Last Thursday we put more gravel on the big north-south path, it is almost completely covered!

 Meanwhile the rest of the crew was getting the shorter entrance path dug to the right depth and covered with the landscape fabric:

Eventually the two paths met, and there was celebration!

The gravel pile is getting slowly smaller.

In the shed the coffee sacks are being cut and folded into piles ready to be laid down as weed barriers in the vegetable garden.

Thanks for the much needed snacks!

On January 30th about twenty enthusiastic master gardeners showed up to break ground on the new learning garden. They dug out most of the main path that goes through the garden from north to south.

Smiling gardeners

Plenty of work to go around

End of the first work day

They also built a shed within the shed so we can keep our stuff like shovels and pick-axes.

Handy Shed

The next work day was Feb 6, but we had a whole lot of this and the road to the garden was impassable.

Not since 2008

Last Thursday (Feb 13th) we met again to finish digging down the path to the required 5" - 6", put down landscape fabric, and pour on the gravel.

Using the straight pipe to measure the depth of the path

Laying down the landscape fabric

Now just have to get this mountain of gravel over to the path.

A full body workout waiting to happen

First wheelbarrow of gravel  - woohoo!

 Jack and Judy were working on the spiral herb garden which is nicely taking shape:

Spiral Herb Garden

The Urban Edibles garden (in the original map it is called Urban Flower/Veg garden) on the southeastern corner of the lot is designed by Sue. Here is what she says about it:

"The WCMGA Learning Garden at Jenkins Estate is a beautiful setting bordered by wooded area with

terrific views. This provides us with a unique opportunity to build a garden literally from the ground-up, while also providing a living classroom for visitors. 

The Urban Edibles Garden design focuses on interplanting of edible plants along with landscape plants while employing design principles. There is a growing interest from people who want to grow some of their own food. It allows us to appreciate the land, educate ourselves and our children about the wonders of nature and is very fulfilling. In urban areas where space is limited, or where residents want to retain landscape plants, edible landscaping is growing in popularity. Many edible plants produce delicious and nutritious food, and also make attractive landscape plants with their seasonal foliage changes, flowers, bark, fruit and branch structure. The Urban Edibles garden provides ideas for integration of food producing plants, such as berries, 

grapes, apples, persimmons, herbs, and seasonal vegetables, into an attractive landscape with year round interest, while using sustainable gardening practices. Plants are selected for proven success in our area using the principle---Right Plant—Right Place---Right Care. The planting plan is also an edible garden for wildlife such as pollinators, birds, insects, all important elements to the healthy garden ecosystem. Techniques for caring for Urban Edibles will be incorporated into activities at the garden, among them selecting and planting blueberries, training a columnar apple, building an espalier trellis and training an apple to espalier form, selecting, planting and pruning table grapes, and more. 

It is exciting times as we have just broken ground and starting to build the gravel pathways. Here is a detailed list of plants that we plan to include. Additional seasonal vegetables, greens, allium, herbs will be added."

Urban Edibles Garden Plan

Judy has designed the Spiral Herb garden at the west side of the plot:

Spiral Herb Garden

Marcia has designed the Flower Shrub garden on the southwest corner of the plot:

Flower/Shrub Garden

Leslie has designed the Oregon Natives' Garden, a 20' x 30' plot on the west side of the garden, next to the main entrance. In her words:
"The Natives' Garden and Jenkins Learning Garden demonstrates a number of Oregon subjects. Looking at a scene that moves from a SubAlpine environment to the rainy Willamette Valley, we can illustrate how certain plants filter water to keep our tributaries clean.  We can teach about the plants that Lewis and Clark discovered, named and used in their explorations here. 

Mostly, we want to emphasize how easy it is to care for these important plants which nourish our local bird and insect populations. Pruning and maintenance demonstration will encourage the public to include them in future garden plans."
Here is a Detailed list of native plants that Leslie plans to include in the Natives' garden, and this is the design:

Oregon Natives' Garden

Deb has designed the Compost Area, on the far eastern side of the garden. On the left side is a gravel area for holding bins containing material to be composted. The 'tamped soil' area (L-shaped) is where the composting takes place. There will be several examples of different composting methods demonstrated here, including wire bins, and a raised platform composter. In the middle area we will keep the ready-to-use soil, and possibly some rain barrels. The shed on the far right will keep materials that are out of season, eg. straw and brown stuff in the summer, and green materials/kitchen scraps in the winter.

Compost Area

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.