Alopez: Planning a Garden #7

February 22, 2017 by Abby Lopez

Our lesson plan for today is learning about the fine art of Garden Planning! I was feeling under the weather today after a long work weekend but excited to learn nonetheless. I have always been wanting to start my own home garden and some how get myself involved in learning how to apply it. After a rainy winter, a holiday party, I managed to make a mess of my yard consisting of an ongoing compilation of unturned bins partially filled with rain water (which stinked up the yard), a wormless bin, a vegetable garden bed with no draining holes made and a make shift tennis tarp.  As I was cleaning up my yard and fixing the vegetable garden bed,  I was feeling overwhelmed with indecision of what to do with both the front and back yard while fantasizing about bringing about my own garden of eden to abundant reality. This leads me into the topic of discussion today…

What to Consider for Preparing a Garden

1. Sun exposure -Do plants need full sun or partial sun?
2. Soil texture– Is my soil clay, silt or sand?
3. Topography– Where are my slopes and hills?
4. Water Movement– How does the water flow? What type of irrigation would I use?
5. Existing plants– How will this plant affect the plants to be prepared?
6. Microclimates– Where are my walls, concrete, and bricks? Where is north, south, west and east? Are there areas that affect air circulation and cause mildew? Is there a pool that can affect moisture levels?
7. Climate and Seasons– Do I live in a desert, rainforest, valley, inland, snow?

Factors that Determine Use of Garden Space

1. People/Pets – How many children, adults, elderly, pets in the household?
2. Form– What plant preferences, allergies or sensitivities, environment do I have?
3. Cost – What are the supplies, labor and maintenance needed?
4. Function– What is garden being used for? (ex. Therapeutic garden, edible landscape, drought tolerant, wildlife)
5. Goals – Realistic expectations to adapt to what works for the land and time needed to maintain

Cultivate Together future project is the ABC apartments for edible landscape design!

ROLE PLAY

Scenario: There was a couple who lives in California who requests a garden space and play area for their dogs. They wanted a vegetable garden and citrus trees. Beyond their yard next door located to the west was a row of trees. 

Proposal: The front yard had full exposure to sun therefore a drought tolerate landscape was appropriate. We suggested to have drought tolerant plants who also serve to attract pollinators like bees and hummingbirds. Fruit trees are also placed in the front yard for full sun exposure. Trees need a lot of water and sun so we suggest to add cobble stones to direct the flow of the water to the plants that is collected from the roof gutter. In the backyard, we suggested a vegetable garden to be placed so that the couple will have a lovely view of the vegetable garden (and remind them to maintain it!) To the south of the garden we have additional vegetable beds that are raised to prevent dogs to reach and a play area for the dogs to enjoy. In addition, we have a compost to serve for soil enrichment in the backyard. 

While we worked on our garden plan, I had a better idea of what I would apply in my backyard and the factors to consider. Here’s my brain storm: I have extended family that may like to help me maintain the garden. I would like a veggie garden and plan to use some unused planks of wood as the garden bed frame that still sits in yard and  invest in additional inexpensive garden beds. I plan to also place my rain barrel in front yard along the wall and in correspondence with the gutter. I plan to use drip irrigation and to revive my worm farm and give them consistent shade and moisture. I plan to buy more perennials and herbs as they are low maintenance. I also would like root crops and leafy vegetables which I would place accordingly to the sun exposure but be mindful that they would need more watering.

Tools/ Resources for Garden Planning: 

California Irrigation Management Information System: (Orange County has 5-6 zones and 30 different microclimates) http://wwwcimis.water.ca.gov/SpatialData.aspx