Here is an update from Sue on the Urban Edibles garden:The Urban Edibles garden is designed to share ideas for incorporating edible plants into the landscape design.
We have already learned a tremendous amount from our first winter, spring and summer in the new garden.
After completing the main garden gravel pathways in February, the focus shifted to planting foundation plants. Those that were deer resistant were planted in February and March, but when the deer fence was installed in late April, we were able to plant in earnest.
Foundation plants were installed first and include a variety of evergreen conifers selected for their narrow width and relatively compact height—Hinoki False Cypress, Klein Stone Pine, Weeping White Pine and Dwarf Alberta Spruce. Several blueberry bushes were selected for staggered ripening of fruit to extend the harvest period. In addition, the blueberries will display beautiful fall color. Bailey Red Twig dogwood are added to help screen the deer fence, to provide food for wildlife and to provide winter interest with bright red branches that are highlighted after leaf drop. A Pacific Fire Maple also will add fall and winter interest with the beautiful leaf colors and bright red bark. Spirea Magic Carpet, black mondo grass, heuchera, barberry, and sky pencil ilex provide layering of perennial plants, some of them evergreen. Lingonberry, black current, columnar apples, plum, table grapes and a combination peach tree multi-task as landscape and edible plants.
We also planted several seasonal vegetables and herbs--- lavender, chives, basil and sage. Seasonal vegetables include tomatoes, artichoke, lettuce, yellow and green zucchini squash, patty-pan squash, and eggplant. These will be replaced by other seasonal plants when they have finished production.
A few slugs and aphids have been addressed with sustainable gardening practices, but there are no major pest problems to date. As the spring rains subsided and temperatures increased, we began to hand water throughout the garden to ensure our new plants would remain healthy. We did see some losses, mostly of more mature transplanted plants, but the majority of plants are thriving, filling-in and helping to cover the soil. With completion of the irrigation system in mid-July, we are now able to devote more time to additional plantings and keeping the weeds in check.
Several educational sessions for the In the Garden Series at the WCMGA Learning Garden have already been held, including two delivered in the Urban Edibles section. Cindy Muir shared information about Planting Blueberries in May. Sue Ryburn held an "Introducing Edibles into the Landscape" session in July.
We are planning additional sessions for later this year.
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| Eggplants |
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| Patty-pan Squash, yellow zucchini |
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| Columnar apple on the left, Hinoki Cypress on the left |
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| Green Beans. You can barely make out the red trellis being covered. |
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| Zinnias, with Chard in the background. |
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| The sky pencil Ilex at the garden entrance |
