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Permaculture the topic at Edible Garden group meeting
March 15, 2013
Permaculture the topic at Edible Garden group meeting
Anonymous
Newburyport Daily News
The Daily News of Newburyport
Fri Mar 15, 2013, 03:00 AM EDT
NEWBURYPORT — The March meeting of the Greater Newburyport Edible Garden group will feature Debbie Richards and Lillabeth Wies, who will present a description of permaculture and its approach to a sustainable future. The meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 25, at 7 p.m. at 27 Cherry St.
They will cover topics, such as:
1. What is progress?
2. What is a natural garden, and why does it work so well?
3. Why do our landscapes need so many outside inputs and take so much human labor? Because most of our landscapes do not feed into the natural cycles.
4. Let’s see how we can work within natural systems in our landscapes so that they support themselves and us with less work from us, provide us beauty, serenity and a harvest; and at the same time protect and purify the air, water and regenerate the soil.
5. Bringing our soil back to life: Follow nature’s lead
6. Bringing our gardens to Life: Follow nature’s lead
Richards is a local organic gardener with 35 years of developing an outstanding Family Food Farm.
Wies is the owner and operator of Landscapes by Lillabeth, LLC, an organic permaculture landscaping company. She has an master’s in ornamental horticulture and 34 years experience in landscaping and gardening.
The Edible Garden group was formed by community members who are interested in getting together to learn and share information about sustainable food growing — veggies, fruits, nuts. The meetings are focused on building community resilience through increasing the availability of safe, nutritious, sustainably-grown local food. For more information contact Deb Carey at boiester@gmail.com or 978-388-5629.
Where art meets garden
Transforming a basic rural property into a lovely family home and art gallery within beautifully landscaped grounds takes the right people. Like Shelley Chignell, a former landscape-design writer with a passion for art, and her husband Ed, who has outdoor machinery on tap as chief executive of arboricultural company Treescape.
Shelley says, “This has been a wicked family home. And outside the work has all been done – decks, landscaping, pool, paths, plants and mature trees. The gardens are in a really good stage to just enjoy.”
Ed was in his late 20s when he bought this Coatesville property in 1987, before he met Shelley, who now works in arts and publishing.
She was editor of More magazine under her maiden name “Clement”, wrote about landscape design for Next and later retrained in arts management.
Shelley has fond childhood memories of big gardens. So she and Ed relocated to this property, which had been rented out, when they were living in Onehunga and expecting their first child.
Back then, it was just a simple cottage, a few mature trees, a sheep paddock and a barn, later replaced by Shelley’s art gallery business.
After a decade, with children Rory (now 18) and Grace (nearly 16), they outgrew the cottage. At first they planned to extend it, but instead replaced it with a new home designed by George Clarke Architects.
“It was on the same footprint, because I said to my husband, ‘I’ve already done 10 years of landscaping here and we’re not wrecking that!”‘
Fortunately, their 2003 tradespeople anticipated future regulation changes, building a solid plaster home with large eaves, equipped with full flashing and a cavity system before those features were mandatory.
There’s a separate driveway and parking for the Flametree Art Garden and Gallery, Shelley’s outdoor art business.
This light-filled exhibition studio with covered front courtyard, rear toilet and storage, could continue as a gallery, become a gym, or be used for another home business.
A driveway leads to the two-storey home, near the gallery’s namesake flame tree. Shelley studied Japanese garden design, which is the influence behind floating platforms prefacing the house and gallery that encourage people to “pause and think before you enter a dwelling”.
The house relates cleverly to the garden, with views from every window and a pavilion effect when opened up. But it’s mainly a functional family home, with loads of room and attractive materials, such as ground-level jarrah floors.
The main open-plan kitchen, dining and family space looks out over a big, level front lawn.
The dual-oven kitchen has cool drinks in an extra fridge, ready to take out to two north-facing decks or the rear in-ground pool and spa.
A sunny extra lounge has recently been a “teenage boy pit”, for watching TV, playing computer games and cranking up pool-side music. This level’s two bedrooms, family bathroom and big laundry are rounded out by upstairs’ third bedroom with en suite and master suite. As well as an en suite and walk-in wardrobe, it offers a quiet parents’ retreat – a lounge/study with balcony.
“We have fantastic views,” says Shelley.
“And because we’re part of a corridor of bush, we have a really big resident population of tui and wood-pigeons.”
The established grounds have hosted garden tours, but Shelley’s proven the upkeep is manageable – “a day each month or a few hours each fortnight”.
Some outdoor art stays with the property. Garden highlights include a fountain courtyard, an outdoor room with chiminea fire, a sunken garden and a vege-flower garden with chook-house.
The double garage incorporates another office and storage.
Now the children are entering university years and Ed’s often travelling for Treescapes, the Chignells are moving on.
By Sandra Goodwin
Finalists announced for the Landscaping Giveaway from Busch Gardens …
Earlier this month, Busch Gardens Williamsburg announced they would be giving one winner a landscaped yard done completely by their team of landscapers in their “Landscaping Giveaway“. Entires from the Mid-Atlantic region poured in through Facebook. After Busch Gardens reviewed hundreds of submissions, they have narrowed it down to just 20 finalists.
Image courtesy of virginialiving.com
Busch Gardens needs your help to select the winner. Now through Saturday, March 16th at noon, you can visit the Busch Gardens Facebook page and vote for a finalist. The winner will be notified on Monday, March 18th.
Busch Gardens will be open tomorrow for Passholders only, and then will officially open for the season on Sunday, March 17th.
For more information about Busch Gardens Williamsburg, visit the official website by clicking here.
Gardening Tips: Guidelines for moving trees or shrubs
Anyone who grows trees or shrubs would probably want to move them to a new location sometime. For most trees and shrubs, late winter or early spring are the best times to move them for transplanting. Here are some tips to help:
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Gardening | Care for azaleas with these tips
Azaleas are a signature plant in southern spring and also in southern gardens.
Interestingly, North American native azaleas are all deciduous species. Most of the azaleas in our yards, however, are evergreen, with their ancient roots in Asia. The result is more than 10,000 registered or named varieties from hundreds of years of breeding.
As southern gardeners we are particularly aware of azaleas during the spring. Consequently it is a good time to look at caring for them.
Here are 18 things to know and do so our azaleas will thrive:
• Plant azaleas in early spring or fall; new roots need time to develop before summer heat and drought.
• Keep transplanted azaleas well watered, but not water-logged, until they are established.
• Azaleas grow best in dappled or part shade. Deep shade produces spindly plants with fewer blooms. Too much sun results in shorter bloom time.
• Plants require acidic soil with a pH of 4.5-6.0.
• Soil should be loose, well drained and contain plenty of organic material.
• Plant the root ball higher than ground level.
• Azaleas have a shallow root system that spreads within the top 12 inches of soil. Protect roots with organic mulch beyond the drip line, but leave bare two inches around the stem.
• Fertilizer is usually not necessary. It can burn shallow roots. Azaleas get adequate nutrition as mulch and compost slowly decompose.
• Chlorosis (yellowing leaves with green veins) and stunted growth are likely indicators of nutrient deficiency. If a soil test shows a nutrient deficiency apply a scant amount of slow release fertilizer for acid loving plants.
• Too much water, too little water, or too much fertilizer can cause brown leaf tips and leaf drop.
• Prune azaleas when they have finished flowering, and before mid June. If you prune after that you reduce next year’s blooms.
• Cut leggy stems back to the place where they meet a larger branch.
• A cool damp spring can lead to petal blight, an airborne fungus. Flowers appear spotted and turn brown. They look mushy and water logged, sticking to the leaves. The fungus over winters on the fallen blossoms. Remove and destroy dead blossoms from your plants and the ground around them.
• Leaf gall is a fleshy fungal growth that begins shiny green. White spores cover then cover the mass which dries brown. Pick off, bag and throw out the growths, ideally before the spores are released to become new galls next spring.
• Azalea lace bugs can be a problem – their population continues to increase if they are untreated. Look for small black specs on the underside of leaves. Their sucking sap causes a stippled effect on the surface of leaves turning them from green to grayish. Lace bugs overwinter on plants as eggs. Spray plants thoroughly with horticultural or control lace bugs chemically with Sevin, malathion, cyfluthrin and imidacloprid products. Follow label instructions.
• Red spider mites start on the underside of leaves. They look like tiny specs. As the population increases they move to leaf surfaces. Look for fine webbing on leaves to help identify the pests. Horticultural oil will help control the numbers, but a chemical miticide will be more effective. Always follow label instructions.
• Azalea caterpillars are small. They grow from about 1/2-inch to 2 inches long beginning brownish black with yellow and white stripes. They mature black with yellow and white stripes and a red head. Typically they feed in groups and devour leaves quickly. Look for the caterpillars during August and September. Use Bacillus thuringiensis, horticultural oil, malathion, Sevin, or cyfluthrin products to control them. As usual follow label instructions.
• Check the bark on plants, especially crotch areas, for azalea bark scale. Scale insects are damaging because they suck the sap out of plants. Scrape off scale insects as possible. Use horticultural oil to kill adults and eggs. (Insecticidal sprays kill only the crawler stage of scale.) Follow label instructions. Be aware that you will need to spray multiple times to control the pest.
Azaleas are beautiful and easy to grow. Just give them the right conditions and know how to trouble shoot a few problems.
Reach DEBBIE MENCHEK, a Clemson Master Gardener, at dmgha3@aol.com.
Gardening column: Farmer’s Almanac offers helpful tips as we prepare for …
jaf701@frontier.com. You also can read her What’s Bloomin’ blog at www.news-sentinel.com. This column is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the views or opinion of The News-Sentinel.
March garden tips from Butte County Master Gardeners – Enterprise
Fertilize roses, annual flowers and berries with slow-release fertilizer when spring growth begins. Pull weeds. Fertilize citrus and deciduous fruit trees. Check roses for aphids; control with a strong spray of water or insecticidal soap. Spray apricots with a fungicide as flowers open to prevent brown rot. Cut back, divide and fertilize herbs. Prepare beds for planting by spading in compost. Prune and fertilize spring-flowering shrubs and trees after bloom. Fertilize cool-season lawn grasses (bent, blue, rye, and fescue). Fertilize camellias at the end of bloom. Try using composted or well-aged manure. Check irrigation system and perform maintenance.
For more monthly garden tips, check back regularly at http://cebutte.ucanr.edu/Master_Gardener719/
Garden Design author James Farmer to speak at 2013 Southeastern Flower Show
It might be a time to plant that vegetable garden in Georgia, but on Wednesday the garden and design book author, James Farmer, told the Atlanta Top News Examiner that it is soon going to be a time to cook, too. And his scheduled appearance at the 2013 Southeastern Flower Show this weekend is as good a time as any to start finding out why.
In Wednesday’s interview, Farmer said that his newest book, “A Time to Cook: Dishes from My Southern Sideboard,” would be popping up all over book stores soon like flowers in the garden. (My words, not his).
He’s very excited about its second creative book effort, and hopefully will have some on hand this weekend for his eager fans, since it is supposed to hit books stores in March thanks to his Gibbs-Smith Publishers.
It is also that season right now in which gardeners around the country–especially the South, like Georgia, where Farmer hails from–start playing with the dirt and getting their seeds ready to put in the soil. And that’s where James Farmer’s “A Time to Plant,” book comes into the picture.
“Time to Plant: Southern-Style Garden Living,” is his earlier book, the one that will be the focus of his guest lecture on Sunday, March 17 at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta. And Farmer shared how he came up with the title.
It was ecclesiastical. That was the first inspiration,” he said, referring to Ecclesiastes 3:2 in the Bible, which refers to the fact that there is a time for every season.
“The verses there [in that book] point to the fact that timing is everything, including in the garden,” he said.
In light of his answer, we asked if the landscape design and gardening expert had a spiritual side, and he acknowledged that he most certainly did.
He also admitted he has a soft spot in his heart for the Georgia Rural Medical Scholarship Program (GRMSP), which was the benefactor of the proceeds raised by the Lock, Stock and Barrel fundraiser held at the Shepherd Farm in early March of this year. He was in attendance, of course.
Farmer, along with Gena Knox, a landscape architect and author, provided participants of the event with beautiful tablescapes and prepared the food served, using their creative skills to help raise funds that will be used to house and assist medical college student scholars.
It is an organization that I really enjoy, and really respect,” he said, sharing that his father had been one of the scholars at one time.
The Georgia native also respects and enjoys being a part of the American Camellia Society, where he currently serves as the groups national spokesperson. His participation with this floral-loving group serves to remind him of a tie he has with his great grandmother, due to her love of the Camellia flower, which he adopted, it appears.
With the headquarters being close to home, when I think of Camellia’s I think of places like my great grandmother’s garden and the beautiful Camellia’s there. There just a part of, not only my home’s legacy in Middle Georgia, but my legacy as well. I think of how they bloom, and how my grandmother decorated with them. They’re just very sentimental,” he said.
The sentimental cooking and garden design enthusiast not only revealed his spiritual, romantic and compassionate sides during the course of the interview on Wednesday; he also revealed something else about himself: How he wishes for his friends and acquaintances to think about him.
James Farmer III wants everyone to realize what an “authentic” man he is, and that authenticity is “who I am, to the core.” He also wants people to realize that he “truly lives and works and relishes the southern lifestyle.” And it is likely few with disagree with that self appraisal given his success in the southern garden and design field, just watch this Today Show clip if you have any doubts.
When asked to reveal any future dreams he might have which has not been realized yet, the landscaping expert emphasized a desire to influence his generation to garden and then to use the harvest as food and for home decor purposes.
Talk turned back to the Southeastern Flower Show coming up this weekend and he offered up these planting tips for Georgians right now:
Late spring and early summer crops such as greens, like salad greens, as well as early spring herbs, like parsley and chervil and mint could be planted now. And then I’d wait to Easter to plant thinks like basil and tomatoes,” he said. (Chervil is an herb often used in French cuisine. It has a mild flavor with a hint of liquorice).
A treat for those who attend the Southeastern Horticultural Society lecture by Farmer on Sunday will be the opportunity to see a slideshow presentation of some gardens he has designed in the state.
He plans to talk to lecture guests about how understanding the time to plant your crops can help take the quandary out of the equation when it comes to determining the right time to prune and harvest their gardens to.
And he admitted that he can remember attending the flower show when he was younger (he’s only 30 now), and thinking that “one day maybe I’ll be here. And, now, guess what, I get to.”
Tickets will be available for purchase at the flower show event for Farmer’s lecture at noon on Sunday, but it is on a first-come, first-served basis, with limited seating. So be sure to purchase it when you pay for admission. Tickets are $28 for one-day flower show admittance, with the cost of attending Farmer’s lecture included.
Legal setback puts Lincoln West Common skate park plans on hold
Plans to build a new Lincoln skate park on land on the West Common have been halted, though a new site may have been found.
As previously reported, the City of Lincoln Council planned to build a skate park on land near the Grandstand on Carholme Road, after positive feedback from a public consultation.
Designs were finalised, but after further investigation by the council’s legal team, it was discovered the Lincoln City Council Act 1985 would make it difficult to build, and costly to work around.
This means at present, the plans for the £200,000 skate park cannot go ahead.
Antony Angus, Team Leader for Recreation Services at the City of Lincoln Council, said in a post on the skate park’s Facebook group: “We have tried to find a way around this, but short of changing the act, which would be expensive, time-consuming and potentially fruitless, we cannot move forward on this site.
“This is a real shame and everyone concerned at the council is very disappointed. Not least myself.”
New home?
The City of Lincoln Council are not scrapping the idea of a skate park completely though, and have already located a potential spot on the other side of the West Common.
The council are looking at Hobbler’s Hole, off Long Leys Road next to Whitton Park, which was left to the authority by George Whitton as a place for young people to use.
Antony Angus added: “One good thing is the proposed site is less constrained than the West Common, so the design may be tailored to give the users exactly what they want.
“As well as a great skate facility, we want it to be part of a carefully landscaped project with noise mitigation, benches and planting.”
The council are now consulting the public, County Council footpath officers and local residents again, and working with Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust, who manage the neighbouring Newts Hollow site, regarding landscaping.
The new park will be over 100 metres away from housing to avoid any impact on the nearby houses.
Keen skating enthusiasts will also have a say on the new design of the skate park by discussing ideas on the skate park’s Facebook group.
Due to the new site, the new designs can be bigger, with more obstacles for skaters to tackle.
The final ideas will then go through planning, where anyone with concerns can have their say.