Seeding, Saving, and Erosion Control

We've been noses-to-the-grindstone since we moved in, and the progress is steady. Slow, but steady. The workshop is cleaned and re-organized, and we have a plan for new flooring using a fairly new product that bonds crushed stone together for a stable, but permeable pavement. We're thinking of using crushed recycled concrete, and with vibra-compacting and bonding, it should last for years and be an ideal workspace surface.

The weather since we arrived has been too hot and too dry to work with the soil effectively, so garden progress has been slow or, in some areas, postponed altogether. We did install one small dry garden of Opuntia, succulents, Datura, and others, in a narrow strip along the driveway and workshop west wall, which helped the space immensely, but other areas are on hold. Luckily, the season is finally showing signs of turning--we're so excited about cooler temps and a decent chance for rain this weekend, and next week--I'm already gathering materials to make a leap in garden development.

 Some areas of small progress are the dog yard west of the house, which will offer them a little over 2,000 square feet of natural, grassy area under large oaks to hang out and have a secure bathroom area. They're excited, and we are, too.

We worked extensively in the dry creekbed and on the pond banks last weekend, and together, we removed 30 x 50 gallon sacks of dry leaves, some partially decomposed. These, we hauled out to the future crop space to spread and grind up before tilling them in to enrich that soil:

 
Each crop bed will be 25' x 25', allowing us to enclose it with 6' welded wire utility fencing to both protect the crops and facilitate the use of bird netting, shade and frost cloth, as needed.

Once the banks were relatively clear, we began planting a network pattern of Iris pseudacorus rhizomes I harvested from behind the greenhouse, where I had a 10' patch of them growing vigorously. We started with about 100 lbs of rhizomes, and where they were planted more steeply, we secured them with sod staples and recycled concrete and bricks, as needed:

 
As these babies establish and grow in, their vigorous, mat-forming rhizomes will play a critical role in helping to retard erosion along the creek banks.

 

Above, some small clumps were broken into more manageable pieces; below, in key places, large clumps were left intact to create immediate dense plantings.

 

I. pseudacorus, Yellow Flag Iris, is listed as an invasive plant in some areas, but is still freely sold and used in our area. The primarily dry nature of this planting space, combined with it being disconnected from native creeks or streams, makes it highly unlikely that this will be an issue. Further, the vigorous growth habit is extremely valuable in this instance for erosion control, where storm water runoff from surrounding higher, paved areas is creating a significant concern.

Around the perimeter of the upper banks, native grasses like Inland Sea Oats, Chasmanthium latifolium, are being seeded with seeds harvested from our previous garden plants. This vigorous, clumping native grass is great in dry shade and will seed readily to provide a dense groundcover. The roots run deep, and they'll be added protection against soil loss.

I'm well underway in seeding for the late summer/fall season, and I love the process of choosing perennials and vegetables for our own trial. These plants, both annual, perennial, herb and otherwise, will be grown out over the winter in our greenhouse to offer for sale in next spring's Charity Classic Plant Sale at Brookhaven:

 
Proper labeling is something I'm really in to--although it can get very tedious with 100+ seed varieties!

50-count liner flats are used in the greenhouse, and I trialed a new germinating soil this year (which I'm not liking as much as my favorite, made by the Fafard company):

 

The seedlings are coming along beautifully, and some are already potted up to 1g size, others are currently going into qt pots and 4" for the winter.

Our veggie seedlings, begun in late July/early August, are thriving, and the thinning process was quite an adventure:

 
 Newly thinned 'De Cicco' Broccoli seedlings, as of three weeks ago. Today, they're nearly ready to go up to 4" before being transplanted out.

We're also building up a stockpile of assorted succulent cuttings, having just finished dressing up the succulent wall pieces at Brookhaven that will go back up for the rest of the season before danger of frost. Seed flats make a perfect place for multiple cuttings of lots of different specimens:

 

We did manage to remove what we've not-so-affectionately dubbed "The Little Fountain that Couldn't"--another work of landscape atrocity left behind by previous owners. The pre-fab liner was ringed with a painted concrete mixture to attempt a natural stone look, and the odd little faux-vertigris concrete boy was so calcified he could hardly trickle.

 
Really, it was just a scorpion hotel, so it's now gone (we kept the little concrete head, though, as it looks great mixed with river rock around our jar fountain). One silver lining: The hole left from the gross old pond liner is perfect for planting Betsy's deciduous Magnolia, and hopefully that will go in soon.

So much more to do! We're selecting our first fruit trees, and I'll update on that soon. In the meantime, enjoy the cooler weather, the fall/winter garden planning, and the fresh bursts of color that will come from our gardens as the plants rejoice in the seasonal change. We will be, too.

Comments

[Debbie]

I cannot wait to see everything in person. I'm so impressed with all you've done already!!
Love you,
Deb

[Jeleryl Comisky]

Yep, planting along the plot borders can effectively minimize the chance of soil erosion. How do you find the germinating soil? I'd like to use seed flats like yours. They look so neat. =)