Front Rain Garden

We thought it would be interesting to show the progression our front yard rain garden has followed in the last seven years since we installed it.

At the beginning in spring 2012, there was a ditch with tiny plants replacing the flat lawn we inherited. Unfortunately, we didn't keep a good list of the plants we originally planted; they were all Oregon natives. Just from the picture, you can see the Cascara tree, 5 sword ferns, a Red Flowering Currant, a few sedges down in the bottom and there were a few Kinnikinnick. There was a row of Spirea douglasii along the front edge, and then a few more Nootka roses in front of those. (In the early days, Jeff tried weaving together the rose branches into a living fence, but that didn't work well.)

By 2016, you could see things were starting to fill in. (Got out of control?) We had a little vegetable garden between the rain garden and the path.

Another view in 2016. Those plants along the front side got a lot bigger than the plant directories said they would. You can barely see the house through the plants.

Here it is in early spring 2017. Without the leaves, it didn't seem so bad. 

By this point Jeff had dug out the wild roses because they were spreading out of control. The Spirea douglasii was still really tall. Many plant directories say Spirea douglasii grows up to 7 feet. Don't believe them. You can clearly see they're taller than the first story of our house. Maybe they were growing taller to try and find sun, but it won't work. Once we figured out we could prune them mercilessly, Jeff did that. He cut them down to about two feet.

At some point, we got a volunteer birch tree in there. It had gotten really tall and Sharon asked Jeff if he would remove it but he really liked it and wanted to leave it. But about a month ago, when we had a week of unseasonably hot weather, and it did this—which spelled its demise.

When Aaron was here earlier this week, he and Jeff worked to clear out the tallest shrubs. The rain garden is looking a little rough right now, but it's on the road to recovery.

The big hole is from the elderberry root ball they removed

It's definitely starting to look less overgrown.

Now that we have easier access, Jeff was able to weed the interior, and prune the Currant. Now we need to see if we can find any shade-loving plants to replace those that died. And we need to find a couple shrubs that are MUCH shorter, maybe a maximum of four feet. We're thinking about a ninebark, which can also be pruned to the ground if it gets too big.

Update a few days later: We bought a Summer Wine Ninebark for the space. We love the burgundy color. This should fill in nicely over the next couple of years.

Stabilizing and planting on a steep sandy slope

This site lists a technique of using check logs to terrace by building up rather than digging in:
https://www.tenthacrefarm.com/2014/10/heres-a-quick-way-to-terrace-a-hill/ 

Here are some plants for erosion control:
https://wshg.net/blog/2014-06-17/best-native-plants-for-protecting-your-hillside-from-erosion/

PNW options: (definitely full sun, southern exposure, drier soils)
https://wmswcd.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Native-Plants-for-Erosion-Control.pdf

Some promising ideas: Kinnikinnick, deltoid balsamroot, Red flowering Currant, Hairy Honeysuckle

Vegetable Garden 2012

Today was the day to prep the front yard vegetable garden bed. I had a small bag of worm compost and some glacial rock dust to use for amendments. I probably should have used more compost, but that was what I had on hand. I also had a pile of semi-composted leaves that I worked in to the deep part of the soil to improve water retention and provide some organic matter in time. 

The basic plan was to double dig, except I was working with a mound so I had a little bit of slope to contend with. Also the area wasn't rectangular but was more of a lens shape. So I had to play it by ear somewhat.
I like the long handled spade I got at Red Pig Tools specifically for this kind of work. 

Still the basic principle was:
* Cover the whole area with the amendments.
* Remove a foot or so of dirt in a strip about the width of the spade. * Put in some leaves.
* Work them in a little.
* Repeat. 

Once I was done with the digging, I broke up the biggest of the clods and raked the dirt into a nice mound. Then I flattened the top, and created two tiers on the way down. I tried to make the tiers level with a little bit of a lip so water would fill the whole ditch and percolate in without overtopping the levies. These are basically mini-swales. 

Next up: Planting vegetables!

Incredible Edibles Plant Sale -- May 5

This weekend, on May 5, the Multnomah County Master Gardeners are putting on an Incredible Edibles Plant Sale,10am to 3pm, on the grounds of All Saints School, 601 NE Cesar E. Chavez Blvd (formerly NE 39th Avenue).

Rain Garden Construction

Time to mark out a rain garden to capture the water from the gutters that are about to be installed. This looks like a good place for a garden. Needs to be 48 square feet (which is one tenth of the roof area this downspout covers). Time to start marking the outline with a shovel to begin to remove the turf.

Shasta helpfully supervises.

Keep marking.

There. I now have the boundary delineated. Now we pull the turf out of the interior.

The dirt I remove I use to build up a berm around the outer edge, and a bigger berm between the garden and the sidewalk that I'll use to plant a hedgerow.

Adding some compost to the base of the berm to improve organic matter and water holding.

Dig in the compost a little.

Lay some branches to decay in place, add some soil, then sprinkle with glacial rock dust for good measure.

Now for some serious earth moving.

Shasta keeping a close eye on things.

Hey look, it works!

Signed up for Permaculture Design Course

I signed up for a local Permaculture Design Course with Toby Hemenway, author of Gaia's Garden. It is one weekend a month for six months. Now I need to find a copy of Bill Mollison's Permaculture: A Designer's Manual.

Gardening on the North side of a house on a North facing slope

I've been doing some more musing about gardening "on the the North side of things".

The seven feet of yard nearest the house never see direct noontime sun because it is always in the shadow of the house. The next seven feet only get direct sun in the height of summer (June - mid July). Then we get into the region that gets sun from the spring through fall equinox.

So I guess this means I will have a strip of shade garden (maybe with some trellised shade tolerant vines). Then I'll do raised bed gardening between two swales.

This is the side of the garage facing East. It seems to be screaming for espaliered fruit trees.

I am also becoming more interested in figuring out how to make best use of the roof of the garage. It probably gets pretty good light for growing up there and it isn't really set up well for solar power because of the tall trees just to the South of it. But maybe windows that capture some passive solar heat to drive the green house behind the garage.

Here is a look at the 25' x 22' space behind the garage.

That's about a three foot drop behind the little wall.

I had always thought of the chickens / ducks/ quail going against the back fence, but they may do better right behind the garage, then the greenhouse / pool house?

There are a couple trees that we need to work around or deal with. I need to determine how much space they need as well as how much space we need for the exercise pool. I am hoping I can "stack" the functions of the greenhouse vertically sharing the same space with the pool. It seems to me they should have compatible requirements and issues.

This is the tree I climbed to take these photos. Shasta showed me how it was done.

This cherry tree has a pretty funky form at the moment. It has a lot of character. I am looking forward to seeing what kind of micro climate it creates in the heat of the summer.

Shasta has been having even more fun than me exploring the new back yard.

Ducks vs. Frogs

I'd like to have a pond that I can share between the ducks and the local frogs.
A friend pointed out that the ducks would probably love to eat the frogs.
Good for the ducks.
Not so good for the frogs.

Got me wondering about habitat or shelter I could provide that would give the frogs a safer place to hang out near the edge of the pond that the ducks would not be able to penetrate. Maybe just a jumble of sticks lashed together? Maybe the parts sticking up out of the water would be good perches for small birds as well.

Crazy Idea: fowl greenhouse swim center complex

For the area behind the garage I think I may have too much stuff I am trying to fit in:

• Chicken henhouse
• Duckhouse
• Quailhouse
• Space for endless pool -- exercise, thermal mass
• Outdoor shower -- use the rain water to clean up after a swim, use gray water on site
• Rain water storage -- provides lots of thermal mass
• Greenhouse -- passive solar and source of light for winter growing
• A composting toilet -- for infrequent use, gather humanure.

There are a lot of musings about chicken greenhouses on the internet in the permaculture crowd.

These are a lot of functions to stack, but I don't see why they couldn't play well together.

Since most of the use of the greenhouse will be from equinox to equinox (Sept. - March), we only need to capture light when the sun is below 45 degrees above the horizon. We also don't want too much solar capture in the summer when the sun is more like 68 degrees high.

This makes me think of using clerestory windows facing south with 1:1 roof pitch behind in sort of a saw tooth pattern (a little like this).

We could install solar water heating on the garage roof for the pool, though we will likely need auxiliary heat in the winter.

All of the rain from both structures could be captured and kept inside the envelope for thermal mass, and for use watering plants, the poultry, duck pond, and for showers. The composting toilet would be nice for pre/post swim "emergencies" and while working out in the yard. And why waste perfectly good waste?

From the coops I've seen it doesn't seem like a couple hens, ducks, and quail are going to take all that much space, especially if we stack them somewhat.

So, how much room will my crazy complex take?

How much water should I have storage for? In what shape?

Multnomah Front Yard Section

First cut at zone maps for the font section...

• West fence in front -- zone 2: perennials with nice street appeal.
• West fence to the back -- zone 3: espalier with perennial understory shade.
• Front of garage -- vines on trellis.
• East facing side of house along driveway -- potted espalier and vines on vertical supports.
• Front porch -- potted plants.
• Front trellis -- beef up support for wisteria above front porch. Second climber from other side.
• Front yard -- zone 1 near the steps up the front porch, zone 2 further away.
• East fence in front -- zone 2: perennials with nice street appeal.
• Planting strip -- zone 3: fruit trees

Multnomah Back Yard Section

In the back section we have fences all around which will allow us to introduce some helpful fauna: chickens, ducks, quail, and rabbits. We should also create welcoming habitat for mason bees, various birds, frogs, and beneficial insects.
The back yard slopes down from the house with a several feet of drop to the back fence.

I'm thinking the area behind the garage would be good for coops for the poultry, a greenhouse, and a place for an endless pool for us to exercise in.

The upper area would make a good Zone 1 for raised bed annual gardens. and a low deck off the back of the house (the current deck is too high which just gives a "better" view of the unsightly bits over the back fence into the commercial area of Sandy Blvd.)
If we add a swale before bellow the beds that will create an area for Zone 2 with perennials.
Then another swale and Zone 3 with fruit and nut trees, vines, and shade tolerant perennials.
One last swale before zone 4 with some tall growing evergreens: firs, coastal redwoods, and maybe a cedar. These will be as close to the back fence as we dare, layered with the tallest growing to the back (North) side.

Somewhere we need to work in a pond for the ducks, that will hopefully also be supportive habitat for frogs.

Along the fence on the East side it would be nice to set up some supports for climbing plants.

Excess rainwater, beyond what we can store, will be diverted into the swale system with level sills.

In the very North-East corner will be Zone 5, our little patch of wilderness.

Permaculture Planning -- zones, sections, goals

In permaculture planning it is useful to distinguish 6 zones:

• Zone 0: The built environment: house, garage, porte cochere
• Zone 1: Intensive gardening -- Annuals, finicky plants that need tending
• Zone 2: Perennial gardening -- Plants that produce year after year
• Zone 3: Food forest -- Fruit and nut trees, vines, understory plantings
• Zone 4: Forage forest -- timber (in 100 years or so)
• Zone 5: Wilderness -- leave it be

For planning purposes, I also think I will divide the property into three sections:

• The back: back yard, garage and area behind it, east side yard.
• The house: Front porch, trellis over porch, window plantings, indoor plants, back deck, rain catchment system.
• The front: planting strip, sidewalk, front yard, driveway, porte corchere and plantings west of the driveway.

With this division I can write separate articles focusing on one section at a time. Before I get into that level of detail, I should reflect on my overall goals:

1. Produce a lot of food for ourselves and our friends
2. Minimize inputs: fertilizers, purchased stuff, city water, labor
3. Maximize diversity: nurture a rich interoperable mini-ecosystem
4. Focus on natives: but allow for some well adapted species and strains
5. Contribute beauty: try for a balance that will quiet the eye and calm the soul

So, with those as organizing principles we can proceed to plan the sections....

References from The Urban Homestead

I Just finished reading The Urban Homestead. Very good book covering many sustainability topics for the modern city / suburban dweller. Here are some of the references from the book that caught my eye:

• Plants for a Future -- information on 7000 plants in a searchable database (the US version didn't work for me today, but the UK one seemed to be fine). It also has articles such as an interesting one on hedges.
• http://wormpoop.com/ -- if nothing else, this website has a cool name.
• The UC Davis IPM site -- searchable database of pests
• Raising quail -- "Raising quail is inexpensive, easy, provides very healthy low-fat white meat, and supplies the fertilizer you need for your home garden. The moderate start-up costs for raising quail are well worth it."
• Chicken breed chart -- amazing
• Solar food dehydrator -- plans. I gotta make me one of these!

There are many more sites and books that look interesting. But these were the ones that seemed to speak to me at the moment.

Plant investigations

Listened to a podcast on unusual varieties of plants to consider in permaculture.

• Gogi Berry (also called Wolfberry)
• Jujube (Ziziphus zizyphus)
• Nanking Bush Cherry (Prunus tomentosa) -- not a true cherry, similar tart fruit
• Blue Honeysuckle (Lonicera caerulea var. cauriana)
• High Bush Cranberry (Viburnum trilobum) -- not a true cranberry. The fruits, sour and rich in vitamin C, can be eaten raw or cooked into a sauce to serve with meat or game.
• Elderberry (Sambucus) -- many varieties. Multipurpose berries. Insect repellant. More...
• Clumping Bamboo -- edible shoots, wind break, doesn't run like many bamboo
• Filbert (Corylus maxima) -- nuts, can use for hedges

Just a thought: Wet / Dry Swales for Oregon

I've been wondering about swales for permaculture in Oregon.

In the wet season it seems like drainage would be really important so they don't flood and overflow.

In the dry season it would be nice to take the best advantage of the few rain events that occur.

This makes me wonder if there wouldn't be some way to get better drainage in the winter and better water retention in the summer.

Perhaps in the fall, pull away much of the soil at the bottom of the swale -- say, up the sides some.

Then in the spring, replenish the trough with soil and heavy compost then mulch.

Plant annuals and enjoy.

This would preclude perennial plantings where this technique is employed, so maybe only do this in the middle (lengthwise) section and use perennial plantings at the edges.

Maybe a mixture of evergreen shrubs which can use the winter water and deciduous trees for the summer.

But maybe I'm thinking too much of the water as a problem.

Maybe the key is to find the right plantings for the climate of the Willamette Valley.

Wetter areas supported Oregon ash, Douglas-fir, bigleaf maple, black cottonwood, and an understory of poison-oak, hazel, and Indian plum -- maybe we'll skip the poison-oak.

Another question, what would happen is part of the swale valley were significantly deeper than the rest? I guess the problem is that if the slope is more than 1% or so along the bottom you might get too much erosion and it would just fill up. So unless it was a very long run it would not allow much depth variation. Hmm.

The Real Dirt on No Till Soil

I just read an interesting essay on the benefits of no tillage agriculture: Uncovering The Real Dirt On No-Till, by Drs. Jill Clapperton and Megan Ryan.

When we are standing on the ground, we are really standing on the roof top of another world. Living in the soil are plant roots, viruses, bacteria, fungi, algae, protozoa, mites, nematodes, worms, ants, maggots and other insects and insect larvae (grubs), and larger animals. Indeed, the volume of living organisms below ground is often far greater than that above ground. Together with climate, these organisms are responsible for the decay of organic matter and cycling of both macro- and micro-nutrients back into forms that plants can use.

I am getting increasingly interested in learning more about soil biology. There is some interesting looking stuff in the references....

On the Permaculture in Brittany blog I saw a cool description for sizing of a swale which I read translated by google from the original French.