20121201 Planting Salvia spathacea next to Monica Manzanita Mannequin 1 of 2

Dec 032012

Hummingbird Salvia (Salvia spathacea) shows off Tony and his camera gear before being planted.

First a video re “Planting Salvia spathacea next to Monica Manzanita Mannequin 1 of 2”, then some pics of “Cacti Caverns animal habitat installation” (below the video):

Planting Salvia spathacea next to Monica Manzanita Mannequin 1 of 2 (video):

Cacti Caverns animal habitat installation and Planting Salvia spathacea (pics):

Roof view of driveway property line in 2010: From street, 1) sunflowers are growing in Canyon Wall Oasis (large cavity in ground), AND 2) cacti grow above Cacti Caverns. Note that the lavarock continues past Cacti Caverns to THE WORLD (especially if you are a tiny critter!).

Close-up of Cacti Caverns in 2010. Low profile above ground. Several small sheltered cavities below ground. Note the applewood tunnel in foreground and the 3-stack thick curved clay roofing tile tunnel in rear. All earthworks are critter approved!

On with the show! Let’s get this Hummingbird sage (Salvia spathacea) planted and shoot some film.

The two hummingbird sage will be planted between Cacti Caverns habitat and Monica Manzanita Mannequin habitat. Truth be told, the salvias are actually planted above one of Cacti Caverns buried roofing tile cavities.

Pics and captions from Tony’s new book, Habitat It and They will Come of Cacti Caverns animal habitat installation (pics):

Figure 4.52 Property line before Cacti Caverns installed. Zeroscape for miles and miles and miles. Time to change that. Cacti Caverns will provide a little greenery, a little nook and cranny, a little Life is what you make it! to this property line.

Figure 4.60 Planks held in place by rebar. The sturdy barricade will keep the rock in place during work. A worthwhile effort. Cascading creative ideas and manipulation of the moonscape into Cacti Caverns wonderland won’t have to be interrupted to replace rock landslides.

Figure 4.72 Flat Clay Roofing Tiles resting on tunnel. Gaps on both sides of the rounded log section will shelter (fill in critters of your choice) . Note shovelful of soil used to anchor tile in place; the soil will be washed down to settle both sides of the tile. Lavastone will rest directly on the tile’s flat surface.

Figure 4.88 Wala!. Retaining wall planks and rebar supports removed. We’re finished!

Figure 4.94 Three Years Later. next pages Cacti Caverns has matured. The cacti have grown paddle upon paddle upon paddle, a delicate flowering ivy has spread throughout, and Sea Creature has silvered (aged gracefully, they say). Wood destined for the garden (in background, out of focus) awaits its turn alongside Cacti Gardens. A wary garter snake has crawled out of the thicket of ivy and cacti, and rests on the fencepost. Even more exciting than the snake itself (in our garden!) was watching it retreat from my pestering photography down into the ivy-obscured entrance of the applewood tunnel.

Happy animal habitat installation. See you tomorrow.

Tony

20121130 Planting Garlic 6 of 6

1- Residential Habitats -- Critters and Their Homes, 2- Food Forest Gardening No Responses »

Nov 302012

Shallot stalk, “Do you like my (oak leaf) hat?”

First a video re “Planting Garlic”, then some pics of “Young Garlic Plants AND Leaf Mulch” (below the video):

Planting Garlic 6 of 6 (video):

Young Garlic Plants AND Leaf Mulch (pics):

Rows of young garlic and yellow onion sprouts. The shallots, planted in the foreground soil (next to the collard), have yet to sprout – the best for last!

Garlic, yellow onion, shallots, and collard veggie bed along the sidewalk. Sure beats a lawn! Note the light covering of oak leaves as mulch, a good erosion protection from the winter rains.

Tree collard cuttings 3 weeks after propagation. Some cuttings have been chewed down by snails or slugs, but others are going to thrive past that onslaught of Nature. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Plant enough cuttings to confuse the confounders! And, some of the collard cuttings will make it.

Shallot stalk, “Do you like my (oak leaf) hat?”

Cleaning up the sidewalk gives me plenty of rich, partially broken down leaves.

Rains are coming, so I fetched some sidewalk leaves to mulch the garlic/onion/shallots/collard veggie bed with. Cleaning up the sidewalk gives me plenty of rich, partially broken down leaves. The leaves were also used to extend the veggie bed in Tipped Wine Barrel (see blog entry next week?).

Garlic harvest from our sidewalk garden – Straw Bale Recliner Veggie Bed. Note how the garlic was rinsed to remove soil from the roots. The rack (a discarded baker’s tray) will allow the garlic to dry. Nice job, Frau Glory!

Happy mulching your veggie bed with leaves. See you tomorrow.

Tony

20121129 Planting Garlic 5 of 6

1- Residential Habitats -- Critters and Their Homes, 2- Food Forest Gardening No Responses »

Nov 292012

Straw Bale Recliner Veggie Bed planted with garlic, yellow onion, and shallots.

First a video re “Planting Garlic”, then some pics of “Garlic, Yellow Onions, and Shallots Planting Completed” (below the video):

Planting Garlic 5 of 6 (video):

Garlic, Yellow Onions, and Shallots Planting Completed (pics):

Straw Bale Recliner Veggie Bed planted with garlic, yellow onion, and shallots. The dark red dust is blood meal, an attempt to keep local cats from using the unmulched soil as a litter box.

A raccoon paw print IN THE BLOOD MEAL! The raccoon walked over the bed the first night of the planted crop. Well at least the soil does not look torn up by animals digging deeper in the soil or by cats using the veggie box as a litter box.

Happy planting garlic, onions, and shallots. See you tomorrow.

Tony

20121128 Planting Garlic 4 of 6

1- Residential Habitats -- Critters and Their Homes, 2- Food Forest Gardening No Responses »

Nov 292012

A bucket is used to break apart garlic bulbs into individual gloves.

First a video re “Planting Garlic”, then some pics of “Garlic Bulbs Dusted with Spore” (below the video):

Planting Garlic 4 of 6 (video):

“Garlic Bulbs Dusted with Spore“ (pics):

A bucket is used to break apart garlic bulbs into individual gloves that will be planted. The garlic papers will be strewn on top of the planting bed’s soil for mulch and nutrition.

Garlic cloves are moistened with water to thinly coat with mycorrhizal spore.

Happy planting garlic, onions, and shallots. See you tomorrow.

Tony

20121127 Planting Garlic 3 of 6

1- Residential Habitats -- Critters and Their Homes, 2- Food Forest Gardening No Responses »

Nov 282012

Tree collard cuttings left to thrive in water till planted SOON!

First a video re “Planting Garlic”, then some pics of Tree Collard Planting (below the video):

Planting Garlic 3 of 6 (video):

Tree Collard Planting (pics):

Full grown tree collard (left of Fuji apple tree).

The tree collard cuttings to be planted next to our sidewalk garlic bed came from this full grown tree collard. We harvest collard leaves to eat; the stalks leftover become cuttings to be propagated.

Tree collard cuttings to be propagated. Draw a line between the pruners and the leather sheath – that’s the expected soil line for the cuttings.

Tree collard cuttings left to thrive in water till planted SOON! The bucket contained rainwater and fallen leaves, a rich organic soup for the cuttings. Bacteria, fungi, and microbes in the water? Absolutely! And perhaps that’s a good thing. When I find out I’ll get back to you.

For more of Tony’s blog entries on tree collard, see:

20121106-Collard-Propagation–1-of-5-videos

20121107-Collard-Propagation–2-of-5-videos

20121108-Collard-Propagation–3-of-5-videos

20121109-Collard-Propagation–4-of-5-videos

20121110-Collard-Propagation–5-of-5-videos

Happy planting garlic, onions, and shallots AND planting tree collard. See you tomorrow.

Tony

20121126 Planting Garlic 2 of 6

1- Residential Habitats -- Critters and Their Homes, 2- Food Forest Gardening No Responses »

Nov 282012

Leaf Trench Highway, a fedge (food hedge) and soil-making trench along our garden path.

First a video re “Planting Garlic”, then some pics of Soil Making in Leaf Trench Highway (below the video):

Planting Garlic 2 of 6 (video):

Soil Making in Leaf Trench Highway (pics):

Leaf Trench Highway, a fedge (food hedge) and soil-making trench along our garden path. The veggie bed lasagna layer of compostables include (bottom to top): alfalfa straw, fresh greens (prunings and weeds), dead sticks and leaves, hay straw, hot (newer) horse manure, compost soil, mulch, and plants growing through the mulch.

View from Salamander Resort to Leaf Trench Highway.

View from Salamander Resort (the barrel pond is Salamander Sunny Swimhole) to Leaf Trench Highway. The “highway” refers to the trench’s habitat connectivity ability – the habitat food forest trench is a pathway between Salamander Resort animal habitat AND Cottage Pond animal habitat, which is under the deck in the background.

See blog entry 20121119 Patio Veggie Pots 5 of 6 for more pics of soil making in Leaf Trench Highway.

See blog entry 20121120 Patio Veggie Pots 6 of 6 for more pics of soil making in Leaf Trench Highway AND how the veggie bed not only makes soil but also provides animal habitat and habitat connectivity.

Read more about soil making in Leaf Trench Highway at blog entry Planting, finally! AND Soil Making in Leaf Trench Highway.

Happy planting garlic, onions, and shallots AND making soil. See you tomorrow.

Tony

20121125 Planting Garlic 1 of 6

1- Residential Habitats -- Critters and Their Homes, 2- Food Forest Gardening, 3- Habitat It And They Will Come -- Tony's book No Responses »

Nov 272012

First a video re “Planting Garlic”, then some pics of Skyward Pumpkin chop-and-drop (below the video):

Planting Garlic 1 of 6 (video):

Skyward Pumpkin chop-and-drop (pics):

See blog entry Skyward Pumpkins and Happy Halloween for another video of Skyward Pumpkins.

Skyward Pumpkin harvested, taken down from its altar in the crosshatch of bamboo teepee trellis poles. Note the forced out-of-round shape; almost hurts to look at! Also notice the cozy spider web in the cracked-open vine. A red-backed Thompson’s jumper is tucked away, hoping we will GO AWAY!

Millipede in Skyward Pumpkin vine. So much for hiding – this millipede was very concealed in the pumpkin vine till I split the vine open to look for critters. Judging from the mess in its room, I would guess this is an adolescent millipede 🙂 . Note the hollow structure of the vine that invited the millipede in; I have cracked the vine in two, spreading the halves open like a book.

Skyward Millipede on the move, all kazillion legs. Note the millipede’s segmented antennae and how each body segment has 2 legs on each side of the body. Watch out, millipede, you're headed for Skyward Pumpkin’s butt crack!

Skyward Millipede further on down the road. How graceful!

Pics and captions from Tony’s new book, Habitat It and They will Come :

Figure 4.194 Right Side Up. Some of this millipede’s characteristics include: doesn’t bite (but does release a cyanide-based fluid that STINKS!), mostly a scavenger of organic debris, short antennae, slow crawler, legs are tucked under the body. Most of those characteristics are in contrast with a centipede’s: centipedes are fast, long-antennaed, predatory, and pack a mean bite. Figure 4.195 Up Side Down. Same millipede, probably more annoyed at this point.

Happy planting garlic, onions, and shallots and see you tomorrow.

Tony

20121124 Garden Tour 2 (Salamander Castle’s Ant Colony)

1- Residential Habitats -- Critters and Their Homes, 2- Food Forest Gardening No Responses »

Nov 252012

April 2011. Salamander Castle moved to back garden.

First a video re “Salamander Castle’s Ant Colony”, then some pics of Crossroads Compost (below the video):

Garden Tour (Salamander Castle’s Ant Colony) (video):

Crossroads Compost, a brief history (pics):

January, 2008. Crossroads Compost was yet to be born, but the straw bale at the back of the yard, next to the fence, was the seed waiting to be planted. That bale was allowed to age there, providing habitat for soil critters and enriching the soil as it broke down.

May 2008. Straw is stored next to the back fence .

May 2008. By now, we are storing straw next to the back fence (but not touching it) at the junction of our garden paths. There is a bale left intact as a seat, habitat, and future source of old straw. Other bales are pulled apart to create a mat over weeds we wanted to eliminate. Note how low ground level is and how young the plants are: currant (foreground), fig (left, supported by hoops), and the pineapple quava (back right).

May 2010. The ground level is still fairly low; I have not started to stockpile wood chips in Crossroad Compost yet. The currant is larger and sporting green fruit. Fig and grape vine hover on Kiwi Gondola trellis.

April 2011. Salamander Castle moved to back garden. This lucky oak stump was rescued from our nearby bike path, where the massive tree came down. Work crews cut the tree away from the path and left Salamander Castle off to the side, not knowing that its destiny was to become an animal habitat. Note the beginning of the wood chip pile covering the Crossroads, soon to be buried with other chips 3 feet deep – that’s a whole lotta nutrients and moisture for the fig, grape, kiwi, currant, blueberry, pineapple guava, apricot, lemon to enjoy. Salamander Castle was moved next to the currant stand and wood chips were piled against it.

Happy dusting ants off yourself (from disturbing their nest) and see you tomorrow.

Tony

20121123 Garden Tour (Earthworms in Bog)

1- Residential Habitats -- Critters and Their Homes, 2- Food Forest Gardening, 3- Habitat It And They Will Come -- Tony's book No Responses »

Nov 242012

Earthworm Bin tucked away in the protective shade of a tree.

First a video re “Garden Tour (Earthworms in Bog)”, then some pics of earthworms from our Earthworm Bin (below the video):

Garden Tour (Earthworms in Bog) (video):

Earthworms from our Earthworm Bin (pics):

Earthworm bin harvest, rich with red wiggler worms, is added to a planting bed.

Earthworm Bin tucked away in the protective shade of a tree. Note the brick on top to prevent animals from feasting in the box. Evening primrose flower above; calendula flower below.

Pics and captions from Tony’s new book, Habitat It and They will Come :

Figure 4.143 Earthworm Bin Harvest. Worm bin harvest layer over planting mix. The worms and microbes will continue to feed on the organic matter like the eggshell and rhubarb stalk section shown. And when all those microbe and crawly critters take a break from eating, they might just breed, or die. The planting bed has been inoculated with Life — life that translates to nutritious and well-aerated soil for the kiwi vines.

Figure 4.190 With A Little Help From My Friends. Earthworm bin harvest to be placed at the crown of the tree. These red wiggler worms, a typical compost pile worm, may not stay in the tree mound and surrounding soil on a long-term basis but they will enrich and aerate the soil till they do leave.

Happy earthworm harvest and see you tomorrow.

Tony

20121122 Happy Thanksgiving Pineapple Guava

1- Residential Habitats -- Critters and Their Homes, 2- Food Forest Gardening, 3- Habitat It And They Will Come -- Tony's book No Responses »

Nov 232012

First a video re “Pineapple Guava Harvest”, then some pics of pineapple guava trees and fruit (below the video):

Pineapple Guava Harvest (video):

Pineapple Guava Trees and Fruit (pics):

: Emergency transplant for pineapple guava tree. This tree was transplanted in a rough time of year – the hot, dry California summer. Limbs were severely pruned back to help the rootball establish itself. Note the new buds appearing six months after transplant.

Close-up of new buds on pineapple guava transplant. And growth continued! The large preserved rootball came back to show us what it could do.

Pineapple guava blossom. These "feijoa" evergreen shrubs or small trees are native to Brazil and nearby areas. Blossoms must be pollinated from another plant/shrub.

Picking a little bit of Paradise. The flower petals of the feijoa make a sweet treat, perfect to garnish a plate with. The petals are sweet morsels of joy AND removing them does not prevent the flower from being pollinated. Sometimes you can have your cake AND eat it, too!

Harvest time for these soft, juicy pineapple guava. Most people cut the fruit in half and scoop out the soft flesh. I eat the whole fruit – who’s got time to get a spoon?!

Pic and caption from Tony’s new book, Habitat It and They will Come :

Figure 2.5B Cricket on Pineapple Guava (feijoa). What will it be, Cricket, wait till September for the sweet fruit or enjoy the pineapple guava’s moist sugary petals now? Native to mountainous equatorial South America, pineapple guava is deliciously welcomed in our garden.

Happy Thanksgiving harvest and see you tomorrow.

Tony

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