Real Apple Roots

The line drawing on the left is from a book in 1978 that got me confused, curious, and started my research on how roots really grow. The drawing on the right shows how far roots travel from their trunk & beyond the dripline (canopy). The red circles are the driplines. (Based on my book: Roots Demystified, Change Your Gardening Habits to Help Roots Thrive.) The roots pictured here are of an apple tree. Look how the roots avoid the compacted soil and even the roots of another apple tree.

Let me know what you think.

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Time Makes Changes, Oh Deer

In 1982 I was asked to design a landscape for a site on the very southern, wind-swept edge of a housing community. This point of land routinely gets 50-90 mile-per-hour winds. So no tall trees, just low-growing shrubs and perennials. The clients wanted color. So, like the left photo shows, they got color. These colors vibrate in resonance with the foggy days. They are almost more intriguing than during the harsh light of full sun. What some thought would be a gaudy color scheme worked well during the many fogged-in days. The clients were pleased.

The bright orange and yellow are two types of Siberian wallflower [Erysimum x alliionii]. The small santolinas in the background grew enormous and spread to be the same plant on the right. [See the base of one featured in the October the 13^th blog.] The wallflowers weren’t so fortunate. They became breakfast, lunch, and diner for the herds of deer that migrate through the property every day. The santolinas, gray and green, lavenders, sea pinks [Armeria maritima , also know as “Thrift”], California poppies, and daffodils slowly replaced or were planted to replace those plants that de-evolved. Life is change. And gardens should be influx with the environment. No static landscape here. The need to adapt and replace plants got the homeowners out to take an active role in the garden. This is more important than the “grand design”, but doesn’t show up in photos.

The garden has evolved since 1981. The owners’ have kept a close eye on what was doing well and what was struggling to live. Not to mention what the deer ate or avoided. The outcome is on the right. Taken from nearly the same angle as the 1982. [Not the same season, the lavenders and satolinas were not in bloom during the late summer.] The scheme morphed into an almost new design, but more in tune with the special micro-ecosystem of the place. And the elements will continue to shape this garden and its gardeners for decades to come. This not a static, photo shoot for one of Martha’s magazine, it’s nature playing with its self.

Let me know what you think.

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Plant Trees, Not Power Power Plants

Everybody is fixated on solar standing for just photovoltaic panels. There's so much more to solar energy than blue squares on your trendy home.

It's the near future in Anytown, USA on a dreadfully hot, windless summer day. You're tooling around on a politically-correct bicycle in search of some relief from the oppressive heat. You live in the new suburbs on the outskirts of town, where houses have recently replaced a lush forest. As you reach the old section of town—where all the streets are named for shade trees such as Maple and Oak—something amazing happens. A cooler, refreshing air baths your sweat-fatigued body. While the arching canopy of the shade trees reduces the heat by just three to nine degrees Fahrenheit, there's a noticeable respite from the summer's smoldering temperature. More remarkably, homeowners tucked safely inside their air-conditioned houses and mobile homes in this same neighborhood are saving 40 to 75%, respectively, on their cooling bills. When it comes to saving money on your utility bills, properly located trees and shrubs are hard to beat. In fact, a well-positioned shade tree is more effective at cooling a house than Venetian blinds, plastic window films or reflective coatings on glass.

Landscaping can be so much more than just something pretty to look at. An energy conserving landscape utilizes hedges, screening, shrubs, vines, and trees to provide cool summer shade, insulation against heat. Get double duty out of your landscaping by blending beauty and function.

Save Energy – the truly green way

The savings from an energy conserving landscape can vary, but are rather impressive. According to the U. S. Department of Energy, or what's left of it after the Reagan/Bush debacle, "strategically placed landscaping materials (plants and structures such as walls, berms and fences) can save the homeowner 30 percent on all their utility bills." In hot, dry Sacramento, CA, shade trees can, according to Sacramento Municipal Utility District, reduce the attic temperature by 20-40 degrees F, equal to the effect of several room-size air conditioners. In a study in southern Florida, the proper placement of shrubs and trees had, after just one year of growth, reduced overall energy use for air conditioning in a double-wide mobile home by an astounding 60-65%.

When moderating summer's heat, don't forget the east and west sides of the house. The Mesa, AZ study mentioned above in the discussion of how much money can be saved indicates the importance of the east and west walls. In this study, when it comes to reducing heat gain, the western wall was six times more important than the south side and the eastern wall was 14.5 times more significant than the southern wall and almost 2.5 times more critical than the west-facing wall. While the figures or effect may vary considerably in other climates, eastern and western windows can really help overheat a house in the summer. (That's me & Dad under the large canopy sheltering the east side of the house from morning sun.)

To get the details, see my first book—Designing & Maintaining Your Edible Landscape – Naturally. (See my web site - www.robertkourik.com) There’s a whole chapter on the topic.

Be cool!

Let me know what you think.

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Pesky Interlopers

When ornamental weeds run amok, watch out.

Sea Ranch, CA is an tranquil and groundbreaking planned community about 70 miles north of San Francisco. It’s been developing over the past 30-plus years. It’s noted for small clusters of houses with various views of the Pacific ocean and idyllic meadows between each cluster of houses. Of the 1200 homes built, the fulltime number of residents is 280 people - according to the sign on Highway #1. (I spent Thanksgiving week there in a rental house.)

The intent of the design is to have nothing but meadows (and perhaps a few low-growing native shrubs) outside the small fenced enclosures. Some homeowners have a handful of exotic plantings next to their homes.

Yet, I found two places where the ornamental, exotic Cape Weed (Arctotheca calendula) was planted outside the home’s walls. (See one planting above.) The word “weed” is the operative word. These plants may bloom a bright yellow most of the year near the coast, but spreading like a weed is their forte. They don’t spread much via seed, but by creeping across the landscape with self-rooting tips – like stolons. I know of a neighbor who started with a small patch of Cape Weed and soon found it covering more than an acre! Now he’s hopeless with regards to eradicating this ornery plant.

It seems to be a hopeless situation. However, if caught very early, it’s possible to eradicate this weed. I’ve seen a neighbor stop this pest in its tracks by layering large sheets of cardboard with a decorative, weed-free mulch. They must remain vigilant as the weed will continue totry and escape the next-door neighbor’s perimeter.

It is one of the most-wanted native habitat destroyers by Native Plant Societies around the state as it slowly chokes out most grasses (not established CA bunch grasses). It has been used as a highway landscaping groundcover. But the two or more lanes of traffic usually stops it in its tracks.

Banish this worrisome weed!

Let me know what you think.

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Special Drip Irrigation Book Sale - the 2nd Edition

This Holiday Season, Give the Gift that Keeps On Giving

...one drop at a time.

Drip Irrigation for Every Landscape and All Climates

“Fun book, great info. Buy it and save the world’s water supply.”

— Jim McCausland, at Sunset Magazine’s blogsite “Dirt”

Special offer: Only $20 [lists for $24.95] No tax. Autograph included.

Includes Free Priority Mail!

Buy From the Source So Writers Can Keep on Writing®

Go to www.robertkourik.com to order via PayPal.

Or, send a check made out to Metamorphic Press to: Metamorphic Press, PO Box 412, Occidental, CA 95465

Information about the book:

As a celebration of its 25th anniversary, the highly respected newsletter Avant

Gardener published a list headed “The 25 Best Gardening Books of the Past

25 Years.” Up there on that list, at number seven, was the first edition of Drip

Irrigation for Every Landscape and All Climates. Great then, even better now.

Yes, Drip Irrigation for Every Landscape and All Climates, by Robert Kourik,

is now available in an updated second edition. It will give you the knowhow

to optimize your water use, survive a protracted drought, or work with the

unpredictable intermittent rains of certain climates. Its light-hearted approach,

step-by-step instructions and clearly drawn diagrams will allow you to construct

and streamline your own drip-irrigation system without the clutter of superfluous

widgets and gizmos.

Drip Irrigation for Every Landscape and All Climates also describes, in clear

and scientific terms, how drip-irrigation systems can be designed or reconfigured

to use less water while increasing yields of fruits and vegetables and improving

the growth of all plants. New in this edition are descriptions of how to use two

very important water sources—grey water and cisterns—as well as how to utilize

satellite control or a home-based weather station to irrigate your garden with

precision.

In short, this fully revised edition of the original ground-breaking book is designed to 1) help gardeners manage

precious water supplies with ease and efficiency, and 2) create sustainable water-efficient gardens and landscapes with the latest technologies of drip irrigation.

Page Count —192 (74 more pages than the 1993 edition)

Number of illustrations—89 B&W (21 new B&W illustrations)

Includes: A Bibliography, Glossary, Web sites to explore (new to this addition), and an expanded and detailed Index.

Wild & Windy Protection

In winter many gardens are ravaged by cold winds. Now's the time to plan for next year's planting of a windbreak or shelterbelt. In mild winter areas, it's still not to late to plant before the rains get too heavy. (We can only hope for rains that "get too heavy" in the 3rd year of drought in California.)

The shelterbelt's height should be 1/5th to 1/20th the distance to be protected. While a windbreak can reduce the wind's speed by 50% for a distance of up to 20 times its height, the best area of protection usually extends distance of about five to ten times the height of the windbreak. Plan your windbreak so that the mature size of the trees is sized to the area you wish to protect.

All windbreaks work best when their length is perpendicular to the prevailing winds. Shelterbelts needn't have a angled slope of short to taller trees to be effective. In fact, vertical, narrow windbreaks are usually the most effective in keeping the stronger winds lofted over the largest sheltered area. One row of the right tree is much more effective than wide, multi-row planting.

A completely solid windbreak causes some of the wind to whip up over the top and down to create a blustery vortex, like a sideways tornado, on the very side you're trying to protect. Allowing some of the air to pass through a windbreak makes the best diversion. A partially permeable windbreak allows some of the wind to slip through and form a gentle buffer of laminated air. This blanket of layered air helps to keep the blistery wind aloft after it passes over the top of the windbreak for a much longer distance than if there were no permeability. The most effective windbreaks are 50 percent permeable. (Not like the picture above. Taken at an uninformed suburban landscape.)

Other important considerations with windbreak designs include:

- Use evergreen trees for winter protection and deciduous trees when only summer buffering is required.

- The wind's speed is also reduced in front of the windbreak, the windward side, for a distance of two to five times the height of the trees. (This is a good place to plant young tree seedlings which can grow to be sturdy, well-rooted trees without the need of staking.)

- Don't leave any gaps in the windbreak as the wind will be funnelled through the opening at a speed up to 20 percent greater than its normal velocity.

- Make sure the windbreak is far enough away from the house to not cast a shadow on south-facing windows in the winter.

- Most edible trees make poor windbreaks, exceptions include: wild plums, Russian olive, Siberian peashrub and hackberry.

- Remember, the roots of the wind break are .5 to three times wider than the foliage and will compete for water and nutrients with other landscaping, water and feed accordingly.

- All the research and diagrams for windbreaks are based upon flat land. Those with hilly property will have to carefully observe the wind's patterns and plan carefully, predicting the wind's flow on complex topography can't be done without a $10 million dollar Cray computer.

Let me know what you think.

Visit my web site to learn about my new book on drip irrigation and other gardening books.

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Root Rot, Phytothphora spp.

Another round of rain is on the way. The soil is still a bit warm due to 75-85F days. It's time to watch out for root rot.

Many western and Mediterranean plants, especially those from certain desert and chaparral communities, are quite sensitive to overwatering or even to a single irrigation in an otherwise normally dry summer. A primary cause of death for such drought-resistant plants is crown- or root rots caused by Phytothphora spp. and other species of fungi in moist, warm soils.

In the wet winter the soils are to cold for the Phytothphora to survive. In the warmth of summer there isn't enough moisture neat the surface to encourage Phytothphora. Add water during the summer and you have a recipe for disaster.

Rosemary, as pictured above, is a good indicator plant for Phytothphora problems. The plant doesn't always die, but shoots are killed off by a partial girdling of the crown of the roots. These yellow-browns "strikes" are the first signs of Phytothphora in the soil or a soil too heavy with clay to allow enough drainage. That why I always recommend planting on a mound (as seen above), especially Mediterranean and California natives from dry parts of the state.

Let me know what you think.

Visit my web site to learn about my new book on drip irrigation and other gardening books.

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Ocean Horizons

I love to photograph the vague boundary between the Pacific ocean and the sky as seen on the left. (Sorry land-locked folks.) The photo on the right is a very rare phenomena of a green zone between the ocean and the sky. Enjoy.

Happy Halloween

My costume for tonight. I hope Barbie doesn't mind.

(Actually from Jeff & Maxine's eccentric garden.)

More on Green Manures, free nitrogen

Please scroll down to the bottom after reading the query. (Photo of clover green manure.)

Heidi Hunt, Assistant Editor

Mother Earth News

1503 SW 42nd St.

Topeka, KS 66609

(785) 274-4322

www.MotherEarthNews.com

Dear Ms. Hunt,

I have a simple article proposal to destroy the myths about “organic” blood meal and colloidal phosphates. They are, respectively extremely energy intensive and unsustainable. Then I will explain how to avoid them altogether using green manures.

Title: How Sustainable are “Organic” Fertilizers? (And what to do about it.)

Fact 1: Environmental Costs of Making Blood Meal

Heating [blood meal] is initiated at 82°C (180°F) and progressively raised to 94°C (200°F) for about three hours, then elevated to 100°C (212°F) for 7 hours. (That’s a LOT of energy.) Drying is complete when the final moisture level in the dried product is about 12 percent.

Fact 2: Environmental Costs of Making Colloidal Phosphate

Phosphate ore must be chemically processed with sulfuric acid. When sulfuric acid reacts with the phosphate it produces a slightly radioactive byproduct known as phosphogypsum. According to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, there are a billion tons of phosphogypsum stacked across the state and 30 million tons are generated each year.

Followed by a discussion of how to skip these fertilizers using the production of corn with the use of home-grown green manures as an example.

Up to 1500 words. Photographs and line drawings available.

Thanks for your time,

Robert Kourik

NOTE:

Her response, from the magazine that has for decades been the steadfast promoter of living off the land and all things organic, was:

On Oct 28, 2009, at 6:22 AM, Heidi Hunt wrote:

“Robert, thank you! Can you please tell me what your green fertilizers are? Also, it looks as though the article is based on commercial corn growing. But we deal just with home gardens and always encourage the use of natural fertilizers.”

What has become of our gardening media? Who’s minding the store?

Let me know what you think.

Visit my web site to learn about my new book on drip irrigation and other gardening books.

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Compostin' Galore, a tribute

Fall is the time to rake up leaves in much of the country. Can’t burn ‘em anymore. Your city or you’ll have to make compost.

My Dad was trained as an engineer and has always looked upon science as a firm, reliable basis for much of modern life. He always used the most modern, chemical gardening products. For years, I imagine he looked upon my organic escapades as voodoo science at best--until he started to visit my California gardens and my client's landscapes. It was the highlight of my compost crusader period to get a phone call from Dad saying that he had begun a compost area for each fall's bounty of leaves. I think he appreciated the tidiness of the compost bins I used. Being a resourceful guy, he decided to use free pallets instead of the expensive, solid redwood walls I built. He gathered pallets from various loading docks to make the walls of each bin. He alternated six to eight inch layers of leaves with two inch layers of horse manure with bedding sawdust and adds 30-0-0 fertilizer if a pile didn’t heat up enough. At first he made only two bins. After seven years of leaf composting, in the same dedicated and ambitious style he has brought to everything in his life, he had six bins, with a total capacity of 22 cubic yards--nearly half the size of a small garage! He is certainly was the "Captain-of-Compost" of Olivette, MO.

The best hot compost piles requires a minimum size of one cubic yard. This is the smallest size for a proper ratio between the mass of the interior, which must stay at a certain temperature and moisture content, and the surface area of the pile's exterior, which is giving off valuable heat and moisture. Virtually none of the expensive plastic or metal compost bins for sale have an interior volume of one cubic yard. I think my Dad had the right idea for a good bin material at an appropriate cost--wooden shipping pallets, for free.

(I use past tense as he sold the house three years ago after taking care of a ½-acre lawn – and a family of four – for 40 years. He happily lives in a much smaller place with no lawn to mow or compost to make. At 86, it’s time to retire—some.)

Let me know what you think.

Visit my web site to learn about my new book on drip irrigation and other gardening books.

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Forest Farming, the dream

One of my earliest reasons for getting into edible landscaping was the exciting work of and book by Robert A. de J. Hart. He wrote Forest Farming back in 1975. It stimulated my interest with the idea of a mixed forest that could support grazing animals like cattle and pigs. From this “free” food source would fall a plethora of nuts and fruits to be “harvested” by the animals below. In his own words: "I developed by own '3-D' system, which I called OPS--Organic Perennial Subsistence farming. That involved 'cultivating' my hedgerows by encouraging the growth of plants that contained substances particularly nourishing for cattle, such as the elder, wild rose, and hazel, and sowing some perennial pasture herbs.”

As things evolved after the publication of that first book, he added people: "But my primary aim was self-sufficiency, so I extended my system beyond livestock farming to include trees and other plants--mainly perennial--which would contribute to the health and welfare of human beings. In time, I had adopted a vegan diet.” (Note, A vegan diet. One of most strict of diets that excludes any animal products at all, even leather shoes.)

In his words, he evolved to a layered forest-like “garden” that starts with: "An old orchard, unless the trees are severely diseased. My forest garden was planted in a twenty-five-year-old small orchard of apples and pears, some of which were in a pretty poor condition. But the abundant aromatic herbs that have been planted beneath them seem to have rejuvenated them; a decrepit- looking 'Red Ellison' apple was given a new lease of life when Garnet grafted three young 'King of the Pippins' shoots onto it-- a trick that was known to the ancient Romans. These old trees constitute the 'canopy' of the forest architecture. If one is starting a forest garden from scratch, the best way to form a canopy is by planting standard apples, plums, or pears at the recommended spacing; twenty feet each way. Then fruit or nut trees on dwarfing rootstocks can be planted halfway between the standards, to form the 'low-tree layer,' and fruit bushes between all the trees to form the 'shrub layer.' Herbs and perennial vegetables will constitute the 'herbaceous layer,' and horizontally spreading plants like dewberries and other Rubus species, as well as creeping herbs such a buckler-leaved sorrel (Rumex scutatus) and lady's mantle, will form the 'ground-cover layer.' For the root vegetables, mainly radishes and Hamburg parsley, occupying the 'rhizosphere,' a low mound can be raised, so that they will not be swamped by the herbs. As for the climbers that constitute the 'vertical layer': grapevines, nasturtiums, and runner beans can be trained up the trees, while raspberries and hybrid berries, such as boysenberries and tayberries, can be trained over a trellis fence, forming a boundary to the garden."

Notice, no traditional annual vegetables except radishes.

When I visited him in 1998 he was elderly (he died in 2000) and somewhat feeble. What remained of the forest was a thicket of actual perennial edibles. But mostly cane fruits and an enormous kiwi. How many kiwis can one person eat? The local Permaculturists had opened up a “meadow” in the forest and were reintroducing traditional annual vegetables.

He lived in a very humble single room. Perhaps the most impressive action of his life was that he took care of his elder brother who was too “mentally challenged” to care for himself, Robert cared for him for his entire life. In fact, his brother had a house bigger than Robert’s room.

I left him with a copy of my Edible Landscaping book.

At the gate as I left, a “Meals–on-Wheels” type group delivered his evening meal.

(As a brief follow-up. Patrick Whitehead, who has written some of the most popular books on forest farming, took me to see his edible forest. At 15 years, it was the oldest in the UK modeled after Robert’s work. On the way he said: “It’s really just a jam and jelly forest.” When I arrived, “meadows” of apple trees, other fruit trees, and conventional vegetables were being planted.)

Little did I know a book on the subject was in the works and was called: Forest Gardening: Cultivating an Edible Landscape, and published in September, 1996.

Let me know what you think. (This from he UK: "Hello Robert

I believe that the main title came from Robert Hart himself, but I remember that the subtitle of the US edition was put on by Chelsea Green at the time, as they didn't like the rather flowery one that we had used for our edition ("Rediscovering nature and community in a post-industrial age"). As you say, Robert was a very humble man; rather Gandhian in nature, a real pioneer and very idealistic. This resulted in him handing over his house to the community he formed, and it was then taken from him by another member of the community - at least, that's what I've been told. He ended up living in rather sad circumstances, in a kind of lean-to on the side of the main house. It seems that his goodness and idealism was exploited by others.

Best wishes

John E."

Visit my web site to learn about my new book on drip irrigation and other gardening books.

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Green Manures, free nitrogen

It's almost too late plant fava beans, a legume, in the fall. The soil needs to be somewhat warm. This may work in gardens in sunny gardens in the west and south-west gardens. Alfalfa works the best with corn, but this is just for planning next years spring garden. Leave room in your plans to grow some green manures. I'm using another fava bean flower as it's the only one I have without scanning a slide, which I'm to tired to do this morning. :=)

Legumes have gotten a lot of attention because of their ability to fix, via symbiotic bacteria that colonize the plant's roots, atmospheric nitrogen gas into available, "free" fertilizer. Because gardeners are preoccupied with the amounts of nitrogen in their soil, they are often fixated on legumes as a green manure. While legumes are important in a green manure mix, they are not a panacea. And a myth, or lack of understanding, about how this nitrogen fixation really works has confused gardeners and reduced their chances to maximize the nitrogen cycle.

The common perception that growing beans and corn together will help fertilize the growing corn plants is incorrect. Nitrogen-fixing plants, in temperate climates, didn't evolve to directly share the accumulated nitrogen with other plants. The ability to fix free nitrogen "out-of-thin-air", in the bacterial nodules on the roots, is a competitive, evolutionary development. This allows leguminous plants to colonize nutrient-poor soils. Legumes are some of the first plants to inhabit disturbed soils such as landslides, cliffs, beaches, sand dunes, and fire-scorched soil. When you think about it, the compacted clay subsoil that's left after most houses are built is really a disturbed soil. The legumes use all the nitrogen they accumulate to grow and make high-nitrogen seed. While the plant is growing, the nitrogen from the nodules on its roots is temporarily "banked", or stored, in the stems and leaves of the plant. This provides plenty of nitrogen for rapid assimilation into the blossom once seed begins to form. Consequently, the green bean plant growing up a corn stalk isn't about to share its nitrogen with the corn, during the current growing season. The mature beans contain 70 to 90 percent of the entire plant's total nitrogen. After the bean drop is harvested, the roots and their nodules have as little as three to six percent of the plant's total nitrogen--not much of a legacy, or fertilizer portfolio for the "heirs". So, to harvest a bean crop and till under the dry tops of the plant means you'd be getting only a very tiny amount of nitrogen back into the soil because the seed has most of the nitrogen, little nitrogen is left in the stems, roots, and leaves, and the tops are too carbonaceous for easy decomposition. (See illustration on pg. 265 of my "Edible Landscape" book.)

During the growth of a legume, very limited amounts of root nodule nitrogen can become available when the stress of grazing, mowing, drought, or death causes some of the nodules to wither, die, and rot in the soil. This is why the old way of grazing animals on pastures of mixed grasses and legumes works so well. When the cow grazes the pasture, some of the nodules on the legume's roots "shed"--they don't really jump anywhere, they just decompose--the grasses are able to quickly absorb the freed-up nitrogen for their growth. This makes for more pasturage, which entices the cows to eat some more. Meanwhile, the nitrogen-rich legume plants and bulky grasses makes for a goodly amount of nitrogen to be recycled via the bovine posterior--with deposits called meadow muffins, pasture patties, or cow chips.

"Free" Nitrogen with Good Timing

The optimal time to till under a green manure crop for maximum nitrogen (for a subsequent crop) is just before the blooms appear. The conscientious green manurer, must "sacrifice" beautiful blossoms for the optimal amount of nitrogen. I was visiting Ros Creasy one year when almost one third of her front yard had Crimson clover in full, glorious bloom. I timidly mentioned that the best effect for nitrogen occurs prior to bloom, or up to 20 percent of bloom. "Yes," she replied, "I won't get as much nitrogen, but look how absolutely gorgeous the bloom is! I don't mind giving up a bit of the nitrogen for the floral display. Besides, Crimson clover has a decent amount of nitrogen to spare and my soil isn't in horrible shape." Yep.

Let me know what you think.

Visit my web site to learn about my new book on drip irrigation and other gardening books.

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Hey, What About Those Hay Bales?

Growing annual vegetables on hay bales is a way to rapidly add lots of compostable organic matter to the soil’s surface in a short period of time. Here’s the recipe (See illustration from Designing & Maintaining Your Edible Landscape - Naturally) based on my trial garden in 1977!

· Place four or more bales of hay (which has lots of fresh, green nutrients) or straw (with more carbon than green nutrients) in a cluster. Place the bales on their sides, with the end grain facing up, and leave the strings on them.

· Thoroughly soak the cluster of bales..

· Add an three-thick layer of fresh manure to the top (in this case, the exposed end grain) of the bales.

· Add four or more inches of soil to cap off the top of the bales. (All right, I know this requires some digging. But it’s only a one-time effort to start of a remarkable process.)

· Water all the layers again.

· Plant potatoes with plenty of loose straw on top—six inches or more.

· Keep the potatoes and bales moist.

Et voilá! The bales will grow potatoes above the ground where no gophers can get to them.

After one seasonof planting and harvest, the bales will have rotted down quite a bit. (See the photo.) Plant them with bush beans, fava beans, other types of beans or potatoes again.

Let me know what you think.

Visit my web site to learn about my new book on drip irrigation and other gardening books.

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My Virgin Kiwi Fruits

I usually cut my kiwi vines back very hard to allow for their cascade of foliage to keep my house cooler during the summer and the Indian summers. This year I was rushing to finish the revised edition of Drip Irrigation, for Every Landscape & All Climates, so the vines didn't get pruned. I've had flowers before, but this year one of the two vines brought forth dozens of flowers. Now I have dozens of fruit even though the male vine did not bloom. This is called "parthenogenesis". Fruit produced without any male fertilization. Explain that to me! Will wonders never cease. If it's like the last time this happened ten years ago, the fruits won't ripen until March! (Here the vines are cascading down two stories and out 15 feet.)

Let me know what you think.

Visit my web site to learn about my new book on drip irrigation and other gardening books.

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Collodial Phosphorus, Cool or Not So Cool?

(The view looking down on one corn plant. The top six inches of roots.

Each square is one-foot square. Applies to the previous blog)

Purplish strips at the edges of corn leaves usually indicates a deficiency in phosphorus. Some organic gardeners use colloidal phosphate as the solution to this deficiency, but consider this: colloidal phosphate is often strip-mined in Florida, washed with water (and Florida has a big problem with supplies of fresh water), loaded on train cars, and shipped to places as far away as California and Washington, where it’s sacked up and shipped to your local garden-supply store.

[As a side note: Florida mines 75 percent of the phosphorous used by American farmers and about 25 percent of the entire world production. Phosphate ore must be chemically processed with sulfuric acid. When sulfuric acid reacts with the phosphate it produces a slightly radioactive byproduct known as phosphogypsum. According to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, there are a billion tons of phosphogypsum stacked across the state and 30 million tons are generated each year.]

And the total amount of phosphorus (P₂O₅) in the sack is only 16 percent of all the bagged-up bulk, of which a mere two percent is available the first gardening season since the phosphorus is locked up in a mineralized form that requires the activity of soil microbes, soil bacteria, and exudates. (Exudates come from the roots and aid in the nutrient-release process by releasing; sugars, organic acids, and other compounds to dissolve minerals into a soluble state and stimulate the soil’s microbial action.) Unnecessary water use, exploitation of limited resources and wasted energy—all wrapped in a single bag. Add to this the fact that there is a limited supply of easily mined colloidal phosphorus. It’s much like oil: will we have enough in the future? Will we be able to find enough new supplies if the current mines are exhausted? Some say the U.S. supply will be gone by 2035. The world supply make be depleted in 50-100 years.

Choosing to buy commercial colloidal phosphate really means making a very important environmental decision. This is especially clear when one compares the environmental cost of imported amendments to the energy-efficiency of “growing” phosphorus at home by planting legumes and tilling the young foliage into the soil. Thus the gardener has two choices: (1) import nutrients, organic or not, to force an intensive yield, or (2) use wider spacing when planting and/or rotate heavy-feeder crops with a season of legumes to cut down on the competition for available nutrients. Whichever you choose, don’t grow corn in the same spot every year, as it will exhaust much of the nitrogen. Instead, alternate corn crops with green manures—that also increase available phosphorus.

Let me know what you think.

Visit my web site to learn about my new book on drip irrigation and other gardening books.

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Let's Get Real About Sustainability in Gardens

Consider corn as a way to look at true sustainability. Corn plants produce a massive root system that consumes large amounts of moisture and nutrients. The root system forms quickly: by the time a corn plant has formed just eight leaves it has produced 15 to 23 main roots with a total of 8,000 to 10,000 lateral roots. A mature plant can generate roots that have “ramified” (grown through) as much as 180 cubic feet of soil. (As seen in my book Roots Demystified, 2009.)

Corn plants need lots of nitrogen, and leguminous plants, as long as they’re not too crowded can provide it with all the nitrogen required. In a “natural” garden, the ultimate goal would be to eliminate almost all imported nutrients and other “inputs”. Horse manure, cow manure, sacks of bone meal, blood meal, green sand, bat guano, phosphates, or many other options—all add additional fertility, can qualify as “natural,” but come with various environmental costs attached; such as mining, transportation, energy use, and wasted bulk.

As an example of the energy invested in nitrogen for corn, consider blood meal. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization’s regulations, blood is introduced into the (processing) tank as a coagulated mass, previously obtained by a steam-action process. Ideally, as much liquid as possible should be squeezed from the coagulum. Heating is initiated at 82°C (180°F) and progressively raised to 94°C (200°F) for about three hours, then elevated to 100°C (212°F) for 7 hours. (That’s a LOT of energy). Drying is complete when the final moisture level in the dried product is about 12 percent.

Choosing blood meal at the nursery or organic supplier really means making a very important environmental decision compared to “growing” nitrogen at home by planting legumes and tilling the young foliage into the soil.

No matter what your source of imported nitrogen, whether for soil preparation or as a summer application for growth. It’s most effective to spread it relatively far from the cornstalk itself in order to feed the massive width of the corn root system most efficiently. One method of doing this would be to fertilize between the rows rather than on the rows themselves or at the base of each plant. If you plant intensively, be sure to add plenty of nutrients for this hungry crop.

Thus the gardener has three choices: import nutrients for intensive yields, or use a wider spacing and/or, rotate your crops to cut down on the competition for available nutrients. Don’t grow corn in the same spot every year, as it will exhaust much of the nitrogen. Instead, alternate it with green manures—legumes like fava beans (the flowers pictured above) tilled into the soil to provide nitrogen from the atmosphere. A good green manure should be tilled in before too much blooming.

Let me know what you think.

Visit my web site to learn about my new book on drip irrigation and other gardening books.

NOTE: The comments section at the bottom of the post has disappeared. Click on the "___ Comments" button or the title under the "Blog Archives". Thanks, Robert

Lessons From "Our" Droughts

As winter approaches, gardeners in the west now have three things on their minds—water, water, and water. Or, rather, the lack of it. The pale, arid shadow of a dusty drought now extends over much of the American west and southwest.

The drought, which has settled into much of the west over the past three years, doesn't make much noise. You can't hear the sound of the mud drying in the bottoms of empty reservoirs. You don't hear any noise from the leaves as they turn brown and fall off the trees in mid-summer. And you can't hear anything coming from the countless wells which have run dry.

The first drought for me, after moving to California, was the so-called Big Drought of 1975-1977. Our current drought, which has lingered for three long, parched years, has had its impact on wild lands, suburbs, and cities. Now, I get to improve my skills with gray water systems, drip irrigation, and xeriscape (drought resistant) planting techniques.

My first experiments with gray water systems—collecting water from sinks, showers, and laundries to irrigate fruit trees and ornamental landscaping—were during the 1970's drought. The systems I installed in the basements and crawl-spaces of clients throughout Marin county in those days were, in retrospect, a rag-tag, baling-wire collection of bizarre-looking gizmos. Now I’ve learned a lot more. See the photo on the left of a system designed with current “technology”.

In my experience, gray water is not a crisis-intervention scheme, but one of the many "tools" which allows my garden to flourish. The overwhelming feedback, and my personal experience, has been: "My plants are growing better with gray water than with any other water source."

I knew nothing about drip irrigation until the drought of the 70's. Again, the "Big" drought introduced me to a new gardening tool which has become commonplace in the 1990's. The technological advances in drip irrigation since I first started messin' with drip irrigation in 1975 have practically exceeded that of the revolution in the computer industry.

After experimenting with countless drip irrigation widgets and gadgets I've settled on my favorite emitter technology—in-line emitters. (As described in my updated edition of Drip Irrigation, For Every Landscape and All Climates. 2009) Unlike the more common punched-in emitter, which you buy separately and insert into a hole you've punched into solid drip irrigation tubing, in-line emitters come pre-fabricated inside the one-half inch drip irrigation hosing. On the right, see the interior of several emitters that become encased in ½-inch tubing. There is also a clear piece of tubing to reveal the emitter. All the real tubing is black or brown. Old-fashioned, punched-in emitters get brittle in the heat and sunlight and easily snap off during routine garden maintenance—which leads to tedious hours of repair. In-line emitters have nothing exposed to break off, are securely housed inside a sturdy one-half inch plastic tubing that'll take to abuse of weeding, gardening, and mulching, and are far less time-consuming since the emitters are preinstalled. With in-line emitters, I avoid the so-called "spaghetti" tubing which seems to somehow mysteriously move and knot itself and ends up resembling its namesake, a heap of tangled noodles.

The drought of the 1990's taught me how to plant so as to practically eliminate the need for drip irrigation. I've come to discover many ornamental Mediterranean plants are actually more drought-resistant than a lot of California native plants. There are small 18-year-old test plantings around my house which were planted at the beginning of our fall rainy season, and never irrigated again.

The first drought for me was the so-called Big Drought of 1975-1977. (By the way, how can a reduced amount of rain, be "bigger"? How can you have more of less?) Anyway, there have been plenty of "bigger" and longer droughts over the past 400 years. Tree ring analysis in the central portion of Santa Barbara county, the Santa Ynez Valley, indicates two periods of 60 years of drought (below "average" rainfall) since the 1500s

So, watch out, don’t count on a break in the drought.

Let me know what you think.

Visit my web site to learn about my new book on drip irrigation and other gardening books.

NOTE: The comments section at the bottom of the post has disappeared. Click on the "___ Comments" button or the title under the "Blog Archives". Thanks, Robert