Chard

Chard is a fairly simple & hugely rewarding plant to grow in South Jersey.  We direct sowed our chard in early March.  It does well in dappled-sun or some-shade beds.  We interplanted it with peas in some areas so that the trellising plant could aid in creating shade for chard leaves.

Aesthetically, I love the colors of this fabulous plant.  It always reminds me of a miniature rhubarb.  I'd love to do a cooler weather planting of chard and rhubarb with some bright reds-- maybe petunias?  Roses?  Photinia?-- for contrast.

And edible!  Edible landscapes are my fave.  The mix of edible leaves and flowers (edible flowers are a plus!) is rewarding and innovative.  As I gaze into the leafy depths I'm thinking poppies, calendula...  Visual refreshment, delicious meals, organic landscapes.  So much goodness!

The Chen property, Season 2

It's so wonderful to watch a property evolve over time!  Yvonne has a fantastic sense of design & loves flowers.  Last year, Rooted Landscaping facilitated some big shifts.  We installed a trellis to add interest to a blank wall on the front of her fabulous house, re-designed a unique bed out back, & converted the previous owner's dog kennel into a shaded patio.

Season 2 and the honey-suckle is climbing!  We're staying on top of it to ensure it doesn't spread.  It's offering tons of fragrance as Yvonne and her guests pass in and out of the front door.

Heuchera capturing light in the back bed.  Soaker-hoses were installed to keep maintenance manageable.  These plants are happy.

Native plants attracting beneficial insects.  Salvia is a fantastic plant-- bright color, easily maintained, and attractive to butterflies.

Have you been wondering who's been making us look so good?  This guy.  Mike Hrinewski has become Rooted Landscaping's in-house photographer.  (Funny to say because by day he's an attorney.)  Any photos in posts tagged Mike Hrinewski are his work, otherwise, they usually come from Kevin's camera.  If the photos are really terrible, they may be mine.

Stay tuned as the garden grows!

Greywater

Kevin & I are steadily working towards making our home largely self-sufficient, meaning we're less dependent on importing water & other resources.  A simple way to move towards a closed loop is harvesting rain water & recycling eligible water within the home.  We knew we wanted to install both rain barrels as well as a grey water system.  Grey water is recycling water from the washing machine and some sinks, being mindful of the cleaning products and matter that interacts with these water sources.  This water is perfectly safe for plants.

Rain barrels are often installed on platforms outside the house to harvest rain from the gutters and then allow gravity to passively distribute water to the garden.  We knew we needed a lot of water for our garden.  The thought of tons of platforms seemed somewhat cumbersome & potentially an eye-sore for our neighbors.  Plus, if we wanted passive distribution of greywater the barrels couldn't be high-- unless we created separate systems for greywater & rain water.

Kevin came up with a creative solution.  This winter he dug holes in the ground to bury rain barrels.  He found a source & purchased six 55-gallon barrels.  He then began connecting certa-flex pipes from the down-spouts to the barrels to collect rain water.  He created the same process to connect output from the washing machine & kitchen sink.  

In this way, when we have a surplus of water we can disconnect the pipes from the barrels and allow the water to flow back to the city gutters.  In the winter, we'll disconnect the greywater system.  It's important to use greywater frequently due to the other organic matter in the water.  This way it's available when we have high water demands in the garden & easily detached when we're in colder seasons.

We've switched our detergents and soaps to greywater approved.  Ecover products are easily found at shops near us, but they can also be ordered online.  This has urged me to clean mainly with lemon, vinegar, and baking soda, which is healthier for us and greywater safe.

OK, but how does the water reach the garden?  Kevin thought of a pool pump.  We had to try two before we found one strong enough to pump the water from the sunken barrels into the hose.  We're on the grid with this idea, using electricity to power the pump.  We hope to incorporate solar panels onto our home at some point so that this would largely be an off-grid approach.

It's taken some getting used to.  The hose has less pressure pumping from the greywater and rainwater barrels than it does when connected to the spigot.  The pumps tend to shut off automatically if we connect the hose to our soaker hoses.  However, working through these kinks and readjusting our habits has been worth it.  Our water bill and water consumption has drastically decreased.  

I'm anal.  A sign for guests letting them know the deal.  I hate being in a space & feeling like I might mess something up.  My hope is that folks in my home feel comfortable & fully informed.

Still fine-tuning, but fully hydrated & happy!  BTW-- just got the water bill.  HALF what it was before we implemented this grey-water system!  Environmentally friendly & fiscally responsible!

The Bike Trellis

Kevin was struck by genius.  We would add interest to a blank wall facing our property by building a trellis made from repurposed bike rims.  We knew we wanted to plant conchord grapes, which obviously we would want to trellis.  We put out a call for rims.  Several friends began cleaning out their garages and sheds for us & I think a few might have trash picked!  Then we hit the motherload-- I called Joe Bonaparte at the Collingswood Bike Share.  Space is a premium for the bike share.  Joe was happy to off-load two trunks full of rims.  Gleefully, I struck a deal to offer the bike share volunteers yoga in exchange for their bounty.  

Laz was instrumental as we de-tired the rims.  We found a local spot to recycle the rubber.

We used wire to attach the rims.  It was labor-intensive & time-consuming, but when you have a feline muse all things are possible.

The trickiest part was trellis transport.  We mistakenly built the trellis laying flat, as shown.  It made it easier to attach each rim, but then we had to somehow carry this heavy contraption to the conchord bed.

Luckily, we have a heroic neighbor who heard us alternately laughing and cursing.  With him, we had three adults to carry three poles, carefully, to the already dug holes in the conchord bed.  Kevin quickly concreted the copper poles into the garden bed.

We leaned our climbing grape vines against the rims.

They're already grabbing hold.

Strawberries & edible flowers

We bait our groundhog trap with strawberries to lure that furry bandit away from our food.  And we bait our home with good vegan edibles for our friend, Mike Hrinewski, to lure him towards taking photos as the garden grows.

Those chive blossoms have been adding flavor to our salads, savory dishes, & oil infusions.  The strawberries are getting ready to pop.  Always something to delight as we continue playing nice with the green stuff.

Secret Garden: the Patio Project

Rooted Landscaping was recently asked to offer a design for a patio garden.  Upon visiting the patio in full daylight glory, I immediately (& excitedly) conceived of a mediterranean-inspired garden of tall, glazed ceramic pots over-flowing with espalier trees and fragrant herbs.  The stucco and brick automatically reminded me of cliff-side dwellings and rosemary breezes.

I requested photos taken throughout the day so I could get a handle on how much sunlight actually reaches the patio.

Oh.  Not so much.

I tried to reconcile this reality with what I remembered visiting.  It occurred to me-- there is full sun in the middle of the patio but most of the edges stay shaded.

We were looking to create something lush and low-maintenance, and now primarily working with shade.  I went back to the drawing board.  Obviously, we need some height and some recurring themes to pull the area together.  The wire furniture made me think about wrought iron hooks for hanging baskets and wrought iron trough window boxes.

Upon further inspection I realized that one wall did get more sunlight.  The espalier design sticks!  A fig tree steps away from the kitchen.

Given that this is an entry way to the home and a home office, I still wanted fragrance.  More sun arrives by the front steps.  We decided potted rosemary should go there.  It's perfect to trail your fingers through or dab a little behind your wrists.  A little scented sigh as you enter the space.

(Years ago someone planted rosemary behind the yoga studio where I teach.  It's become perennial.  Everyone loves pressing some of the herb behind their wrists as they walk in for class.)

I hunted and found some great big ceramic pots at HomeGoods on the cheap!  To cut costs, we transplanted some cuttings of rosemary from the vegetable garden we'd installed previously.  We added some trailing sweet potato vine & some flowers to add color with scent as you enter.

We decided to center window boxes on the brick wall.  The patio needed height and some wall cover to feel more lush.  Not that it was easy anywhere, but affixing window boxes to only brick as opposed to brick & stucco simplified the process, made the boxes more secure, & is visually appealing.

A lot of the existing furniture had sentimental value.  That bench is over a 100 years old!  We moved it under the low wall and surrounded it with herbs.  Rosemary as you first step onto the patio, mint behind, and basil on the other side of the bench.  Sitting on the bench you're surrounded by fresh scents.  Also, the kitchen is steps away.  Another nearby planter has chives.  Plenty of flavors to incorporate into dishes-- all without getting your feet dirty!

The planters will be mainly shaded so we chose fuscia on top for height and drama, lots of variegated and traditional wandering jew, and several varieties of coleus.

There are hanging baskets throughout the patio, tying together to give it a "room" feel.  In the corner nearest the kitchen we installed a simple, Eastern-influenced fountain.  The bamboo fountain offers the sound of soothing running water on the patio or in the home if the window is open.

We used existing pots to house these gardenias.  I pulled them further from the door to be sure they got rain when it falls!

A repurposed wine cart & fountain are now planters to more shade plants.  We chose similar varieties to the window basket plantings to create continuity.

Piece de resistance!  My favorite.  This wall does get full sun & it's south-facing & it has wind-barrier!  Text-book perfect conditions for a fig tree!  I found a black turkey fig at Greensgrow and brought that bad boy over.  Kevin built the trellis to begin training the fig towards espalier, so that the tree won't enter too far towards the center of the patio.  Rather, it will go broad, offering cover for the blank wall, fruit, and enchantment.

Training branches.  Wouldn't you want to take your morning coffee gazing at a fig tree?  Makes me want to read Homer.

Planted on a rainy day (happily, for the plants).  Stay tuned as the patio receives the full glory of summer sun!

Chive Blossoms

I obviously like purple.  Chives are one of my favorite plants!  Not just favorite herbs-- favorite plants.  Obviously, I like including as many edibles as possible in any design, even if it's main function is ornamental.  Chives are perennial, low-maintenance, and stay perky most of the year.  Those spikes add fantastic height and dimension in a planting.  Then the gravy-- a mother-load of onion-y, herb-y goodness to add to your favorite dishes.  And and and!  They BLOSSOM!  Those sweet purple puffs aren't only so pretty, but they're edible.  Stif-fry, add them in salads (and seem really sophisticated), or incorporate them into some other culinary delight.  The chive blossoms are an annual event.

I hope to do more plantings with both chives and lavender.  They like similar conditions-- full-sun, well-drained soil, and they have successive bloom time.  Right now, my chives are in full flowering splendor.  The lavender is green, fragrant, but not yet sprung to life.  It usually sends it's purple spikes out in June.  There's often a second bloom later in the summer too!  Between the two plants you find an array of aesthetic beauty along with scent, taste, and texture.

As I look around my home garden, I see purple popping up in multiple spots.  The butterfly bush in the back neighboring the grape vines.  The lilac I plan to plant once we've built the deck.  The little flowers on the rosemary bushes.  Some of our client's ask how to tie together their gardens.  This is one of the ways I like to build a feeling of consistency-- repeated themes of color, plant, texture, or grouping.