Thursday, July 2, 2009

People-Pocket Circle

To provide a sense as to the sort of bamboo I am planning on planting in the raised compost bed that forms the People-Pocket Circle, I gladly submit the following pictures.

This particular ornamental species is call Golden Crookstem. It is one of, if not the, favorite of mine. It goes through such a wondrous color change.

In the spring, new shoots and subsequent clums (canes) are an almost translucent light yellow. Shortly with any amount of direct sun, these clums "sunburn". Yes they turn as red as you or I (the white guy that I am) when over done in the sun.

As the summer turns to fall then to winter, the culms gradually change to yes it's name-sake, golden yellow.

Very cool. See below what I am talking about.

Another interesting feature with Golden Crookstem is that subsequent shoots and clums come up very dense...as you can see. This keeps wild boars out of your backyard...

Lastly a fun thing to watch is as the clum grows, once in a while one will bend. Within a few days it tries to re-correct to the vertical but over compensates. After about 3-4 tries it gets back on to vertical trajectory...leaving behind a "crook" stem. Funny how a play on words is sometimes as accurate as the nose on our face.

So in the next couple weeks, you should begin to see clumps of this 8th Wonder of the World appear in the circle's raised bed.

Oh you ask, what's the deal with the raised bed? This effectively allows us to see those nasty, world-takeover rhyzomes that spread bamboo to expose itself. We then simply cut that brutish beast...and we can all breathe a sigh of relief -- life will go on tomorrow.

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Phyllostachys aureosulcata "Aureocaulis"

Soil Analysis

Thanks to Fred Likkel of N3 Consulting (Lynden, WA) we received a soil test analysis from Soiltest Farm Consultants, Inc (Moses Lake, WA).

Below are the results.

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The section "Interpretation Guide" provides a good overview on the key elements.

The pH seems a bit on the acidic side. The report recommends applying 0.5 ton per acre. Well let's whittle that down to plot-scale:

An acre equals 43,560 square feet. A 1/2 ton equals 1,000 pounds. To get weight of lime per square feet we divide 1,000 by 43,560 = 0.023 pound per square foot.

A 10X10 plat has 100 square feet.

Multiply 100 times 0.023 = 2.3 pounds of lime for that plot. Double this for 10X20 plots = 4.6 pounds.

If evenly distributed, there you go, you're now a full-fledged agricultural lime expert!

I hope my math is correct. If not, I am sure (as I should) I will hear about it.

Joy

Buckwheat Sprouts

On June 18, I seeded 4 plots with buckwheat. Since they had not been claimed by anyone, the weeds were into a serious party. That ended the 18th.

After tilling up the weed-dead-heads, I scattered buckwheat seed, and lightly tilled in the seed to about an 1 1/2 inch deep. As you can see it has sprouted. And as of yesterday was growing very well.

The purpose is for the buckwheat plant to provide a living cover for the soil, suppressing weeds, and ultimately to be sacrificed in about 2-months to the tiller and become green manure.

Shortly after I will sow with berseem clover for the fall and winter. This adds up to 200 lbs/acre of available nitrogen.

So watch as little Bucky grows this summer. Welcome our new friend as we do our new NCCG members.

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Longsuffering.

Boys and Girls Club Visit The Garden

This noon, I had the "chance" encounter with meeting and visiting with a wonderful group of boys and girls from the B&G Club of Lynden.

I was putting one more load of compost on the "People-Pocket" circle over by the evergreen trees...and saw the group come over and visit the garden. Well, I carry my handi-dandi digital camera everywhere and got to take some pictures.

Not only that, but the leaders of the group asked if I'd give a little talk on the garden. The "ham" that I am (love the rhyme) immediately obliged.

Talked about the history of the property, the formation of the garden group, the reason for growing your own food, the connection and community it fosters. Had lots of questions. They especially were intrigued by the Peregrine JacKite flying nearby.

After the group picture (see below) I asked if they would like to take some lettuce and some Kohlrabi (aka "space alien") back for lunch. Sure enough. I offered each to take some lettuce with them. They really wanted more "space aliens".

Shared also the demonstration plot of mine as a "lasagna" garden. I found out in the course of that discourse -- Garfield loves lasagna. Umm...I didn't know that. Got to watch more TV I guess. Ha!

I hope the B&G Club can use one of our plots...would love to see the learning and experience they would gain.

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Never new Collard leaves were good for flying...

Gentleness