Part 4 of 4: This Year's Goals and Pictures of My Garden

My plans for this summer are to make my keyhole beds more defined and to continue building them up with organic matter. To assist this I want to make more cement paver stones to finish out the outlining of the beds. I am excited to see how well my comfrey does and I am getting impatient to add it to my mulches. I also plan to buy some white clover for a general ground cover because it is low growing, tolerates cutting if need be, and is a good dynamic accumulator. I think it is important to add more garlic and onion and I want to get some marigolds going, which keep failing from seed, so I will probably buy some of these plants to get them going.  The marigolds, onions, and garlic will act as general pest detractors; I will keep my eye out for other odoriferous/strong smelling plants. I will keep researching about building soil fertility and may find some other plants I wish to add to aid in this effort. I also want to research nectary plants to act as an attractor for beneficial insects like lady bugs; insects that act as predators to other pest bugs like aphids. Another goal of mine, more long term, is to plant more items from direct seeding into the ground. Paul Wheaton also made a good argument about transplanting plants means the plants will not have a taproot because it is highly sensitive and is always killed in the transplanting process; I cannot remember the exact podcast but I am sure if you search the archives at the link for the soil health podcast then you can find it along with seeing all his other wealth of information.  Finally I want to figure out how to construct mini swales and integrate some huglekultur into my layout. I will keep you posted on how my garden develops. For now, here is an article that discusses hugle culture http://www.richsoil.com/hugelkultur/.

The picture below is a sketch of my L-shaped garden space. Each square represents 4 square feet or 2'x2'.  

The picture below is of the entrance to my garden. The purple plum with the green leafed plum and apricot growing underneath are in the foreground on the top, left corner. The middle section shows my makeshift arbor; a carport put up originally to serve as a greenhouse but I used as an arbor instead. On the right side of the arbor is the wire fence I attached for vining plants (grapes and kiwis will be trained up and accross and I want some others like peas or something on the fence). The paver stones are my primitive start to laying out key hole beds. As you can see the grasses and weeds are clipped low but are left to cover the bare dirt. At the end of the arbor is one of my volunteer trees (I believe is a plum). In the background behind the arbor but inside the fence are my volunteer trees: to the left are my other two volunteer trees, my apple is in the middle but hidden behind the volunteer tree under the arbor, and the peach on the right. Directly behind those trees and the fence is the grove of trees behind our property (some of those trees are cotton wood trees).

The next two pictures sort of show the plight of the stressed tree trying to reach the sun while the apricot has successfully reached it.

The next picture is a better view of my peach and apple trees with a back view of the arbor. The peach is on the left with a walnut tree touching it (apparently the walnut want to join this garden because he was 4' away last year) and the apple is on the right.

Part 2 of 4: 2011 Year Two The Garden Takes Shape

By the spring of 2011 I had compiled a large list of plants I wanted to put in my garden. I had read more on permaculture but I did not heed the advice to observe the land and sculpt it before putting in permanent plantings of perennials. I was too impatient and I wanted to grow my own food. As I was perusing for plants I quickly realized that organic, non-GMO, heirloom, etc were not only expensive but were hard to find. I made the decision that I could embark on that path little by little, but since what I really wanted was to get my forest garden going, I decided to temporarily put those standards on hold. Off to Costco, Home Depot, and mail order catalogues I went. At Costco I purchased a three in one grafted apple tree, a peach tree, and some blueberry bushes. At Home Depot I purchased a red grape, a green grape, and a raspberry. From the mail order I purchased cold-hardy kiwis, sweet pea perennial plants, two paw-paw, some honeysuckle vines, strawberries, and a few other plants. I did not have the knowledge to take starts of these plants nor did I have the resources of where to get those starts from in the first place. I was slightly concerned that my very inexperience would spell doom for these plants but I was too impatient. If these plants did die then I was out a small chunk of change; but I also realized I would have valuable experience.

I had my plants well before it was planting time in my area. I kept them in a dark shed but never the less they decided to prolifically leaf out. Concerned for their health because they were only in a bark medium, I made the decision to plant them even though I was concerned it was too cold. I dug holes, put in leaf debris and kitchen scraps in the bottom hopping they would give some nutrients, placed the plant, and filled with dirt. I did not amend the soil to proper conditions, I did not add fertilizer, I did not add mulch, I did not add sand to break up my clay soil, I did not test my soil density, I did not test soil ph, and I did not do what I was “supposed to do” when planting a plant. I only gave them was a leafy bottom to sit on. I was certain I spelled out their death sentence. I still did not understand that forest gardening was about purposeful manipulation of the environment to provide the best conditions for the plant. I thought forest gardening went in the opposite direction from traditional gardening with its focus on letting the plant fend for itself. I later realized that this fending was only done once all its needs had been met by the gardener. It was never supposed to be a sink or swim on its own ordeal.

Some of my plants died, particularly the mail order ones; however, most survived. My two grapes that I thought had died made a comeback this year. Once I got all these plants in the ground and delineated their actual beds with a border of cement paver stones I made a few years ago, I decided that my next step was to companion plant them. I began looking for companion plant lists and found several plants to add to my wish list for next spring. At this time I kept having a nagging idea that I needed to focus my efforts on building soil fertility. I began searching for dynamic accumulator plants. During this time I also began nurturing two other volunteer mystery trees that were identical to the first. I also took active steps to identify them.

For the fall I ordered comfrey roots and some cereal seeds buckwheat and rye that are supposed to be good cover crop plants. I decided that I wanted to cover the empty spaces with beneficial nutrient offering plants, also known as dynamic accumulators. Once the leaves fell from the trees I piled them up on my new beds. It was so nice to see my garden taking shape. In part three, I discuss the third and current year of my forest garden, I describe my arbor, and my lessons learned from a stressed plant.