Permaculture (and why someone should be living in the EcoHouse year round)

Fail about updating yesterday.


So even though I've been waiting until it was shady I think I've been watering too early because the soil's still been very dry. So last night i didn't water until just before sundown, and I dragged my lazy butt out of bed to go water before nine this morning. I'll do the same tomorrow.


Yesterday was again fairly straight forward. I didn't do anymore planting because I'm waiting for the seedlings to mature a little more. I turned the compost (someone in one of the language houses has been putting A LOT of oranges in the pile... big no no). I'll probably take some of the finished compost and put it around the seedlings once I've got them planted. The way I'm going to do that (since a lot of the pile is still big chunks of organic matter) is by sifting it through the chicken wire used to contain it into a wheel barrow. Then I'll take the unfinished bits and make a new pile out of them. 


One of the big things about the EcoHouse is that it has a permaculture garden surrounding it. Now since the entire garden went in at once, a lot of the plants didn't make it because they just weren't receiving enough attention. As it is, however, most of the garden is intact. There is a rhubarb plant on the south side that it settling in nicely, several ostrich ferns at the West as well as some wild ginger, and three large elderberries on the North side. There's also scatterings of Mayapples, yarrow, anise hissup, and other edibles or nitrogen fixers. The East side, however, is fairly barren.


I met with Asa (the original designer or the garden and also the original MULCH summer gardener for the current location) who gave me a full tour of the garden and explained each of the benefits of the plants. According to Asa, most of what the garden needs is remulching (and I can get woodchips from facilities), weeding, and filling. Since some of the original plants have died, they should be replanted. Wintergreens, New Jersey Tea, and False indigo are good plants to try to reinstate. Also, when all else fails, yarrow is a dynamic accumulator (a plant that pulls nutrients from deep in the ground) and is a good idea to plant. Also, he suggested planting a cranberry viburnum at the edge of the property. Asa said he got most of the plants that he bought at Outback Nursery in Hastings, MN. Apparently, Outback Nursery specializes not only in native plants, but the native genotypic strains, aka the specific plants adapted to survive in Minnesota. So that's pretty great, if I find funds for replanting I'll definitely try to go there.


In terms of fixing the East side of the house, there's not a lot of options. It's a pretty shady area,  though it's gotten better. Asa had planted quite a bit, but now it's been mowed quite a few times and a lot of things didn't survive. Still, there's three hazelnut plants, an elderberry, several yarrow plants that are spreading, and anise hissup (which tastes a bit like liquorish and can be made into tea). He suggested planting ground clover as a cover (that will also served to hold the soil in place). The biggest issue is that right now it's a weed bed, but because it's sloped it the soil risks being washed away. I've had several people suggest to me that I make a rain garden out of the lower bit, which might be a possibility, but it would be getting A LOT of water. Also, I'll have to sink it a big, which is tricky because the pipes from the solar panels to the EcoHouse run right through that area. So I'll have to see if I can get someone to flag all the places I'm not allowed to dig so I don't... die. 


Tomorrow I'm going to harvest some arugula, see about mulching, and plant some raspberries that my friend Reed is transplanting from his garden, yay!