Gold Nugget: 3” - $3.00
Tomato,
Sungold: 3” - $3.00
Garden Perennials:
Coneflower,
PowWow Wildberry Mix: 3” - $3.00
Salvia, New Dimension Blue: 3” - $3.00
Milkweed,
(Asclepias tuberosa: 4" - $4.00
Milkweed,
Whorled: (Asclepias verticillata): 4" - $4.00
Coming Soon:
Carrot,
Amarillo
Carrot,
Atomic Red
Carrot,
Black Nebula
Carrot,
Lunar White
Coneflower,
Cayenne Red
Datura,
Black Currant
Datura,
Indigo (rare!)
Datura,
White Ballerina
Lupine,
Carolina
Parsnip,
Hollow Crown
Pomegranate,
Dwarf: 6"
These
days I am generally at Leclair’s General Store once a week, for the weekly
Sustainable Neighbors meeting at 5:30pm through 7:00 pm. If you have questions
then I will be there to answer your questions. Since our meetings have an
open-door policy you don’t need to sign up for anything or join anything, you
can come on in ask for us and join the meetings. If not, you can always send me
questions through this blog or visit the farmer’s market or pay attention to
what Sustainable Neighbors is doing at the link below.
https://www.meetup.com/SustainableNeighbors/
This brings to a close
the seventh LITFM post of the new year, stay tuned the next episode which
should be posted on the 19th of April. There will be more garden
updates and other cool stuff.
*Authors note: This post was delayed due to a heavy allergy flare-up. Don't worry folks, it was written before the due date and only required posting but, for a few days I was VERY sick, things are on the mend now and the next update which is also already written should get posted on time. Sorry for the delay and thank you for reading.
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