Round Up for May 29th, 2011: What's going on in the Garden; Pretty Things for You to Enjoy

Ohai Ali'i.  Probably my most successful plant so far.  It's gorgeous and seems to thrive on neglect.

Hibiscus bloom.  This plant and its buddy seem to be pulling through their transplant shock.

Madagascar Jasmine draped over our fence in the backyard, from the neighbor's side.  The scent on certain warm evenings is to die for.

The same neighbors "share" their avocado tree with us, too.  Just the part that hangs over our side of the fence keeps us supplied most of the year.  Avocados don't ripen until they are picked, so they can just hang there on nature's own refrigerator until you're ready for them.

Ginger growing along the fence.  I bought some organic ginger from the local food co-op, cut it into pieces and stuck them in the ground. 

Pumpkin vines.  These are visibly bigger every day.  No one I know in Hawaii has tried growing pumpkins, so we'll see if we get our own Jack-O-Lanterns for Halloween.  These plants get so big that I decided to try incorporating them into the landscaping instead of wasting precious garden space.

My first tomato!

Memorial Weekend landscaping project, (almost) finished.  I dug some trenches to channel water from a downspout through this bed of thirsty plants.  I think the little "stream" is pretty, I used up some gravel that we had dug out of another bed and was taking up space, and it makes good use of the runoff from heavy rains.

One of my little bougainvilleas - which I hopefully will eventually train up over the trellis in the previous photo, is finally taking off - in an effort to avoid over-fertilizing, I overestimated the quality of our soil and starved many of my poor perennials, but we're on the mend now.

How to Kill your Lawn

 I'm on a mission to get rid of my lawn. Turf is bad enough, being the needy, thirsty, fertilizer guzzling stuff that it is, but our lawn is particularly weedy.  Oh, I don't mind some weeds.  When we lived in the country, I would have been happy with a big chunk of our property as meadow, but in our tightly packed suburban neighborhood, I can't have a meadow in my front yard unless I am also going to put a car on blocks and maybe a few broken appliances out there.   It looks pretty decent when it's mowed down, but that's a problem too.  My rotary push mower can't deal with this stuff and it puts up seed stalks fast.  This led to the purchase of the first gas lawnmower and weedwhacker that we have owned in years.  I am very, very unhappy about the addition of these noisy, polluting and generally unpleasant members to our family.  I refuse to use them, so after several years of reprieve (yes, I actually enjoyed mowing with the rotary thingy), Chris is stuck with mowing duty again.

A couple swaths of turf will remain (properly irrigated, improved and reseeded) in the end, but I've been breaking my back turning some of the smaller chunks into something, anything else. 

Mind you, I like to dig.  Call me weird, but I even enjoy shoveling snow.  Digging is the perfect exercise - an aerobic workout and strength training all in one, and when you're done you have something to show for your efforts.  People will enthusiastically run in circles, or drive to the gym to run like a hamster on a treadmill, and all they have at the end of it is BO.  Yet, these same people complain about shoveling snow or doing heavy yard work.  Still, digging in the heat of day with the hot tropical sun beating down on me, prying rocks out of the hard, dry earth (and always thinking of pulling teeth as I do it), I can't help but wonder if this is what it is like to work on a chain gang.  And things are only going to get worse with the hotter and dryer summer almost upon us.  I've had plans all along to rent a tiller and redo some of the bigger stretches at some point, but having tilled rocky soil in the past, never mind the aforementioned aversion to noisy power equipment, I haven't exactly relished that idea either.

So I was delighted when I stumbled upon an alternative method in my current gardening read, The New Low Maintenance Garden by Valerie Easton.  It's packed with advice on creating a lush, interesting, productive, and ecologically sound landscape without becoming a slave to your garden.   Easton outlines a way to kill the existing vegetation in your chosen area with minimal digging, recycled materials and no two-stroke engines.  Even better, I managed to execute this plan completely for FREE, and my time investment thus far is about three hours.

Easton describes the five steps in good detail.  Things you'll need are a spade, newspaper and/or cardboard, and four to six months.  Oh yeah, and patience.  You knew there had to be some trade-off, right?  But worry not, it looks quite nice while you are waiting. Here are the steps:

1.  Choose your area.  I decided to attack this side yard:




Lovely, no?   I limited myself to an area that I figured I had enough materials to cover.

2.  Dig a trench four inches wide and about four inches deep outlining your death zone.  Go ahead and throw the upturned vegetation and dirt into the middle of your patch. 



For good measure, I tossed in some larger pieces of yard waste (over-sized tropical plants produce over-sized trimmings that can be a challenge to dispose of). 



As I was digging along the fence, I realized that the neighbors had backed it on their side with a landscaping border.  Bonus.  No need for a trench here; I just loosened it and pulled up the grass, but I'm not sure I even had to do that.  Ditto for along the concrete walkway bordering the other side, as the walkway is a couple inches higher than ground level.

3.  Cover the area with a single layer of cardboard or half an inch or so of newspapers, overlapping chunks by about six inches and letting the edges fall into the trench. 

Cardboard boxes salvaged for the project.  As a bonus, I cleaned up the garage a bit.

Now that looks classy!  Huh...good thing I have a lot of...

4.  mulch.  About twelve inches of it should be laid down over the papers.

Oh, wait a minute.  That's going to be a LOT of mulch.  Luckily I had a free source.  Yard waste on Oahu is recycled curbside and processed into compost and other landscaping goodies for purchase.  And here's the best part:  show up with a spade and your own containers, and they let you take away all the free mulch that you can haul!  In the land of five dollar gallons of milk, we love things that are free.

I picked Harry up from school and announced we were going on a mission.  With a spade and ten tough plastic trash bags, I attacked the seemingly endless free mulch pile.  So it's not the most cosmetic stuff I've ever put in my yard, flecked with little bits of garbage (I convinced Harry not to take home the brown tennis ball) and the odd stick or chunk of bark, and heaven knows what pests or diseases I might be bringing into my yard, but it's local, it's recycled, and it's free.  So there.

I piled on my mulch and quickly realized I was going to have to make a second run (I always, always underestimate my mulch needs), this time employing my long-suffering dad as my bag holder.  More shoveling, driving, pouring and spreading, and here's the result:

Not bad, huh?  Now I just need to wait several months for all that organic matter to break down into what Easton promises to be loose, fluffy soil.  Depending on what gets planted here, I'm not completely off the hook for digging, but the task should be much more manageable.  Easton recommends adding a layer of  "feeder" compost over the finished product before planting. 

I do have a nagging concern that I have just created the perfect habitat for slugs and snails.  Easton wrote her book with a more temperate climate in mind, where you would do this in the fall in preparation for spring planting, so she didn't address the issue of snails having sex all willy-nillly under your cardboard.  I've been thinking about lining the perimeter with some deterrent.  They seem to hate copper, for example.  I know this because I have done more reading than any human being should on snail management practices.  Someday I am going to devote an entire post to it.   I also know from experience that mulch, particularly this mulch, breaks down in the tropics very, very fast,  possibly faster than the cardboard beneath, so I may be looking at a re-application.

And now for the waiting part.  Oh no worries, you can go do something else, I'll be here.  Happy gardening!

You're composting what?

The completed Lokiposter in our Hawaii back yard.

A few years back I was on a kick with trying to make our pet ownership as eco-friendly as possible.  After learning that bentonite clay - a popular ingredient in clumping cat litters - is strip mined, I wasted many precious hours researching cat litter options.  This led naturally to an investigation into getting rid of the dog poop in an environmentally friendly way.

Wait, stay with me here.  I know this is an icky subject, but if you're a dog owner (those of you that aren't are hereby excused from class) then you have to deal with the dog poop anyway.  Throwing it in the landfill doesn't make sense to me...I mean it's full of nutrients, right?

My parents used to have this device called the Doggie Dooley that functioned as a septic system for pet waste.  That sounded like a good idea to me, so I looked into it.  The price tag was a bit higher than I really wanted to invest, especially considering I was renting at the time (uh, I hope my previous landlord isn't a subscriber).  This is not to put down the Dooley - my parents really liked it and if you are not the DIY type, go for it.

But I had a feeling I could make something just as good on my own, maybe even with recycled materials.  Acting on a hunch that I wasn't the first person to have this thought, I dug a little deeper on the internet and hit jackpot - step-by-step instructions on how to make your own doggie waste composting system.

Here's the gist:

Materials and tools you will need:  a kitchen size trash can with lid, larger if you are ambitious and/or like to dig; a power drill fitted with the largest possible bit; a saw, utility knife or any other means to cut through your plastic can (if you use metal you're on your own); gravel; shovel; a convenient yet out-of-the way location preferably next to a tree or bushes that can benefit from the nutrients and keep them out of the groundwater.  Due to the admittedly small risk of infectious disease being transmitted through the compost, do not place it near any edible plants.

1.  Dig your hole.  Make it at least as wide as your can and at least 18-24 inches deep, but the deeper the better.  If your can is longer than that, you can cut off the bottom to fit.

2.  Throw some gravel in the bottom of your hole to aid in drainage.

3.  Take your garbage can and drill several holes in the side (to prevent flooding).  Learn from my mistakes and don't forget to do this until you have already added dog poo.

4.  Cut a hole in the bottom of your can.

5.  Put your can in the hole.  One problem that I did have in Utah was that eventually the weight of the surrounding earth smushed in and warped the can, and the lid wouldn't snap down tight anymore.  I tried to correct this with the current system by digging the hole a bit bigger than the can, and fill around evenly with gravel so that pressure was equal on all sides.  Also, I cut the hole in the bottom slightly smaller than the can for added reinforcement.

6.  Put on lid.  Make it pretty.  Add poo.  Done.

In Utah I obtained a used trash can, dug a hole, and had my composter done in one afternoon.  I use RidX septic starter that I obtained at the hardware store (Home Depot sells it too) in a big box.  I don't measure the amount I use - I just sprinkle enough to cover and then soak it down with water.  The results were very good - the thing didn't stink (my kitchen waste composter was more likely to stink if neglected) and the neighbors never noticed.  It didn't break down very well in the winter, and I did have to muck it out a couple times (ick) in three years - I just buried the extra waste in our dirt dog run, where the composter was located, in the springtime.  Since the poo breaks down pretty quickly just sitting in the dog run here, I'm not expecting the same problem.  Loki is a big dog on a high fiber diet, so our system may have ad more stress on it than yours will.  Surprisingly enough, the only bugs that seem interested in the thing are beetles. 

When we moved out, I had planned to remove the trashcan and fill in the hole - except that it had been in the ground so long and was full enough that I couldn't get it out without a big disgusting mess. So I just buried it...don't tell!

Eventually I got around to setting up another unit here.  After several months of picking up the waste, putting it in the trash and then holding my nose every time I opened the lid until trash day, I was ready.  Digging a deep hole proved more difficult here.  Not sure if I have mentioned this yet, but our house is apparently located on an old rock farm.  Six inches of topsoil and then it's pretty much rocks.  I have spent many hot afternoons digging, grunting, and swearing under my breath as I add to my growing pile and fantasize about setting up a roadside stand on the North Shore and hawking "rare aged volcanic rocks" to the tourists.

Anyway, many many hours later I was able to dig a hole deep enough to come up to my knees and wide enough to fit the extra Brute trash can that seemed to make it to Hawaii with us.  I couldn't get the thing quite buried up to the rim, so I used the smaller aforementioned rocks to create a more "natural" look.  Well, you be the judge.

As a testament to the unsmellyness of this thing, it's a mere 7-8 feet from the back lanai where we eat outside, and no one has ever complained.  It took a while for the neighbors on the other side of the wall to even realize that we own a dog, so it's safe to say they haven't smelled anything.  If odor does become a problem, you can throw in a layer of mulch.  I keep the lid on a little loose so that I  can go around with the scooper and just lift it with one toe while I drop the goods in.  About once a week I do the septic starter and water thing (ok, ok, less, I'm lazy). 

And that's it!  The initial investment in labor and materials quickly pays itself off.  Happy composting!  If you dare...

When Space is Tight, Your Garden Has to Look Good

I wasn't much of a gardener when I lived in Maine.  It was only after we moved to Salt Lake City, with its dry, urban feel that I began to appreciate the value of adding beauty to my yard. In Maine the beauty was already there. Because I understood the worth of providing your own food, I did attempt to grow some vegetables. It turns out that you can't just clear a patch of grass, stick in some plants and then ignore it for the rest of the summer, save a watering every few days. Needless to say my first attempt was a failure, but my point is that with the luxury of two acres to work with, I was able to get away with some things that you can't in a smaller space. Planting veggies in widely spaced rows, with walkways between each row, is all well and good when you can afford to spread out. Since the veggie patch was located at the end of our backyard, no one ever looked at it (this may have been a factor in its demise). "Composting" consisted of throwing kitchen scraps and clippings in a heap in the woods during the warmer months. Yeah, it stank and it took forever to break down, but who cared? It was in the woods.

It's ironic that as we moved on in life, we got farther and farther away from that spacious clearing in the woods. Now that we are squeezed into a small space in the burbs, supporting not just two people but five, we are determined to master , or at least refine, the art of "growing your own."

It turns out that the ideal real estate for putting our sun-loving vegetables was located...in the front yard. A patch of bare dirt with a half-arse chicken wire fence around it was not going to enhance our curb appeal. We were only here a few weeks when I grabbed a spade and started turning the earth anyway, because anything we did would still be better than the collection of weeds that inhabited the ground around our mailbox. Six months later, our work-in-progress has evolved into a combination of form and function:

Raised beds are intermingled with landscaping elements and ornamental plantings. Some of our ornamentals do double-duty: marigolds and nasturtium not only add color, but have alleged bug-repellent properties as well (although I learned the hard way that snails and slugs adore marigolds). Nasturtium even has edible flowers. Some varieties of portulaca, a plant often regarded as a weed, are also edible. Honestly, I'm not entirely certain that the plants I have in this picture are the edible kind, although I did taste one leaf and I didn't gag or die.

Herbs coexist happily with my flowers and foliage plants in the front garden.


Herbs and some other plants can be grown in containers on the porch, along walkways, or in the driveway. In this picture I have basil, oregano and parsley growing in pots by the front door (the basil could be in a prettier pot but it was in dire need of a re-planting).


"Edible landscaping" is my new best friend. Here petunias live alongside peppers and sweet potatoes - that crazy vine that is taking over everything. It grows like a weed here.


Lilikoi - passionfruit - grows on trellises to (I hope) eventually obscure an ugly brick wall. It shares space with strawberries that will act like a groundcover, spilling over the sides if the planter.


Asparagus is another attractive (and perennial) edible plant.



So this area needs some work...in the foreground is our banana tree with an "elephant ear" (not edible) growing in the corner. I have edible ginger growing next to the elephant ear, which will help cover the fence. When everyone grows up, it should be starting to look pretty tropical back here.

I am looking for grapevines to grow up this pergola. A potted plant hides the compost bins behind the shed.


My pet project: chickens! You'll be hearing much more about this. The coop here will soon be enclosed in a fence in this corner, which is space that couldn't be used otherwise. I look forward to drinking coffee on the lanai and watching the chickens.