Late Season Veggies

The gardening season is almost over and all that remains to be done is harvesting, a bit of weeding, and putting the garden to rest, right?

Not so fast!

Most of the same vegetables that you planted in the spring are also happy in the cool autumn weather. So go over your list for your March and April plantings and most of them that mature with out a lot of fussiness will be good for planting mid August.

Here is a quick list:

Beets
Turnips
Cabbage
Kale
Lettuce
Onion
Rutabaga
Spinach
Peas
Garlic
Swiss chard
Mustard greens
Dandelion

Have fun with your fall garden!

March Classes from USG

March class schedule:
Seed Swap
1 Saturday 3-6pm
FREE

• Come share your seeds and meet other gardeners from Utah County!

Eco-garden Fundamentals (Permaculture Fundamentals)
8 Saturday 3-6pm
FREE

• Learn how to think nature friendly in the garden.

Cool Weather Planting
15 Saturday 3-6pm
$20 at the door, Early registration only $15

• Hands on gardening for March planting, including lists of what to plant and when to plant it.

Fruit Tree Care

Rescheduled for April

• Pest control, thinning, and other tips for good fruit on your trees.

Building the Plant Community (Plant Guilds)
29 Saturday 3-6 pm
$20 at the door, Early registration only $15

• How to blend plants in the same beds so they help each other and make your life better.

For more information contact Alex Grover at:
utahsustainablegardening@gmail.com

All events happening at Pioneer Book in downtown Provo.

Tips for Winter Flower Planters

Bright colors in groups show up best!

The hardest part of annual flowers in the winter is the pots and planters. While flower beds in the snowiest parts of the US are covered, planters stick up and often loose their protective snow cover while they are getting the worst of the cold.

Kale is a great centerpiece for a planter.
Redbor, Winterbor, and Red Russian are
some of the best varieties for winter hardiness.

But you don't need to give up hope of nice planters in the cooler months. You just need to plan ahead and give them a little care. Here are a few tips:

• Pansies and violas are your best bet for surviving cold weather.
• Plant bright colors like yellow and orange for the best visibility. Blotches or faces are great for close ups, but they will reduce distance visibility.
• Plant brighty colored plants in clusters of three or more to give them more pop.
• If you live in a USDA zone 7 or higher you might be able to to find some taller annuals to give your bed some hight, if not, look for trailing violas to hang over the sides.
• You will not get color while it is frozen outside, but when it warms up the flowers will start blooming again.
• Water during dry spells. Water with cool water only and do not saturate the soil.
• Planting in the fall gives a chance for roots to develop.
• Be careful when you fertilize. Lots of fertilizer will make the plants grow quickly and show lots of color, but it will also invite aphids and disease to destroy your plants.

Faces and blotches are great 

planters that are viewed close 

up.

Look at the three photos of
pansies. Which ones catch
your attention the quickest?

Feel free to ask questions, I will always do my best to answer them.

Manana!

8 Rules for Storefront Permaculture

This planter is in front of a local nursery. The sweet potato
vine jumps out at you! 

A flower bed or pot in front of a store is one of best ways to advertise. The splash of living color is refreshing and can compete with flashing neon. A traditional permaculturist might say that you can't have sustainability unless it involves food and at least a couple of acres.

I say poppycock!

The large clusters of flowers in bold colors jumps out at you
more than smaller flowers or milder colors.

Anything sustainable must be tuned to the needs of the system it is supporting. In the case of the storefront, sustainability must be focused on bringing in and satisfying the needs of the paying customer.

Two pots at a local nursery. The small pot
works because it accents the larger one. The
leaves of the sweet potato are edible through-
out the growing season!

In other words, it needs to look pretty. That doesn't mean it can't have vegetables or herbs. It just means that they have to be good looking. Here are a few tips to making storefront pots sustainable for your business:

1. Get a big enough pot. Minimum should be at least 18" wide and the same as deep. If you really want to make an impression two feet or larger is better. Rectangular planters are great for fitting into narrow areas and still giving you great displays.
2. Pick plants that are the right size and give you lots of bright color. I love green foliage plants, but they do not attract as many customers from a distance.
3. Don't forget texture, especially if you can't get enough color. An interesting mix of textures works well if your potential client is up close.
4. Fertilize appropriately. Organic fertilizers may not work well because of smell, but a little slow release, pellet type fertilizer like Osmocote can work wonders and still be environmentally safe. Other brands now make similar products.
5. Get plants that drape over the sides of the pot as well as some height in the center. Vining petunias and chartreuse sweet potato are perfect drapers.
6. Space plants about six inches apart. This is tight, but it will make your pots look like they are bursting with color.
7. Water, water, water! The smaller the pot, the more often you will need to water. Make sure you saturate the soil in the summer. You may even need to water twice a day. Check how much water is in the pot by sticking a probe eight inches or more into the soil.
8. Top off the soil mix every season and completely change it every few years if you have smaller pots. Intensive gardening is rough on soil and will wear it out quickly.

This pot has lots of details for close up inspection, but it is so
small it will need very frequent watering in Utah's hot, dry
climate.

Remember, a little color will go a long way to help your business be sustainable for you and your employees!

Backcountry Radio Interview

Caryopteris × clandonensis or Bluebeard, is a
good late summer meal for bees.

For a little of what is going on this season and what I am planning for this fall, listen to my radio interview with Brian Brinkerhoff on Backcountry Radio.

http://www.backcountrynetwork.com/Download/WesternLifeRadio59-9-7-13.mp3

If you are interested in attending my "Gardening for Bees" class in Orem UT, email me at utahsustainablegardening@gmail.com.

Vote Local!

I get stares for wearing election day stickers,
but any little nudge to get people working for
their communities is well worth it.

The most ignored part of gardening is voting in your local election. So often I hear about some poor soul being halled away in chains because her (it always seems to be female) zucchini plants offended the neighbors. But I rarely hear about those who support gardening taking things into their own hands by taking it to the ballet box.

While many of us are tired of the national, and even state, political messes. Local politics, however, can be refreshing. I have never had a city politician who was too busy to make time for me. I have never had one who could hide his flaws well enough that concerned folks couldn't run a successful campane against him.

The real truth of it is we forget how local politics can improve our real, everyday lives. Go ahead, talk to the candidates and tell them what is important to you.

Then, go vote in November!

Drought Loving Flowers

Roses are often thought as being wimpy,
but I find them on many foreclosures. The
white ones with pink blush seem to be
common survivors.

When you live in semi-arid (read that as what most people call a desert) place it makes sense to use plants that don't need a lot of water. I have taken classes and read books on the subject, but the best information I have found on the drought resistant plants is from foreclosed homes.

Foreclosed homes usually don't have sprinkler systems running, so anything surviving there is bound to be tough and adapted to the area. Sometimes a plant will get help from a neighbor overwatering or runoff from the roof. But that's ok, when it is dry you take all the help you can get!

Here are some of the tough plants I have found, tell me what you think:

Apricots are the most drought hardy of the common fruit
trees. This one has gone at least two and a half years
without human irrigation.

Hollyhocks reseed freely and I find scraggly survivors every-
where. This one is flowering better than most seedlings,
likely because of the soil storing extra water from the
downspout. 

Lavender thrives on the dry, even after a
couple of years.

Utah water restrictions and what to do about them

This is a water feature at Lehi city hall. This photo was taken after water
restrictions went in place. Seems like a bad time to be using water strictly
for show.

It shouldn't be a surprise to Utahns that they live in the second driest state in the US. But every drought year, the cities and residents panic and flail as water restrictions are implemented.

Most of this hassle could have been avoided with a little planning. Specifically by designing gardens that are drought resistant. Here are some planning tips:

1. Catch and use runoff water. Quite often extra water can be stored in the ground. This includes snow and rain that hits the roof,  runoff from hardscapes, and water running on sloped ground.
2. Choose the right plants for the right part of the landscape. Make sure you pay attention to needs for sun and shade. And remember, if you caught enough runoff, you might have enough to plant some thirsty plants and keep them happy.
3. You may still need an irrigation system, but it will need to be designed it to limit the water thrown into the air and to be used occasionally rather than every day or even every week.
4. Go ahead and plant a well designed vegetable garden and orchard. If you water correctly and use the produce, you will still have an overall water use reduction in the environment.

I know this is new to many people, but just because it is new to you doesn't mean it is untested. In fact, everything I am talking about I started using in designs over ten years ago. 

This is Salvia nemorosa, a very drought
resistant plant. This one has been growing
for two years with just rain and snow.

To help you get started, here is a list of terms and phrases that you can search online and at your local library:

• Waterwise
• Permaculture
• Drip irrigation
• Swale
• Utah Native Plants
• Xeriscape™

If you need some extra help feel free to contact me at utahsustainablegardening@gmail.com. 

Water Conservation or Moneyscaping?

This an "improved" water conserving landscape.

On a study day at one of the local water conservation garden I found this great example of how you can save water in your yard. Or is it?

The above photo has this great concrete patio with a matching bench/amphitheater, a built in BBQ (off camera)

This is the "standard" water wasting yard.

It is clear that the first picture requires less water, but only because it does not have the same amount of turf. The tree and shrub selections are not that much better than those of the standard landscape. The concrete pad is not intended to gather water for any of the plants, so really, its only function for water conservation is to reduce the amount of grass.

What bothers me most is that the water conserving garden is obviously designed and a huge amount of money was spent to install it, while the normal landscape is a mockery of what a home owner might put in themselves.

People are not going to be inspired to save water if it feels like it is beyond them financially. They are not going to save water if they feel the only way to do it is to hire a designer. (Although if they do, I would like to be at the top of their list!) 

And people are not going to save water if their efforts are going to be treated as if they are stupid. This display needs to be redone with respect to the real needs instead of it being a landscape architect's resume building dream.

Time for us all to get back to the real world!

Free Life Giving Water!

Free life giving water!

A few weeks ago I found a bleeding heart plant in full bloom. That is not unusual, but where I found it was. It was on the north side of a foreclosed house with no artificial irrigation. In the wetter areas of the country this is still not unusual, but in a valley of the second driest state in the nation?

Given the basics of climate the plant shouldn't be there. But when I took a closer look at where it was planted, there was a rain gutter drain right next to it. The melting water from the snow covered roof drained into the soil under the bleeding heart and was stored until the plant needed it.

I don't think you can store enough water for thirsty plant for a whole year from the roof. But you can make a big difference early on. And cut your total water bill.

All it takes is just a little planning ahead!

You are Killing Your Garden...

The sodium in these products makes them toxic for your garden.

About forty miles north of here is a desert where little to no life can grown and even the weeds are overcome by toxic chemicals in the soil. If you scratch the white surface of the soil you will find a black goo that binds water to the soil in such a way that the water it contains can not be used by plants or even evaporated. The most surprising thing about this desert is that hundreds of home gardeners are trying to create the same landscape in their own back yards.

The desert is the Utah Salt Flats and the chemical that makes it toxic is sodium. You if you remember high school chemistry you know that sodium is contained in table salt and baking soda. And that is where the gardens come in.

There are now many recipes for weed and bug killers that contain one or both of these common substances. Home owner's look at either of these chemicals on their kitchen shelf and say, "These are familier and don't hurt me. They must be safe for my garden." And they are right about how safe they are in the kitchen. But they were meant for the kitchen and not the garden.

So do your garden and plants a favor, if you absolutely think you need to use a chemical, use one that is made for the job. And, that will break down into something that won't kill your entire garden.

Vegetables for the Novice Grower

Everyone is new to gardening at some point. So here are some common vegetables for the novice grower:

Beans
Beet
Carrot
Collards
Jerusalem Artichoke
Kale
Parsnip
Peas
Pumpkins
Squash
Swiss Chard
Turnips

Seed Quality

Seed racks are out at the big box stores and catalogues are arriving, it must be time to think of spring planting.

Starting seed is like anything else, good materials make for a good experience. But it is hard to tell what seeds are good and what are not. After all, you can't see through most seed packets.

The importance of quality seeds has struck me with almost an urgency after failures for the last five years. My swiss chard was a mixture of varieties, tomatoes the same, two squash varieties failed, and my beloved kohlrabi turned out to be radishes. What is a gardener to do?

First: Keep good records. If you have a record of failures and successes, you will know whether it is the seed or how you are growing it. You will also be able to see patterns for the seed companies you use. One problem is not that important, every company will make mistakes once in a while. But once you have a pattern you know that you need to look for a new suppliers.

Second: Choose seeds from a source that has a good reputation. This means talking to other gardeners and evaluating the sales materials. If a company has not put thought into quality advertising, they will not likely put the thought into quality seed production.

Third: Don't buy cheap. You don't have to pay $20 for good seed, but you have to wonder what you are getting if you pay $1.

Fourth: If you save seed, learn your business and do it right. Saving seed is more complex than just scraping the seeds out of a squash.

Fifth: Understand that you will get better quality and uniformity from hybrids. I prefer open pollinated seeds, but I know I will have different results from some of my neighbors.

For a good start look at Johnny's and Territorial. You should also look at Burpee. I don't use Burpee much now-a-days, but I never had problems.

Have a great time buying seeds!

I don't need to plant, that was done last year...

Lettuce gone wild.

While other gardeners are bemoaning the last days of winter, I am already started on this year's planting. Well, actually I started last spring. The lettuce plant you see above is a seedling of lettuce I planted last year. Half-a-dozen plants bolted before I could eat them and I left them in place to give the wind a chance to do its job.


Surprisingly, the new lettuce plants are near where the originals were. Less surprisingly, they are all in divots where the wind is too weak to blow them back out. While I have never been strong on a smooth seed bed, I think it is time to make them even more rough.

Rhubarb and a pea.

A few peas have found a way to sprout in mid-January as well. The one above will be an interesting companion plant to the rhubarb and strawberries that I planted last fall.

I will plant a few more lettuce and pea seeds since I don't quite have enough to cover my expected needs. I will be sure to leave a few of the best plants to give me seed for next year.


Now my biggest problem is what to do with the time that I was going to use for planting. Hmm, maybe it is time to talk to the landlord about digging up more lawn....

The Four Season Garden

Spring

Back when I was in college, we had an assignment to create a four season flower garden. The point of this garden was to show the visible appeal of the garden in any given time of year and make us design for that look.

Summer

Since that time I have not worked for a client with a keen enough interest to warrant my time and his money to provide such detail. But I always keep it in mind and slip in plants  that will fill the year round need for beauty and food.

This type of analysis is vital to the permaculturist as well as any serious food grower. Every farm and garden needs to consider food productivity and total growing power for the entire year. No useful gaps should be forgotten or productivity will go down.

Fall

Further maps may be needed to point out planting, growing, and harvest times. Or a coding system may be used to give more detailed information on just four maps. As with any design system, the limit of what can be done is only bound by the imagination.

Winter

A Walk in the Park

Brigham tea, otherwise known as Ephedra viridis. 

Brigham tea is known for its drought resistance as well 

as for its medicinal value. I like it for a nice evergreen 

splash in even the driest areas.

When time allows, I love to go to parks and gardens. The more diverse the plant material is the happier I am. This fall I went to a garden that specializes in drought resistant or 'waterwise' gardening.

When looking at plants that I am not as familiar with
I take a photo of the name tag so I don't forget the
name when I get home.

In an area that averages only fifteen inches of precipitation a year, I am always impressed by the color and vitality that can come to a garden with little or no additional water. Of course it takes a little planning and a lot of study to get it right.

On the upper left, out of the camera, is a plum tree that
requires more water than this poor, soaked rabbit brush.
When planting areas with different water needs it is
important to provide a buffer zone to protect each type
of plant.

I had read about Hummingbird flower in the past, but I
had never seen them blooming in person. 

I also think parks and gardens say something about the community they grow in. In the case of this garden, it is more of a library that the entire region can access.

I made sure I photographed the label. I don't want to
forget this one!

For a wonderful time with plants the Central Utah Gardens are at:

355 W. University Parkway

Orem UT

The garden is open through the growing season and is at its best, like most gardens, in the spring. Please take a little more time in the native plant area, it is phenomenal what beauty is growing just outside our well watered lawns!

A Late Season Bee Treat

Lacy buckwheat at a local water-wise garden

I am not a bee keeper, but I do like to keep garden helpers that come to my yard happy. Part of that task is to provide food for the bees all season.

While most gardeners keep plenty of good foraging flowers from spring to late summer, we have a tendency to start wrapping things up as the days get shorter.

Here is a list of some flowers for the late summer and fall:

Chives Allium schoenoprasum May-September Garlic chives Allium tuberosa August-September Aster Aster spp. September-frost Borage Borage officinalis June-frost Bluebeard-blue mist spirea Caryopteris clandonensis August-September Star thistle Centaurea ssp. July-September Sweet autumn clematis Clematis terifolia Late September Melons Cucumis melo June-frost Pumpkin-squash Cucurbita spp. June-frost Lacy buckwheat Eriogonum corymbosum Late Do not over water James buckwheat Eriogonum jamesii June-November Do not over water Pink smoke buckwheat Eriogonum racemosum August-September Do not over water Joe Pye weed Eupatorium esculentum August-September Sunflower Helianthus annuus June-September Alyssum Lobularia maritima June-September Mallow Malva alcea June-September Mountain beebalm Monardella odoratissima July-September Phaccella Phacella tanacetifolia June-September Goldenrod Solidago ssp. September-October Lacebark Elm Ulmus parvifolia August-September

I encourage you to add flowers that are native to your area!

The End of Landscaping

The concept of a garden seems to be increasingly lost in America. Instead, we prefer plenty of carpet-mown grass with kidney-bean shaped tree and shrub beds plunked in the middle. We lovingly call this 'landscaping' to try and connect ourselves with the great painters of the past.


Well, at least some people stay true to the idea that a garden should be a unique endevor. And some of those are bold enough to use them for food as well!


These photos are great for stimulating design changes in next year's garden:

These folks are getting serious about food.

This resident shares food with his neighbors, they never 

complain to the city.

This wins my prize for best use of a boulevard
strip!

This garden is near my house. I look
forward to seeing the changes as the
summer progresses.

A bit of the wild look.

Food and beauty. These folks have it together!