“Designing an Edible Landscape”

Joanne Poyourow

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www.Change-Making.com

March 2019

part 2

Water wisdom

What is “normal” ?

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Designing an ecosystem

Water in L.A. - overview

Andy Lipkis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=UU4plgsnB-a93AP2KDp4rprQ&v=wJqUEv_DwMA

Water Sources

Rainwater harvesting

1. Storage-and-retrieval
2. Infiltrate

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Issues:

• when it falls vs. when it is used
• scale / volume needed
• fall / pressure

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Need rain gutters

Rainwater storage

barrels (55 gallons)

tanks (1,200 gallons)

cistern (100,000 gallons)

Infiltration

Slow it, Sink it, Spread it

Grading

to encourage infiltration on a slope

Grading

on flat ground

Water uses

Scale:

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cistern (100,000 gallons)

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Average Calif. household �water use = �85 gallons/day/person

(83x4x365= 124,000)

Water uses

• change what we call “normal”
• all the tools of “conservation”
• consider what are appropriate uses
• how to allocate fairly (Permaculture Fair Shares)

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Getting wise about our water use

1. Watering techniques
2. Healthy, ALIVE garden soil (critters)
3. Reduce evaporation (mulch)
4. Matching plant materials (drought-tolerant; hydrozones)
5. Manufactured microclimates (shade)
6. Irrigation methods

1. Watering techniques

• one-finger test
• long and slow and deep
• frequency
• appropriate time of day

Water your soil, �not your plants

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Getting wise about our water use

• Watering techniques
• Healthy, ALIVE garden soil (critters)
• Reduce evaporation (mulch)
• Matching plant materials (drought-tolerant; hydrozones)
• Manufactured microclimates (shade)
• Irrigation methods

4. Matching

• Xeriscape
• Hydrozones
• clustering together �plants with similar water requirements
• Choosing drought-tolerant varieties

Hydrozones: using the Permaculture zones concept

Xeriscape?

What is missing �in this picture?

Photo by RootSimple

5. Manufactured Microclimes

Microclimate = a local atmospheric zone where the climate is different from the surrounding area. May be as small as a few square feet, or as large as many square miles. --Wikipedia

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• Create spot shade as needed
• (trellis, cardboard, lawn furniture, etc.)
• Can also create reflected light zones

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Lettuces growing in the shade of cucumber trellis

6. Irrigation methods

High Tech*

• sprinklers
• drip irrigation
• rain sensor controllers

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hand watering = best fit for the changing needs of assorted vegetables

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Low Tech*

• hand watering
• flood irrigation
• bottle/container drip
• ollas

* High tech often = high cost, high maintenance

Low tech often = low cost, low maintenance

Ollas

Traditional Olla - slow watering with an unglazed clay pot (think: “low tech drip irrigation”

Homemade Ollas

Greywater

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EEGQaRDmqs

Greywater

Changing our attitudes about “Waste” water

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• Treating water as valuable
• Understanding what it takes to be safe

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• The Challenge: How many times can you use water before it leaves the property?

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Greywater

Staying safe simply takes basic knowledge.

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potable water

graywater

blackwater

Your Water Plan

• grading
• pipelines / hoses
• hydrozones
• matching plant materials
• training for Tenders

• irrigation habits (frequency, application)
• matching (replacement plants)
• mulch maintenance
• rainwater harvesting equipment maintenance

Designing an ecosystem

Seasons

Designing perpetual harvests

Image by wikipedia

Designing perpetual harvests

For garden design, use Dave Wilson Nursery’s chart

SAMPLE

Designing perpetual harvests

So. Calif. seasons:

WARM

HOT

COOL

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Designing perpetual harvests

Crop Rotation

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Designing perpetual harvests

Succession planting

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Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4 ...

(Break)

Homework

“Safe Seed Scurry”

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• from the catalogs, select varieties of the plants you like to eat
• observe what catalog says about aesthetics, culinary aspects, culture requirements, seasonality
• make a fantasy plant list

Designing an ecosystem

Plants : The Canopy Layer

Designing the Canopy Layer

Designing the Canopy Layer

Plant Selection

• climate & chill hours
• pollinizers
• size & rootstocks
• what grows in So Calif

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Tree Care

• issues at planting time
• pruning & maintenance

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Typical annual life cycle of a fruit tree

growth

buds

fruit

(harvest)

dormancy / resting

growth

(pruning)

flowers

pollination

Chill Hours

why we must select “LOW CHILL” varieties <200 hours

and with global warming it will only get worse

Hours below 40°

Using 2015 statistics as an example

Chill Hours

why we must select “LOW CHILL” varieties <200 hours

Hours below 40°

Size: Why you should not plan on “prune to fit”

why doesn’t my tree give me any fruit?

Designing a tree’s ecosystem

NO LAWNS!

Drip line a.k.a. Rain shadow

Designing a tree’s ecosystem

Growing nitrogen

mulch inside current dripline

water & fertilizer

* nitrogen-producing cover crops

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Planting depth & Mulch

expose the root flare

NO VOLCANOES!

approx 6” mulch-free

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Fruit Trees for Southern California

Stone fruit (LC) (D)

• peaches, plums, apricots, nectarines, apriots, pluots, plumcots

Citrus (D)

• lemons, limes, oranges, tangerines, grapefruits, tangelos, kumquats

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• apple, pear (LC) (D)
• avocado
• fig (DT)
• pomegranate (DT)
• olive
• date
• mulberry
• persimmon (LC)
• Calif Rare Fruit Society

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Nuts

• only in mountain areas: almonds, pistachios, hazelnuts, pecans

D = available on dwarfing rootstock

DT = moderately tolerant of lower-water conditions

LC = you can only use LOW CHILL varieties of these trees

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Shrubs for Southern California

• pineapple guava (Feijoa sellowiana)
• strawberry guava (Psidium cattleianum)
• blueberry
• currants*
• blackberries
• nopales

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Ultra-Dwarf forms of

• citrus
• pomegranate
• fig
• apple

could be considered “shrub layer”

*need low chill

Vines for Southern California

Annual vines

Perennial vines

• christmas lima
• vining beans
• vining squash, gourd
• cucumbers
• armenian cucumbers (melon)

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Tromboncino squash

• grapes
• chayote
• kiwi
• passionfruit
• malabar spinach

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• hops
• jicama

Designing with herbs

Herbs as part of “shrub layer”

• rosemary
• Mexican oregano (Lippia graveolens)
• Mexican mint marigold (Tagetes lemonii)
• African blue basil

Herbs can be

• culinary
• medicinal
• beverage teas
• beauty, cosmetics
• fiber, dye
• oils
• beneficial insect-attractant
• companion plants

Designing an ecosystem

Designing the Understory Layer

Plant Selection

• seasonality - warm, cool, hot
• aesthetics, flavor
• size, spacing
• drought tolerant varieties

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Remember Legumes!

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Vegetable plants

Matchmaking:

• climate
• seasons
• aesthetics
• care

VegGarden365 app

• Designed for Southern California
• What to plant each month of the year
• Planting info for common vegetable plants

www.VegGarden365.com

Free!

Beneficial insect attractant plants

Homes and year-round food for the good bugs

• Flowers
• Herbs
• Allowing some of your vegetables to flower

Hexagonal spacing

Maximum yield per square foot

-- based upon John Jeavons

Why Crop Rotation?

• soil fertility
• pests & diseases

monocropping

polycropping

Crop Rotation basics

-- based upon John Jeavons

tomatoes = �Heavy Feeder of phosphorus

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squash family = Heavy Feeders of Nitrogen

Designing an ecosystem

Time for �your gardens!

Care for a Critter

• Food
• Water
• Air
• Shelter & Protection
• A Place to Raise Young

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-- paraphrasing National Wildlife Federation, Backyard Wildlife Habitat program

Think about the worms and you’ve got it!

Books &

publications

www.Change-Making.com

This slideshow is available at

https://www.change-making.com/education/art-of-the-edible-landscape/

• Link is on your handout
• Lots more great stuff on that page!