Season's End

Sitting outside enjoying the sunshine and 70 degree weather I feel a little confused and almost guilty for not being hands and knees, dirty in someone else’s garden.  Last Friday, the end of October, marked the final week of our garden-coaching and maintenance season.  We chose the end of October as our season bookend since typically a freeze has come and gone by now with only the winter-hardy plants still growing tucked into their low-tunnels or cold frames.  This season, however, I’m regretting yanking out tomato plants several weeks ago.  But so it is with Midwest weather; the only thing to expect is the unexpected.  

Winter Rye cover crop shooting up around a Cabbage

Friday, as I swept out the greenhouse at the last stop of the day my body sensed the season of physical rest beginning and welcomed it.  The rain began to patter lightly as i put to rest those items that wouldn’t be pulled out again until next spring and I felt much like I imagine a school teacher feels turning off their classroom light on the last day of school, except I’m really a student.  Much has been observed, much has been learned, and there are still some things you don’t quite grasp.  So often, the seed was planted, sprouted and grew into it’s potential, so that when the failures did come they felt harsh and tragic.  But of course not everything comes to fruition and some things do outright fail, but the moments of failure are often the greatest learning opportunities.  

Here’s some observations, good and bad recorded to keep me from having to rediscover and so you may be kept from learning the hard way:

A few varieties I was newly impressed with:

Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce-  Mmmmm…. this delicate green stayed tender and didn’t get bitter in the summer heat (though “summer heat” was not as hot as we usually experience) and continued to produce after multiple cuttings.  

Napa Cabbage-  Held up against harlequin bugs decently well and was delicious even raw in a salad.  A lady that has grown it for years recommended next year using string to tie the plant closed after it gets large so that you get the white blanched leaves that are commonly found on napa in the grocery store.  

Japanese Long Beans-  I was impressed with the flavor and prolific production over an extended period.  These were my favorite grab and snack on the days where stopping for lunch was just not an option.

Amaranth- This was my first time growing amaranth.  The plants were absolutely gorgeous even after taking a beating from cucumber beetles, for which it served as an accidental trap-crop.  Though the amount of effort necessary to harvest the actual grain may or may not prove to be worth it, I will continue to plant Amaranth for the striking flowers and edible shoots.  

Tomato Observation

A very rainy spring and early summer gave gardeners in the area a late start this year and for most their tomato plants never did fully recover.  At one of our gardens it was fun to observe three “volunteer” tomato plants that sprang up in places where their presence was welcomed in comparison with the other tomatoes that were started in a greenhouse with all the right conditions and later transplanted to an ideal location in the garden.  The three volunteer tomatoes were worlds more prolific and/or healthy looking than the transplanted tomatoes and even more surprising is that one of the volunteer tomatoes was growing under the shade of a peach tree…. just a foot or so from the base of the tree with only a few hours of full afternoon sunlight.  Yes, it was more lanky and did not produce quite as heavily as the other cherry tomato but its production was by no means meager.  

Potato Boxes

I had heard that when growing potatoes in a potato box you must be diligent about covering the new shoots almost as soon as they appear above the soil so as to keep the shoot putting on more and more roots and not turning into a stem, but this year I learned it the hard way.  On one site potato boxes were stacked four high with an abundant amount of healthy looking plants sticking out the top.  Then the rain came and the rich soil that filled the potato boxes soaked it up and had a hard time drying out between the weekly rains, causing the stems of the plants to rot and a complete crop failure.  I will give potato boxes another go in the future but will be sure to use a sandier soil mix.  

I am excited for the winter to plan and dream and even more so for the next planting season.  Isn’t that just one of the best parts of gardening?!  There is always another opportunity to try again and each season will bring new lessons and successes.  

Cheers!

-Alyssa

Permaculture Principle 2: Catch and Store Energy

Catch and Store Energy

Energy, the life sustain-er of the universe. It comes in many forms and by many avenues. Sometimes comforting us with its warmth, and other times bugging us with its blinding shine or blistering motion. However we can't escape its presence if we are to live and enjoy life, and it is an absolute necessity of our survival. Unfortunately, most of society is very poor at managing the energy around them. Designing their populated areas to divert it, only to have it brought back with artificial avenues. By simply changing our designer mind's perception of energy, we might work with it much more effectively and efficiently.

We have only to look to nature for a shining example of how this can work.

By its existence, the natural world must harness the energy it is provided with in order to survive.  

The sun ought to be our example. Not only is it's existence necessary for life on our planet but it also has the largest diversity of uses, and conversions. We can catch the solar energy from the sun organically. Every tree we plant turns into a solar catching powerhouse, converting the suns energy into it's own and using it to produce biomass, lots and lots of biomass.

One tree can produce over 3,600 pounds of leaves over the course of a 60 year lifespan (source), and a mature oak can weigh anywhere from 2 - 3 tons (source). That is a lot of biomass! now imagine acres of trees! 

Of course biomass isn't the only thing a tree can produce for us. we can harvest nuts, fruits, firewood, and lumber from trees as well. There is so much that we can do with the energy from the sun simply by planting trees. And we haven't even gotten into all of the other possibilities yet. Thermal masses, solar heaters, solar panels, solar ovens, and many more.

If we take all of the possible energy sources into account when designing a system, what excuses do we really have for letting them pass by us, only to have to bring them back again using lots of other energy to do so? Catching and storing energy is a crucial part of any whole system design. Overlooking it can lead to unnecessary work, time, and energy used that could be put towards other productive tasks.

For centuries, the energy provided to us by gravity was used in the form of waterwheels. Traditionally these were used to grind grains and spin fibers. Today however we can use the same methods to convert the flowing water into electricity and store it in batteries.