Did I say we'd wait till the ground thawed? Well, not everyone! On Tuesday Marilyn B and Paul F laid out stakes on the frozen ground to mark the location of the raised beds and make sure the space is sufficient for the planned raised beds design. Turns out a bit more space is required but it can come from the pollinator garden which will also be supported by most of the gardens with at least three seasons of blooms available. The stakes will go into the ground early January, depending on the weather.

Paul standing in the middle of the picnic table

Let's take a look at the frozen landscape that is our new learning garden.

The west edge of the garden along the path that takes you to  Camp Rivendale. The stake on the far left is the north-western corner of the garden.

North-East Corner

The stake at the far left is the south-western tip of the garden

Starting with the north-east corner, this 25'x15' plot will demonstrate water-efficient landscaping. By choosing appropriate plants and preparing the soil properly we will create an ornamental garden that will look good for most of the year and, once established, require little to no supplemental water during the summer.  This is the plan:

Water-efficient Garden

The dashed line on the north and east sides show the deer fence that will be installed before the planting is done. Unfortunately deer are a problem and there will be no garden without a deer fence. Full name of the plants in the plan:

a	Arbutus Unedo 'Compacta' (Strawberry tree); Elfin King is dwarf variety
a1	Arbutus Unedo (Regular size)
b	Bouteloua gracilis 'Blonde Ambition'
c	Rocky Mountain Juniper
d	Cistus 'Elma'
e	Salvia 'UC Pink'
h	Ceanothus 'Blue Sierra'
i	Hebe odora 'New Zealand Gold'
j	Choisya ternata
k	Manzanita ?? (low wide sculptural)
l	Zauschneria
f	Camellia Sasanqua 'Apple Blossom'
g	Dwarf Pumbago

South of the water-efficient garden is the 10' wide gravel path that will be used to bring materials into the garden. South of that is the raised bed vegetable garden. This garden will grow primarily edibles, year-round, using a variety of raised beds in terms of sizes, materials, accessibility to user, etc. There will be a plan in place to rotate crops, manage weeds, provide for beneficial insects, water efficiently, and make the whole thing look attractive as well! Here is the plan:

Raised Bed Vegetable Garden

I'll put in the rest of the plans as they become available.

Hi Everyone! This blog is about the Jenkins Estate Learning Garden and other related gardening stuff I find interesting.
First a little history: On April 16th, Sandy Japely brought together a group of Washington County master gardeners interested in having a 'further Eastside' Learning Garden. This would be the second Washington County Master Gardener's Association (WCMGA from now on) demonstration/learning garden. The first one is thriving at the County Fairgrounds in Hillsboro, but Washington County is quite large and the majority of members live closer to the east side of the county. Several possible sites were discussed and .... several months and a lot of work later ... an agreement was reached between Tualatin Hills Parks and Recreation District (THPRD from now on) and WCMGA to have a learning garden at the Jenkins Estate, at approximately here:

We had a couple of brainstorming meetings with Paul Taylor, and he kindly came up with this design for us:

After adjusting the sizes to what we have on the ground (our original satellite picture was rather skewed), Sandy drew up this:

and the plan in a nutshell:

Garden Design Elements:

• Traditional Raised Beds Compost Bins
• Pollinator Garden Vermiculture Bins
• Spiral Herb Garden Vine Covered Walk/Circular Seat around oak
• Entrance Gate Seasonal Color/Northwest Native Plants, Urban Landscape & Edibles/Ornamental Garden
• Dry Garden Companion Plantings Garden/Espaliered Fruit
• Shed/Meeting Space/Mosaic Pavers Fence/Gates

Phase 1: Site Prep – Grade to ensure proper drainage. Add soil amendments.
Grade to accommodate elevated areas (e.g., spiral herb garden).
Phase 2: Trench for irrigation lines. Sprinkler locations plotted and placed. Leave soffits for future
expansion or replacing lines beneath hardscaped areas. Electrical conduit laid?
Phase 3: Lay out pathways. Construct seating areas, circular seating around oak tree. Construct 10 x 10
shed and meeting area plaza. Install rain barrel collector. Place hardscape materials (e.g., paver mosaic,
gravel).
Phase 4: Construct raised beds. Install compost bins, pollinator stations, vermiculture bins. Construct
pergolas over vine-covered walkway area.
Phase 5: Construct deer fence. Construct attractive entrance gate area and 2 utility gates.
Phase 6: Place shrubs, vines, trees, ornamental plants. Place garden art. Install educational signage/
learning elements.
Phase 7: Teach the public!

The THPRD crew has rototilled the whole area for us, a big thanks to Mike and his team! A donation of compost from Nature's Needs (Recology) has been delivered, each garden section has been staked, and as soon the ground thaws we'll be working there!

Next post I'll cover each section's design within the garden.