Happy Mother's Day

A most lovely day spent in the beautiful Abkhazi Gardens. The Rhodos were out of this world!! I hope all of you are enjoying the beauty of the garden on this sunny, warm Momma's Day. Here are some snaps to recollect the day.

Ornamentals vs Native Plants

I have often thought about the differences between gardening with native plants and with ornamentals. There seems to be a certain control and freedom with ornamentals that you don't get with natives. Ornamental plants are bred to look and act in a certain way, given that you provide them with the conditions they want. If you buy a hosta, you plant it in shade, give it mulch and water, and it's happy. Maybe you don't give it the "perfect" amount of organic matter, or the most regular water, but in the end it's probably going to live, with perhaps a sign here or there telling you to adjust your maintenance, which ultimately depends on how much you really love that hosta. Chances are if you kill it, you can go buy another on sale. To me, there is a certain amount of inherent control here. That hosta is going to grow to a certain size based on it's breeding and your care and attention. It's an easy equation and if you can't seem to get that dang hosta to grow, your local nursery or google will be able to tell you EXACTLY what to do. And in this, there is freedom. Plant, water, weed, instant beautiful growth! Voila.

The gardens at the Horticulture Centre of the Pacific

Woodland strawberry completely
over-running everything in its path

Enter native plants. Hard to find, except maybe the common shrubs and ferns: snowberry, mock orange, nootka rose, ocean spray, huckleberry, sword fern, deer fern etc... Perennials, well good luck with that. You have to go to a specialized native plant nursery or wait for a native plant sale. You might be able to find a bleeding heart (which has a very popular ornamental cousin) or some camas bulbs at certain times of year. I have had the most luck with a combination of those mentioned above and salvaging, trading plants, and starting plants from seed. Now that you have your precious native plant babies and you already really don't want them to die, you have to create the conditions which they like. Unlike ornamentals these plants have not been bred to be forgiving. Granted, some are easier than others, but in my experience and through observation I have noticed that native plants are PICKY. Some will up and die on you for no reason you can think of. Others will go nuts in your soil because it's too nutrient rich. Still others will act completely pathetic and look terrible because there isn't enough nutrients. Shade, sun, wind, shelter, overhead canopy, all very important factors to keeping native plants happy. How about competition from other plants? I never knew that certain species will go absolutely crazy without the proper balance of competition from other plants but once balance has been established will act just like you want them to.

Woodland strawberry (flowering) kept in check by Sea blush,
Small-flowered montia, and Coastal strawberry

Trying to find out most of this online is pretty much impossible. Native plants are often described in terms of ecosystems and habitats, not gardens. And gardens are completely different. With all of that said, once you do find balance in your garden, and your native plants are happy and co-existing just how you want them to, then you really are free. More so than with ornamentals because you no longer should have to water, weeds should be very minimal, and maintenance should consist of thinning out and pruning. Like most good things, you have to be patient and put in a lot of time and effort in the beginning before you can sit back and enjoy the native wildlife you have attracted.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

The little Currant that could

I love that this Red flowering currant (Ribes sanguineum) is perched on the side of a cliff, overlooking the rushing Sooke Potholes river, and is blooming like, "What? I've got all I need right here, thank you very much!"

Kinda puts gardening in perspective. Nature has it's way of creating just the perfect place for the perfect plant, and sometimes no matter how hard we try, we just can't replicate that.

This little shrub fills my heart with wonder and inspiration. Mother Nature is awesome isn't she?

Back on the Garden Path

I've just finished my first two days as a new apprentice at The Garden Path with Carolyn Herriot. It has been a wonderful start to the gardening season, and what amazing weather we have had too! Sun and more sun. Such a nice change from all that grey we've had this winter - bleh.

I am going to use this apprenticeship, which is twice a week for the growing season, to motivate me to write regular posts since I have been a bit lax lately. So here is my first post about what I am sure is going to be an amazing apprenticeship!

from earthfuture.com

On Monday we had a meet and greet with Carolyn, toured the property, and had a casual sit-around in the greenhouse. We heard all about the evolution of The Garden Path and Carolyn's past gardening history. The conversation flitted around organic gardening topics, gardening politics, nutrition and health. It was a great introduction to the values The Garden Path promotes, namely organics, traditional cultivation and preservation, and being gentle to the Earth by working with Mother Nature. It was also a nice way to get to know the other apprentices. Since I don't have their permission yet, I will refer to them as Jo, Hen, Art, and GR. Jo, Hen, and Art are new apprentices like me, all with their own gardening experiences ranging from permaculture to Wwoofing. GR is Carolyn's assistant and lead farmhand; she has been at The Garden Path for a number of years and knows her organic farming inside-out. So far, the group seems to be very compatible as we all share a strong passion for and commitment to organic gardening.

from earthfuture.com

The latter half of the day was spent cleaning the greenhouse from top to bottom. We moved everything out and scrubbed and rinsed every surface to make sure that it is ready for the primary seeding which will happen next week. Carolyn cleans her greenhouse every year to make sure that her organic seedlings have the best chance at a healthy, strong start.

Carolyn's tip: to control disease, prevent disease.

Today we got to work right away. Jo, Hen, and Art went off with Carolyn to get horse manure from a neighbour, and GR and I stayed behind to sort seed business. Carolyn owns Seeds of Victoria, a seed company which provides only organic, open pollinated seeds. She sells herbs, vegetables, and flowers, and takes orders online. GR and I dealt with some administrative duties then went out to dig some Sunchokes (Jerusalem artichokes) from the garden, which she also sells. After lunch, I raked and mowed the lawn and helped with the outdoor sowing of Fava beans (Broad beans). We sowed the crimson-flowered variety. Here is the excerpt from the Seeds of Victoria online catalogue:

Broad Beans
Crimson Flowered Favas (1778) - Rare

Three-foot tall stalks produce 6" long smooth pods with smaller fava beans inside. These succulent beans melt in your mouth if cooked at a rolling boil for ten minutes- exactly! Bright-crimson flowers along sturdy stalks in spring always catch admiring comments. Sow in February/March and harvest fresh beans in June/July/August, dried beans later. Beans freeze well too. You can sow in November, but may have to reseed many that rot. Favas are leguminous plants, which improve soil because they add nitrogen

This is a strain of fava bean originating from the UK, which dates back to 1778! This was before plant breeders bred for the black and white flowers we see today. Thanks to Mrs. Cutbush from Kent these seeds have survived by being handed down through many generations of gardeners. At age 90, Mrs. Cutbush gave some of these precious seeds to the Henry DoubleDay Research Association Seed Library, from where I received a packet. I have grown these beans ever since and am pleased to make them available to you. When we grow out these heirloom varieties we make sure they don't become extinct to future generations of gardeners

from earthfuture.com

Pretty cool eh?

GR's tip: In our damp climate, sow fava beans in the spring so you eliminate the potential for winter rotting and losing your seeds. Sow rows 1' apart with seeds spaced 6" apart. You can eat the beans fresh off the plant or allow them to dry on the plant for seed saving or dry goods storage. You can also store fresh beans by freezing them. A 10 min boil will bring them back to just-out-of-the-garden freshness for yummy snacks.

At the end of the day I felt so good. Being back in the garden, working with people who love plants, it was just the best. And that extra dose of sunshine helped a lot too. Sigh, so happy :)

Dreams Can Come True

Do you remember when I posted about Carolyn Herriot here? Well, through a series of fateful events and a now mutual friend, I am going to be starting an apprenticeship with her this March!! I am so excited to learn all that I can about food gardening and seed saving from such an accomplished woman. It will be such a pleasurable change from the mostly mundane institutional gardening I did last year. Although I learned a lot about the nature of native plants in a garden setting, it was a very shallow learning curve. I know this year is going to be filled with excitement about plants, learning, laughter, and enjoyment. Yay!!

I am so ready to get my fingernails dirty again.