Tag Archives: sustainable gardening

beneficial insects, birds, color in the garden, edibles, flowering shrubs, fragrant plants, garden design, hummingbird plants, landscape design, organic gardening, salvia, sustainable gardening, Uncategorized, water saving techniques

Beneficial Gardens in a Small Space

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waterfall_2He told me that his was a one-of-a-kind garden, unique in such a small space and would I be interested in visiting some time? I love being invited to tour all types of gardens but I had an inkling that the garden of Rich Merrill, former Director of the Horticulture Dept. and Professor Emeritus at Cabrillo College, would be something special.

It was a beautiful morning when I arrived at Merrill's garden overflowing with flowering plants, small trees, edibles and water features. Many large boulders, surrounded by pebbles, caught my attention in such a small space. All part of the design to attract beneficial insects I was told. His organic garden is teeming with small beetles, spiders, predatory bugs, syrphid flies, parasitic wasps and lacewings. It's the ideal method of pest control, environmentally safe and free of cost.

While admiring his lovely garden, Merrill shared his knowledge of beneficials- from insects to birds to spiders to frogs and beetles. They are all part of the ecology of a successful habitat garden. I could barely keep up, writing down notes on my yellow legal pad as he weaved a story about how each of the elements in his garden contributes to its total health. I was never able to take one of his classes at Cabrillo College so this was a real treat. My own private class.

The wide diversity of plants in Merrill's garden provide moisture, shelter, prey and nutrition in the form of santivalia2nectar for carbohydrates and pollen for protein. His plants are "beneficial" plants because they foster beneficial insects. It just so happens  that many of these plants are also beautiful in the garden. Some of his favorites include composite flowers like sunflowers, marigolds buckwheat, scabiosa and santivalia or creeping zinnia.  They have flat  flower clusters with accessible landing platforms and small nectar and pollen to make it easier for insects to feed. They in turn eat the tiny eggs of the bad bugs in your garden. His is a complete ecosystem.

This 800 square foot garden happens to be in a mobile home park but any small space could be designed to be as beautiful and full of life as Merrill's. Most of my clients ask for a garden filled with color, hummingbirds, songbirds, butterflies and wildlife so I came away with lots of great ideas.

blue_thunbergia2Once a teacher, always a teacher. Merrill gave me a handout he'd prepared for Renee Shepherd of Renee's Garden, explaining in more detail why he lets the broccoli go to flower to attract beneficials and why he allows aphids on his cruciferous vegetables to feed the beneficial insects when prey is scarce so they are on hand should he have an outbreak of bad insects that might ruin his flowers and plants.

As we strolled within a border of palms, olive trees, phormium, bottlebrush, Marjorie Channon pittosporum and cordyline, Merrill showed me his philosophy of right plant in the right place in action. Asclepias curassavica, commonly called Mexican Butterfly Weed, has self sown on its own in unexpected spots. One happened to come up next to the gorgeous blue thunbergia by the pondless waterfall making an awesome combination. Both monarch butterflies and hummingbirds enjoy the nectar.

Next to a red salvia, a red and white bicolor Rose of Sharon made it's home. Merrill lets all his plants intertwine and the pink flowering Heckrottii honeysuckle was already inching up into an olive tree. Other salvias in his garden include Hot Lips, San Antonio and San Jacinto. There isn't room to grow any of the larger salvias, Merrill explained. He swears he doesn't know where the brilliant blue one came from. Must be from the "fairy dust" his wife, Dida says he sprinkled over the garden to make everything grow so lush.

She loves flowers for fragrance and cutting so in several beds they grow gardenia, lemons, roses and alstroemeria among the alyssum which is a prime syrphid fly attractor. Several bird of paradise, obtained from different locales in the hopes one will be hardier grow beneath a tall palm.

Merrill grows only the vegetables that do well and are the most nutritious like kale, onions, garlic, broccoli and collards. He enjoyed growing cucumbers this year and has a large pumpkin in the making for his grandson. The rest he gets from the farmer's market. He had developed his own strain of elephant garlic which is actually a leek and has a milder flavor than garlic. I left his garden with a gift of elephant garlic and lots of inspiration.

berries, bonsai, California Native Plants, color in the garden, colorful foliage, flowering shrubs

Lessons from the Sierra Nevada

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Lake Mary2Maybe we can't improve on Mother Nature but can we learn from her to make our own gardens more beautiful. My late summer travels this year took me to Lake Mary in the Mammoth Lakes area where I began to get ideas. This small Sierra lake formed in a depression in the glacial moraine below majestic Crystal Crag. Dozens of small streams keep the meadows blooming with wildflowers even in August. Granite slabs and obsidian domes the size of small states create an impressive landscape. Everywhere I looked I  saw how the plants, stone and water came together to make a combination that would look incredible in a regular garden.

Horseshoe Lake nearby was particularly fascinating for another reason. Back in 1990 the pines near the lake began to die off. Drought and insect infestation were first suspected but were found not to be the cause. It wasn't until 1994 that a soil survey revealed an exceptionally high concentration of carbon dioxide. The trees were being killed by CO2 in their root zone.

What caused such high concentrations of this gas? A swarm of earthquakes in 1989 allowed magma to push up from deep within the earth into tiny cracks causing limestone-rich rocks beneath Mammoth Mountain to be heated and release carbon dioxide gas. We also live in earthquake country. Thankfully this has never happened around here.

The art of bonsai involves creating nature in miniature. The Eastern Sierra does it on an immense scale. The boulders are huge beside the trail, the conifers towering above you as you hike. You can take this same look and scale it down to garden-size.

Evergreen conifers are often overlooked as additions to the landscape. If a white fir or bristlecone pine won't fit into your backyard there are many smaller types that provide year round structure. Maybe a 4 foot golden Feelin' Sunny deodar cedar would look spectacular in a small border, rock garden or container. Or how about a dwarf Wilma Goldcrest Monterey cypress against a backdrop of trees or shrubs with red or purple foliage? Don't overlook these elegant workhorses in the garden.

Pink Sierra Currants, adorned with shiny, translucent fruits were ripe for the picking as I walked along the trail on the way to Box Lake in the Rock Creek area. This currant is similar to our familiar red-flowering currant but is a smaller bush. I found it growing in moist areas as well as dry spots and would do well in any garden.

Blue Sierra lupine, Crimson columbine, blue Sierra Fringed gentian, pyrola or pink wintergreen and spice bush or calycanthus occidentals are just a few of the wildflowers still blooming in profusion. Given similar conditions all these beautiful flowers will grow in your garden. Tucked next to an accent rock you can have the Sierras right out your own window.

The diversity of plants on the eastern side of the Sierra is made possible by three vegetative communities: the Sierra Nevada range, the Great Basin and the North Mojave Desert. Our own area is rich also in plant species. Our cool moist coastal conditions and warm dry chaparral allow us to grow an amazing number of different kinds of plants. Enjoy all that your garden can be.
 

beneficial insects, edibles, garden design, gardening tips, landscape design, organic gardening, vegetables

The Giants’ Garden

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AT&T_Park 3A few Sundays ago I spent the afternoon at AT&T Park watching the Giants play baseball. It was kids day. Hundreds of Boy Scouts were attending the game in uniform. Kids were everywhere eating peanuts and wearing the orange and black team colors. Some were sitting with their grandparents, some very, very young fans in their parents arms being smeared with sun screen.  It was a beautiful day on the San Francisco Bay. Unfortunately, the team didn't get the memo that we were supposed to get another win against the Diamondbacks. Oh well, there's always next year.

A friend forwarded an article he saw in the SF Chronicle by Janny Hu recently about the Giants plan to create an organic garden behind the center field wall. The Giants Garden would be created between the left and right field bleachers in an area that is now concrete and an adjacent area where replacement sod is grown.

Plans for the edible garden include hydroponic troughs, concrete planters and living green walls which would supply produce for some of the parks' concessions, serve as an open air dining area and a community classroom during the offseason. If you're hankering for a nice kale and strawberry salad next season while you watch the game you're in luck. The Giants hope to have the garden ready for Opening Day 2014.

If the Giants can do it, you can, too. We all want the area around our homes to be beautiful, welcoming, productive, useful.  In designing landscapes for people I strive to integrate vegetables, herbs and fruit trees with flowering shrubs and perennials to feed the family while attracting hummingbirds and other wildlife. Not everybody has room for a separate vegetable garden and companion planting is a good way to avoid problems with pests and diseases.

Plants when attacked by pests, exude chemicals and hormones that actually attract nearby beneficial insects. Perennials like agastache, coneflower, coreopsis, scabiosa and yarrow are rich in nectar and pollen and  irresistible to beneficials. Many herbs also attract beneficials.  Cilantro in bloom is one of the top insectary plants.  Caraway, chervil, dill, fennel, lovage and parsley flowers also attract beneficials and are easy to grow among your other plants. Allow your salad and cabbage crops to bloom.  Arugula and brassica flowers are much appreciated by beneficials.

Plants like lettuces, spinach and swiss chard look great in the flower bed and flowers make great companions in the vegetable garden. Dahlias repel nematodes. Geraniums repel cabbage worms, corn ear worms and leaf hoppers.  Plant them by grapes, roses, corn and cabbage. Marigolds discourage beetles, whiteflies and nematodes. They act as trap plants for spider mites and slugs. A word of caution,  don't plant them by cabbage or beans. Nasturtiums act as a barrier trap around tomatoes, radishes, cabbage and fruit trees. They deter whiteflies, and squash bugs and are a good trap crop for black aphids.

Herbs that help deter pests. Catnip/catmint repels mice, flea beetles, aphids, squash bugs, ants and weevils. Chamomile improves the flavor of cabbage, onions and cucumbers. It also accumulates calcium, sulphur and potassium, returning them later to the soil. As a host for hoverflies and good wasps it increases productions of essential oils in herbs. Summer savory repels bean leaf beetles and improves the flavor of beans. All beans enrich the soil by fixing nitrogen.  They are good for planting with all of your vegetables except onions, garlic and leeks.

Dwarf fruit trees can also find a place in the smaller garden. They can be grown in large pots or half barrels on the deck, too. Dwarf Garden Delicious apple is self-fertile and bears at a young age. Compact Stella cherry is also self fertile and is a good pollinizer for all sweet cherries.

If it's almonds you crave, plant a Dwarf Garden Prince almond. This compact 10-12 ft tree blooms mid-season with beautiful pale pink blossoms. Dense attractive foliage and good quality sweet almonds make this tree a nice addition to any garden. A patio-sized peach for smaller yards is the Dwarf Southern Flame.  Large, yellow, aromatic freestone peaches are firm, crisp and melt in your mouth. Tree height is just 5 ft and the fruit ripens early to mid July.

Planting flowers and edibles together makes sense and good use of your garden space.