permaculture

["Kelly Finigan" <kfinigan@telus.net>]

Robert:

a few plants I like for color (keep in mind I'm in USDA Zone 3 - maybe your
area is too hot?)

anise hyssop - beautiful lavender / blue spikes; perennial, edible leaves in
salad or tea; attracts insects
yarrow - white, red or pink; great for cuts and in the compost pile
borage - self-seeding, blue and purple/pink flowers; edible flowers, bees
love it
calendula - self-seeding; yellow, orange; edible flowers, good for balms and
salves
wild strawberry - ground cover with white flowers; berries
columbine - various colors; edible
campanula species - purple, blue flowers; edible flowers
hollyhock & other mallows - big showy, various colors; edible
runner beans - bright red flowers on climber
violets & pansies - mostly purple and yellows; edible leaves and flowers
chives, garlic chives, nodding onion, tree onions etc - all edible with
interesting flower heads;

I also think asparagus and rhubarb are pretty plants...but maybe that's just
me! And then there's comfrey - donkey ear leaves with tall flower
spikes...but once you plant it, its yours forever...

ciao,
Kelly





Subject: Re: [permaculture] Where are you from?


> I am from Oklahoma City, and live on a city lot in an older Oklahoma
> City central neighborhood built in the 1920s.  All of my available
> space for gardening is in my two front yards (I am on a corner), and
> the buildings are right up against the other property lines.  I am
> finishing the third year of my project of creating a "forest edge
> garden".  This past year's garden diary is online at
> http://www.bettertimesinfo.org/2002gardendiary.htm .
>
> I am in the master gardener's training program with OKlahoma County
> Extension, and today we got the results back for our soil test.  On a
> per acre basis, mine came out:
>
> Nitrogen:  232 lbs/acre
> Phosphorus:  575 lbs/acre
> Potassium:  1462 lbs/care
>
> which are all waaaaay above what Extension described as being ideal
> for vegetable gardens.  My soil pH was 6.7.
>
> My gardens are untilled raised beds on top of a former lawn, planted
> intermixed about 2/3rds perennials and 1/3 annuals.  I presume it had
> been lawn since the house was constructed in 1929.  For the three
> years I've been working on this, I have fertilized with nothing but
> compost.  My compost is primarily shredded trees, grass clippings,
> flowers, dried leaves, and kitchen leftovers.  The walls of the beds
> are logs (mostly elm) from two mature trees on this property that in
> my first two years here were taken down by wind and ice storms.
>
> I had very lush growth and good production all summer, except for the
> tomatoes, which grew very nice plants but were a bit stingy on the
> tomatoes (it was also an abnormally cool year for Oklahoma City, not
> one single day over 100 degrees and I only watered maybe 6 times since
> spring.)  And except also for most of the perennials like fruit trees
> and berry canes/vines which haven't been in place long enough to begin
> producing.
>
> Another question:  how do y'all feel about pruning grape vines?
> Everyone I know says "prune them".  I was wondering how some of the
> more experienced permaculturists felt about that.  I haven't pruned
> mine since planting them two years ago, but was thinking about doing
> that for the next season.
>
> I'm thinking that Extension standards are probably based on
> conventional agriculture and gardening and I was wondering how these
> soil test results compare with others of you out there who have had
> soil tests done on your permacultured gardens.
>
> Third question:  I mentioned the master gardener class I am in, I was
> thinking about producing a handout to give to everybody in the class
> with a short list of food producing plants in each of the seven layers
> of a permacultured forest garden.  I have quite a bit of material, but
> I would like some more suggestions for "color".
>
> Thus far under that I have Maximilien sunflowers (mine put on two
> separate and very showy displays of flowers this year), purple
> echinacea, rosa rugosa, purple hyacinth beans, Mexican mint marigold,
> daylilies, perennial kale, dandelions, and amaranth (which in my
> garden is self seeding).  Any other suggestions?
>
> And finally, about those Maximilien sunflowers, I was expecting a bit
> bigger seed, as supposedly they are an oil sunflower (so I read
> somewhere on the net).  Any thoughts about extracting oil from the
> seeds?  Also, should I cut them back closer to the ground (I bought
> two pots, and they each grew into 10' tall stalks, covered with
> flowers.  Even if they aren't edible and I was mistaken about that,
> their beauty is food for the soul.
>
> Robert Waldrop, Oklahoma City
>
>
>
>
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