Category Archives: Food Forest

Signs of Spring

Posted on February 18, 2012 by

Plants seem uninterested in dates, instead using temperature and daylight hours and plant hormones to define “spring,” and many plants in my garden have decided that now’s the time.  Though there doesn’t seem to be consensus – the asparagus seems … Continue reading →

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Update – Elderberries on Acid

Posted on January 11, 2012 by

Not much going on in the garden, and no precip for months.  Strange weather… A couple of months ago, I wrote about scarifying elderberry seeds with strong acid.  I checked the seeds this morning – they’ve been sequestered in the … Continue reading →

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The Alaskan Mill, Dreams of Spring, and Seeds With Character

Posted on December 8, 2011 by

It’s shaping up to be a cold, dry winter (so far).  The garden has essentially been put to bed, and so attention turns to infrastructure. These three trees – two very tall pines (Pinus sabiniana) and a cedar – were … Continue reading →

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Volunteer Bay

Posted on December 2, 2011 by

Umbellularia californica, to be exact.  There isn’t a whole lot of it at my elevation (~3k), but it’s fairly common elsewhere in these parts, usually at lower elevations, in stream and river canyons, closer to water.  That being said, at … Continue reading →

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Alliums, And Lots Of ‘Em

Posted on November 22, 2011 by

Some of my favorite food plants are in the genus Allium.  Garlic is one of my favorite garden plants (read about it here, here, here, here and here), and I have it in the garden proper and the food forest. … Continue reading →

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Creep Year

Posted on November 14, 2011 by

The first year they sleep The second year they creep The third year they leap So goes the old saying about perennials. This has been the creep year (year 2) for a number of perennials in my garden.  Two that … Continue reading →

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Critical Mass

Posted on November 11, 2011 by

I have sort of come to the conclusion – inasmuch as I can come to a conclusion this early in the process – that where I garden, building a food forest is about critical mass.  It’s a very different aesthetic … Continue reading →

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Misery?

Posted on November 7, 2011 by

Mountain misery (Chamaebatia foliolosa), also know as bear clover and kit-ke-dizze, is one of the native ground cover plants throughout this part of the Sierra, and I have it in abundance on my property, including throughout the very sunny parts … Continue reading →

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Feed Your Soil, Not Your Plants: Cover Croppin’

Posted on November 2, 2011 by

Cover cropping is, in my view, one of the best things you can do for your soil, and one of the easiest. Here’s how it works: You plant some seeds – I usually use a mix of legumes (vetch, bell … Continue reading →

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The Great Rhubarb Divide

Posted on October 27, 2011 by

I’m especially fond of plants that are easily propagated, either by seed or division or cuttings.  Rhubarb (Rheum x hybridum) is just such a plant, and one of my fall chores – not every fall, mind you, but every 3 … Continue reading →

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