In Search of the American Potager

Much of my garden plant placement has been an exercise in trial and error. I place plants in one bed one year and opt to plant the same type in another location the next year. Some years I focus on flowers, other years I focus more on vegetables. My herb garden alone has made a move from one location to another and I am still contemplating yet another move to location number 3! I am always reevaluating the best ways to use my space, and with a mostly annual plant type garden, this is fairly easy to accomplish as annual plant life spans allow a gardener to start over in a new location on a seasonal basis. Perennial plant moves are harder and many times one has to start over from scratch. (The herbs didn't transplant well, later died, and needed to be repurchased and replanted in their new home.) Ever practical by nature, I have been searching for a design that would optimize my garden space to fit the maximum vegetables without creating overcrowding and that would give some sort of structure to my formless garden bed meanderings. 

Enter the not-so-new idea of the Potager/ Kitchen garden of early Europe. Through ancient to early modern Europe, peasants, clergy, and lords maintained their household gardens typically close to the kitchen. These kitchens fed families and were the mainstay of main a fine and simple table. These potagers became more formal through the late medieval period as monks and other clergy members developed these agricultural gardens for their specific needs. For more information about the history of the Potager garden, please read Designing the New Kitchen Garden: An America Potager Handbook by Jennifer R. Bartley. This book has been instrumental in helping me start my potager. It includes gorgeous pictures of old world and new world potagers as well as designs. In designing a potager, here are the most important elements to keep in mind:

Review your space: determine how much sun the area receives and place plants according to their sunlight needs.

1. Consider your kitchen's culinary needs: Place your potager close to your kitchen for easy access and choose plants based on what you like to cook and eat.
2. Layout: Potagers look neat and formal from a bird's eye view and repeat sequencing of plants. The key is to create a sense of unity in texture and color.
3. Enclose the garden: Traditional potagers are enclosed by a natural or man made wall to give a sense of charm and exclusivity within a garden space. I struggled with this concept due to practical purposes: how will I water the plants with an enclosure in the way. I opted not to completely enclose the area, but rather used annual flowers to create a border effect.
4. Create an edge to raised beds: Edging makes the space look neat and formal but in my garden, practical needs have outweighed aesthetic ones at this time. 
5. Counterpoint - This is the idea of using colors at opposite sides of the color wheel. I am not good at this because I tend to plant what I want, when I want and damn the consequences. Perhaps this is proof I need more structure?
6. Verticality: A tomato gardener doesn't need to be told twice. Utilize trellises and support for vining plants to increase the visual appeal.
7. Winter uses: I need to contemplate my seasonal plantings. I like to let my beds go fallow for a couple of months during winter so I can recharge my batteries.  My potager only has annual plants at this time so I need to reconsider the winter. (Bartley 97-118)

Here are the step to our first Potager (we started process in March so we could plant in early April):

Amending the soil: we used 3 bags of compost and 3 bags of chicken manure for  ~150 sq  ft

Roto-tilling the soil, crunching up weeds and mixing in amendments

Ready for placement of stones in new pattern

Stones placed, all pieces reused from previous bed configuration.

Round 1 of the planting included beets, kale, sunflowers, green beans and arugula from seed, San Marzano tomato, pepper, and annual flower seedlings. Round 2 will include more tomato and pepper seedlings. Round 3 will include tomato and pepper seedlings and more beets from seed.

Overview of warm season potager

Annual flower edging: marigolds and zinnias

San Marzano tomatoes and basil in bloom

I am enjoying the potager design since it allows me to stagger planting, maximize square footage, experiment with new crops, and rotate crops between the cool and warm seasons. I plan to potagerize the three beds on the east side of my garden and use one side for early spring vegetables (cool season) and the other for late spring/ summer vegetables (warm season). I plan to create a greater sense of enclosure by planting roses on the north side of the bed, but I do not want to start that project until the property fence height has been increased (for more privacy). Lastly, my herb garden is going to need some editing and revision to get it up to potager standards. I keep gaining more form and function in the garden thanks to potager ideals; I look forward to seeing the plants filling in the spaces and producing copious amounts of vegetables for a bountiful summer table.

The Death of the American Lawn Part 2

Edible front yards are the ultimate expression of the Victory Garden. They are also the most revolutionary reasons for the death of the American Lawn. While a native or xeriscape garden might be more palatable in conforming to established zoning, code and Home Owner's Association rules, the edible garden flies in the face of conformity and places food plants front and center in the neighborhood's sight lines. For some front yard gardeners, this has become a battle ground and a cause, for others, it has become a positive point of contact with their community.

At first glance, vegetable gardens have any unruly appearance if not scrupulously maintained. My tomatoes look pretty scraggly by season's end. Truthfully, my tomatoes are not what I had in mind and an ideal edible front yard candidate. In The Edible Front Yard, Ivette Soler outlines how to choose the correct edible plants to ensure an aesthetically pleasing front yards. She spends a considerable amount of time listing ornamental edibles that will be both pleasing to the eye and pleasing to the palette. Her choices focus on the form of the plant, its flowers, and how well it holds up during the space of the growing season. Hardscape is key; well planned and executed paths, growing beds, and trellises help neighbors over look wilted or spent vegetables. I loved Ms. Soler's approach and would love to build a front yard edible garden using her guidelines. However, I would only go with the front yard edible approach if I was unable to build a vegetable garden in the backyard due to space, poor orientation to the sun, or other issues. Front yard gardens must deal with scavengers, especially of the two-legged kind. I blew a fuse when some one stole plumeria cuttings. Imagine what would happen if they harvested all my fruiting vegetables? Secondly, front yard edible gardens need more constant care. If they are front and center for everyone to see, the gardener will feel obligated to keep them looking perfect. I certainly can't do perfect, especially at the end of the growing season when both the tomatoes and the gardener are spent! I have plenty of space in by backyard for my vegetables. I could turn the front yard into a victory garden, but that will cost me more time than I am willing to pay right now with a full-time job, family and friend responsibilities, and participation in gardening clubs and other hobbies.

Some municipalities find this gardening approach far too revolutionary for their tastes. Recently, Orlando authorities have threatened Jason and Jennifer Helvengston with fines of $500.00 per day until they remove their 25 by 25 front yard vegetable garden. Strangely enough, the authorities are demanding the Helvengstons install grass even though vegetable gardens have a much more carbon friendly foot print than the monoculture of a pesticide and water guzzling lawn. (Please click here for further details in the original article.) Another gardener, a blogger from Toronto, had the opposite experience. As she slowly “came out” as front yard vegetable gardener, her neighbors have accepted and liked her front yard garden. In the right social climate, front yard gardens can connect neighbors, allowing them to meet and share ideas (and food) in the more public sphere of the front yard (instead of hidden away in the backyard). I suspect that rules will continue to be broken and municipal regulations over the content and usage of front yard space will continue to be fought. But there will continue to be more acceptance, especially in a community where people want to know where there food comes from.

So garden on, front yard gardeners! I may not be able to join you at this time, but I stand with you in solidarity for the right to produce one's own food and the right to rethink and change the ideas of what the American front yard landscape should be.

The Death of the American Lawn Part 1

Have you noticed that the traditional expanse of green lawn is becoming less and less prevalent?  I look around my neighborhood and see so many options: xeriscape gardens, meadow gardens, native gardens, and countless more kinds of gardens. Homeowners are more and more looking to different options for their gardens that provide more visual appeal, are less work, and focus on water conservation. This change comes from three main influences, the ever changing demographics of the cultural landscape, expansion of conservationism into private gardens, and proliferation of growing edibles in private gardens.

In the post-war baby boom of the 1950s, home builders struggled to keep up with the demand for housing. Track homes with wide front lawns grew up overnight and ran as far as the eye could see down every block of new suburban neighborhoods. Young children treated these lawns as one gigantic play area, for these unfenced front lawns made ideal locations for baseball, football, and other lawn field based games. As infrastructure caught up with growth, public parks began to supplant the need for open front yards. The advent of “stranger danger” and other crime into areas made parents less willing to allow their kids to play in the front yards and the streets. Children retreated to the backyard or to parks with adult supervision. Bu the front yard lawns remained, static, hard to maintain, soaking up large amounts of pesticides and water needed to keep them green.

In the wake of the environmental movement, home owners started questioning the need for these  lawns, especially if their children were grown or could play in a neighborhood park. Conservationists and gardening aficionados began looking for alternatives to the traditional lawn and found inspiration in nature. They conceived native style gardens that mimicked native meadow, prairie, or chaparral ecosystems. As housing demands push developers to build on undeveloped land, they can attempt to soften the blow to wildlife by providing gardens that provide shelter and food for birds, blooms to provide nectar to local bees, and plants to help sustain beneficial insects. As my county is very susceptible to drought, xeriscape gardens are very popular. There are gorgeous succulents, cacti, grasses, salvia, palms and a host of many more options that can make a water conserving garden appear lush and green. These particular gardens bloom in late winter to early spring and are a gorgeous site to behold among the dormant background. There are a host of options in taking your garden native; if you wish to research options for your new native or xeric garden, I recommend Beautiful No-Mow Yards by Evelyn J Hadden.

Personally, I have no need for a traditional lawn. When Hubby and I moved in to the ‘ol homestead, we promptly killed the existing small piece of lawn by neglecting to water it. That area is now our mini-orchard containing plum, fig, pomegranate, lemon, and tangerine trees. The ground cover is a mixture of mulch and seasonal wildflowers. When the wildflowers die off, I convert the area to vegetable gardening overflow, growing pumpkins, crook-necked yellow squash, zucchini, artichokes, and cucumbers. We save a bundle on our water bill, so much so that our expense is only about $50.00 a month, and most of that cost is taxes and fees. The vegetable garden has been a true harbinger of the death of the American lawn, but I leave that topic for the next time, as I delve into the idea of the edible front yard.

Xeriscaped garden using agave, flax, creeping rosemary and native shrubs.

Succulent garden with tea tree and other water-wise shrubs

A friend just started this succulent and cacti garden with his favorite species.

Neighbors continue to extend their bird and bees garden that attracts local wildlife.

A Little Privacy Please

I live on a busy street and contend with need to establish privacy without appearing unwelcoming. In research process of my privacy project, I found inspiration in a beautifully illustrated gardening book, Landscaping for Privacy: Innovative Ways to Turn your Outdoor Space into a Peaceful Retreat, by Marty Wingate.  The author addresses garden intrusion in many forms, but I will be focusing on the privacy needs of my front and side yard gardens.

Solution 1: Buffers

Pride of Madeira cover up the unwanted view of alley.

Buffers help the homeowners avoid seeing things they don’t want to see or hearing things they don’t want to hear. When we bought our home, our three established plumerias acted as a buffer between our property and our neighbor’s property to the west. They also buffer some of the road noise and the road dust that blows toward the house on that side. The east side of our home had no such buffer. Approximately 2 years ago, Hubby planted a half dozen Pride of Madeira along the east side of our yard to buffer traffic noise and dust from the alley that runs along that side of our property.  With the plumerias on the west and the Pride of Madeira on the east, we informally established the boundaries of our property and removed the site lines directly into our neighbor’s yard and the alley. 

Solution 2: Barriers

Japanese variegated mock orange non-hedge

Barriers can be a touchy subject. On one hand, the homeowners want exclusivity, but do not want to appear unwelcoming to their guests and neighbors. Fences are the logical choice and there are a wealth of materials, heights, and styles to accommodate any garden. However, fencing is expensive and must comply with city codes and HOA restrictions. My solution to the expense of fencing was a hedgerow of my favorite shrub, Japanese variegated mock orange. Hubby indulged my whim in removing the kangaroo paws, succulents, and tea trees from the beds facing the sidewalk. The mock orange will create a lovely barrier to digging (and pooping) dogs, plumeria pickers, and road dust and debris . . . once they grow.  Mock orange have a slow to moderate rate of growth compared to other options, but I insisted on this plant because I love the bright appearance and the gorgeous fragrance their blooms release starting in February.  For now, I am stuck waiting for the individual plants to grow into a hedge and create the barrier I desire.

Solution 3: Screens

Fourth of July are climbing roses that will make good screens.

Screens are an ideal means to provide partial coverage but retain accessibility. I would love to create a screen of sorts that covers the garbage and recycling cans we keep on the east side of the front yard, but I have yet to devise a cost effective solution that works for the space. I have also contemplated creating a jasmine trellis to enclose the north side of the backyard patio. I am unsure if I want to create division in that part of the garden, but I would love to cover the compost container.  Lastly, Hubby and I would like to screen our cinder block wall near our fruit trees with Fourth of July Roses. Thorns will be a good barrier to incursion, but be prepared to deal with them effectively. Thorn plants are not good choices for families with children and inquisitive dogs, and there is much care involved in thorn plants so they do not become unruly. Word to the wise: Always do your research!

Good barriers make for better security, vistas, sounds, and ultimately, better peace of mind. The key is to complete these privacy modifications in an esthetically pleasing way that hopefully impresses the neighbors and guests without appearing unwelcoming. To better address your privacy needs, I recommend reading Landscaping for Privacy as a starting point for ideas and an extensive plant list that will accommodate all North American climates.

Bare Root Season, Camellias, & Rosie Temptations

Winter months are usually slow in the Victory Garden - not so this year! My gardening New Year's resolution for 2012 is to fill in the naked spots in my garden, using gardening time table specific to Southern California. (I have discovered my time tables have been off in some cases, specifically when I pruned my roses.) Over the course of the year, I will be following Pat Welsh's Southern California Gardening: A Month by Month Guide. I adore Pat Welsh; her advice is excellent and her approach is green. Be on the look out for book reviews of both the gardening guide and memoirs!

See the tiny stick in the back? That's my new Mission Fig!

January is the start of bare root season, so now is the time to get bare root deciduous fruit trees and roses in the ground. Hubby and I went to our local Walter Anderson Nursery and picked up another Mission Fig. We placed it on the north wall of the garden in the number six vegetable bed, just to the right of the plumeria. It should receive plenty of sun in that location and extra warmth from the cinder block fence. 

Camellia japonica ready for planting

Now is also the time to plant camellias and azaleas. I chose to plant two camellias in the semi-shade of the eastern side of the garden near the garage. I choose two camellia japonica, one is a brilliant red bloom variety called Bob Hope and the other is Carter's sunburst, a variegated pink with both light and dark striations. They are very small right now, but I hope they grow and bloom profusely. Camellias bloom from fall to early spring and are a wonderful source of color and flowers in the winter months.

My roses are coming back nicely but earlier than expected after their pruning. I still am fighting orange rust thanks to my neighbor's infested roses being upwind of mine. Perhaps I can offer to prune his roses for him? I originally did not plan to plant any bare root roses this year, but I am sorely tempted to do so since I've seen some of the new offerings with gorgeous variations of color. I want to plant a Ketchup & Mustard and a Koko-Loco. (Please click here for images.) I have room for one more in my rose bed, but I may have to sacrifice space in my sweet pea bed for the second.

I have added a number of cool season annual flowers for added color and have planted some extra lettuces to augment our salads. Hubby is trying out artichokes in the empty spaces of the mini-orchard on the east side of the house. Artichokes are supposed to grow profusely and become tall, but right now they look half eaten by pests. We continue to harvest tangerines, savoy cabbage, and radishes. I am at a loss on how to serve the radishes. My recipe round-up will take a hiatus this month as I perfect a cabbage recipe and figure out what to do with radishes. Please let me know if you have any suggestions!

Colossus White with Blotch Pansy

Angel Tiger Eye Viola

Anna Apple blooms - I hope I have more fruit this year!

Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them. - AA Milne

New and Improved!

Hello readers! As you probably already noticed, I have been working to update my gardening blog with an improved layout and adding relevant content. I invite you to peruse my blog and give me feedback. (Please be gentle with me as my HTML skills are pathetic and I depend on the Blogger interface for formatting.)

Monthly Checklist – I will update my garden task list on a monthly basis and cross the tasks off as I complete them. I hope this will help other Southern Californian gardeners determine what to do and when to do it.

My Recipes – I created a list of the recipes that appear in my blog using links to the recipes. These links lead to pages inside and outside my blog. Be on the look out for more recipe sharing next year.

Weather Widget – Curious to see the weather in my Victory Garden? Take a look at my widget on the right had side of the page. Chances are, if it is a lovely day and a weekend, I will be out in the garden!

Gardening Bookshelf – I am now sharing my reviews on gardening books, garden themed novels, and other food related books on this bookshelf thanks to a Goodreads.com widget. I look forward to posting more gardening book reviews in the New Year!

“You might also like:” widget – At the end of each post, this widget recommends similar posts that the reader may be interested in reading. I hope this will help share older content and pique reader interest in similar topics.

My Causes (content and cause will change periodically) – It should come as no surprise that I support Animal Welfare (thanks to Petfinder.com for the widgets), specifically my local chapter of the Humane Society and ASPCA. I want to showcase a very special dog, Bolt, who has been looking for his forever family for over a year. I invite you to check out his profile on Petfinder.com and the San Diego Humane Society website to learn more about him. If you are not in the position of adopting a dog, please email his profile to friends and family that may be interested in adopting him. 

 

I wish all my readers a Happy and Safe Holiday Season!

Best Regards,

Rosie Tomato

Going Green(er) in the Victory Garden

Up to this point, my garden has been a monoculture. A monoculture focuses on one crop or one type of crop; in my case vegetables. (Think ‘Banana Republic’ – and I don’t mean the store!) Consequently, the garden is difficult to care for; it takes hours of toil per week, sometimes upwards of six hours a week when (at times) I’d rather be spending six hours a month. It is a lot to keep up with especially with other goals, responsibilities, and vacations. A monoculture is also notoriously susceptible to plant diseases and blights as well as parasitic bugs and mildews. I have been researching the idea of permaculture, setting up a more sustainable ecosystem in one’s own backyard. With that in mind, I will be working toward augmenting my garden with beneficial perennials that will feed birds and bugs, provide shade where needed, increase the health of the soil, and most importantly help build my garden into a more complete ecosystem that can hopefully survive a couple days longer than normal without my care. I will rely heavily on the beautiful book, Gaia’s Garden by Toby Hemenway. It provides a wealth of advice to help me make my journey from monoculture to permaculture a reality.

Yard waste has also become a problem. Hubby and I are very good at working in the yard for hours at a time, but we must stop when we run out of room to throw out yard waste. A viable composting system will alleviate this and will help return fertility back to the soil. I have begun tossing green kitchen waste in my composter (aka the green machine) and with the help of a leaf shredder/ mulcher I would like to continue the process. Mulching vegetable beds and the fruit tree mini-orchard will also keep a damper on those pernicious weeds. That will surely cut down monotonous work in the garden and save time for the more important work of planting, watering, and tending.

So, to sum up, here is my two-fold goal for going green(er) in the garden:

1. Plant four beds with the idea of permaculture in mind, expanding on multiple purposes of plants while encouraging a healthy mini ecosystem.
2. Reduce yard wasted to almost nil – all plants should be composted minus diseased specimens, over-large branches, or palm fronds.