permaculture

["Jerome Osentowski" <jerome@crmpi.org>]

Kelly,  We have all of the plants you list in our forest garden or 
greenhouses, The power house umbols for us are bronze fennel and Loveage.  I
am now starting to offer these in my edable forest garden nursery stock and
for folks with greenhouses to keep something flowering all the time to host
the good bugs.  ARBICO of Tuson  also offers a good bug mix that I like to
use outside , and around the pond.  There are many edables in the mix.  We
were looking for some celantro for a salsa last month, and finally found it
around the pond where we broadcasted this mix.  I plan to offer several
umbols in the nursery next year along with perannal veg's  like the walking
onions ect.     jerome
--
Jerome Osentowski, Director
Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute
PO Box 631
Basalt, CO 81621   U.S.A.

Tel/fax (970) 927-4158    E mail: jerome@crmpi.org

For more information, please visit our web site at <<www.crmpi.org>>


----------
>From: "Kelly Finigan" <kfinigan@telus.net>
>To: <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
>Subject: Re: [permaculture] Where are you from?
>Date: Wed, Oct 30, 2002, 12:28 PM
>

> 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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