First Trees Planted!

Our first tree! Cupressus macrocarpa 'Fine Gold' planted in the Urban Edibles garden! Thanks to Carolyn for the donation.

Our second tree! Also in the Urban Edibles garden, this one is Pinus strobus 'Pendula' - Weeping White Pine, donated by Patty. Here it is getting a good root soak, then the roots were teased apart as much as possible. Ideally we would soak it overnight so we could remove more of the potting soil and really spread out the roots.

Donations of heather, sedum and peonies, temporarily put in the ground till they find a permanent home.

The first raised bed in the Vegetable Garden is almost done. Each of those blocks weighs about 50lb! 

 Greenhouse plants are thriving:

Fragrant Brugmansia

Pitcher plants

Awesome raincoat!

Mason Bee Housing

Last week Ron put up three mason bee houses along the west side of the garden (facing east, just the way the bees like it).

Mason Bee Condo

Here is the side view with some information. You can see the snazzy mechanism  for opening the protective screen.

Side view 

Here is a close-up of the inside. Smaller holes encourage production of male bees.

Cocoon box. Notice the different sized holes.

Here is an example of what we hope to see soon:

Red Mason Bee

By Orangeaurochs from Sandy, Bedfordshire, United Kingdom [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

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