Multitasking!

This month’s permaculture principle is the idea that each element performs multiple functions.  What is an element? Anything that occupies space in a permaculture design is an element.  Trees, rocks, squirrels, ponds, trellises, flowers, each and every one is an element whether it is a living being or an object. In a healthy ecosystem, every element performs multiple functions.  Permaculture is all about recognizing how nature forms connections and relationships between elements so that we can either benefit from them as they occur naturally, or attempt to emulate them in our own way.  When an element in your yard has multiple functions, it has multiple connections. Energy is caught and supports one or more systems.  Relationships are built and maintained.

A great example of a multitasking element in nature would be an oak tree.  Oak trees are a keystone species which means that they are pros at multitasking.  They provide homes for birds, mammals and hundreds of different insect species.  They catch and store water in their leaves and root systems, thus decreasing erosion and keeping the area around them cooler.  They provide food to animals, birds, insects and even soil microbes.  They help clean the air and are extremely effective at carbon sequestration.  That is a lot of different functions and relationships!

So what does multitasking have to do with you and your yard?  As in nature, a well thought out yard or garden is filled with elements that multitask, that is serve multiple functions.  In order to do a good job of choosing multitasking elements, you must first decide what you want from your yard and then choose elements that perform multiple functions in order to achieve what you want.  Let’s imagine that you know you want:

1. Shade over the back deck. - You could install a pergola or plant a tree.

2. To be able to grow some sort of food. - Your tree could be a fruit tree, or you could train a fruit vine up your trellis.

3. Something beautiful to look at from the kitchen window when you enjoy your morning coffee. - Many fruit trees bloom beautifully in spring and have bright foliage in fall

4. Something that will grow well in heavy clay. - Serviceberry trees and kiwi vines both grow well in clay.

As you can see, you can take care of everything on your list with the right tree or with a pergola and vine combination.  By thinking through everything that you want from your yard, it is much easier to come up with a plan where each element is a multitasker and helps to give your yard the same sort of cohesion that is found in the natural world simply because of the relationships between all of the elements.  

Make a list of the things that you would like to get from your yard or be able to do in your yard and see if you can figure out some elements that will fulfill more than one of your wants.  Let us know what you come up with or if you need help with ideas.  Being more intentional about how your yard is organized is a fun and rewarding puzzle to work on.  

– Mary Beth

BOOK REVIEW:
Wilding: The Return of Nature to a British Farm - by Isabella Tree

In our ongoing series of “books that make you rethink” There is good potential for anyone reading this amazing book to have a paradigm shift for the better.  As you read of their experiences and the challenges they faced and their extraordinary results, a shift in perception offers a way out for a host of environmental predicaments.

This book is part-memoir, part-manifesto of a wilding project on the Knepp Estate, in West Sussex, England, which began twenty-plus years ago.  The notion of rewilding might be familiar to you, for me I only had a sketchy understanding of how it was to be achieved or its significance.  Author Isabella Tree (Some names are just on target) and her husband Charlie Burrell began the project when their long-established farm business fell into terminal decline.  It’s described by her as “...largely a leap of faith.  It involves surrendering all preconceptions, and simply sitting back and observing what happens.” This is the account of what they did with their land, which seems remarkably passive. It was, however, backed by much research, a few grant applications and so much optimism required by them and their team to ride a sea of negativity from official organizations and government departments, along with some neighbors who saw it as the couple unforgivably abandoning the work of the generations of farmers who preceded them.

The book, although published in 2018, has become a bit of a slow growth phenomenon.  Like the fields left to do what they will, it has taken time for the ideas within this book to seed to the point where it is now considered one of the most important nature books of our times.

Please consider adding it to your reading list.

• Shannon

December’s To-Do List

Backlit golden leaves that continue to hang on despite high winds, abundant twittering birds that warn of cold days ahead, even a few raspberries that are still producing, are in good company with buttercups, roses, clematis, and foxgloves that are still blooming, and with fluctuating temperatures, ranging from twenty degrees to seventy four degrees …we all feel the pull of winter. 

• Click here for Central NC Planting Calendar for Annual Vegetables, Fruits, and Herbs.

• Use wood ashes on your bulb beds, and lightly on your lawns if soil pH is below 6.0.  Contact your local Agricultural Extension Agent to find out how to get free soil testing April 1- November 30 every year.

• After Christmas, plant live Christmas trees in the landscape. Keep these trees indoors no more than 14 days.

• Plant trees (including fruit trees), shrubs and vines (including grape and kiwi).  Now is the very best time for planting woody perennials as long as there is not a hard freeze predicted during the first two weeks after installation.  Bushes and trees that thrive in Piedmont NC can survive a hard freeze, but it’s better to avoid the extra shock to their systems too soon after transplanting.  If a hard freeze does come shortly after transplanting, covering your newly planted trees/shrubs with sheets or blankets for the hours below 28 degrees will help them get through it.

• If you have fruit trees, bushes, shrubs, or roses, now’s the time to cut off dead branches, but wait until mid January to mid March to trim for shape or prune for health.

• Gather greens and berries like holly for winter decorations.

• Remove “weed” or undesirable trees from your landscape.  If you are fighting serious invasive trees like Tree of Heaven, Mimosa,  Paulownia, Chinaberry, Chinese Tallow Tree, or Bradford Pear, do some research or check in with your agricultural extension agent before you start cutting.  Some trees send up baby trees from their root systems when cut down and may need special treatment.  If you know that you have any of these trees in your yard, it is better to work on removing them sooner rather than later when they’ve had a chance to really start spreading.  

• Take leaf cuttings of your favorite houseplants like African violets and begonia.

• Take hardwood cuttings of landscape plants like forsythia, flowering quince, holly, and hydrangea and force the flowers in the warmth of your home to remind you of the promise of spring, or start new bushes to plant out in spring.

• Cover your strawberry plants when temps go below 25°F with pine needles or wheat/barley straw.  If you would like Chandler strawberry plants, we have bare root plants for $1.00 each.  Contact Mary Beth at marybeth@birchmeadowgc.com to order yours.  

• Take inventory of all your gardening tools. Replace or fix broken items, clean tools, and sharpen blades.

•  Continue to fill your compost bin with unwanted fallen leaves.  Leave your leaves where they land whenever you possibly can to help support the soil, soil life and lightning bugs.  

• Clean the gutters.

• Feed the birds.

• Give flower beds a nice cover of shredded leaf mulch.

• Plan your spring garden and get a head start by ordering seeds before they run out.

• Remove snow (if we get any) from tree branches, shrubs, and bushes; the added weight can bend and contort plants. (But do keep the snow on the ground as it acts as an insulator.)

• Turn off sprinklers and put away your hoses before the first frost.  

Dear Deer

At our own property we see deer on a nearly daily basis. They rather enjoy utilizing our tree perimeter to pass through the neighborhood while also getting a bit of snack. While sometimes they stop for a lunch, they often hang out and stay the whole day, enjoying the safety of our native species and mid-level cover bushes. And although Cassiopia (our dog) does a lot of complaining about their presence, for the most part they live in harmony with our environment.

However, that may not be the case for you. If you are interested in what steps to take to work more in harmony with deer, check out the Humane Gardener website and have a look at their article titled ‘Deer Eat This Garden And It Flourishes!’ Below is an excerpt from the article. Enjoy!

Deer Eat This Garden (and It Flourishes)

“...Neighbors on every side have expansive lawns bordered by tree lines—excellent hangout spots for deer. But we have what they really want: an extensive food supply and cozy hiding spots. Some deer make their headquarters in our sanctuary, where fawns hide safely among the ferns and bucks and does can sleep under the shrubs.

A wildlife garden should attract and nurture these mammals, but keeping it sustainable requires trading conventional landscaping practices for more holistic ones. Evenly spaced plants surrounded by mulch doesn’t build resilience, but growing plants from seed, encouraging volunteers from the seedbank, and dense and diverse plantings do.” – Nancy Lawson

• Shannon

Plant focus:

 - Pinus Virginiana - A Keystone plant!

Pinus virginiana, commonly known as Virginia Pine,  is another of our keystone species.  Its seeds provide food for many small mammals and birds, especially the northern bobwhite quail.  It is an important nesting tree for many birds, including  woodpeckers who are able to build nesting cavities in its soft wood.  Young, dense stands of Virginia pine offer excellent cover for small mammals and various bird species. Virginia pine prefers to grow in poor soils and dry loam or clay. They can grow on sandy soil, but this usually causes the tree to be smaller. 

Because it can grow in poor and dry soils, it is often a pioneer species in disturbed areas, helping to reestablish vegetation in previously barren habitats.  Even though it may not be the most dominant tree species in an area, its absence would significantly impact the ecosystem balance.  Its presence helps our ecosystem to recover from all manner of disturbance from clear cutting to wildfires.

Virginia pine can also be an important species for humans.  It has been used medicinally for diarrhea, stiffness of the body, colds, fevers, hemorrhoids, tuberculosis, and constipation, among other ailments.

If you live in a wooded area, check to see if you can identify this important species the next time you are out in your yard or walking around your neighborhood.  It can be identified by short twisted needles that grow in pairs and flexible branches that bend easily when pressure is applied.  If it has cones, they will be small and rounded with a spike on the end of each scale. Compared to other pines, they are relatively short, reaching only 20 to 40 feet at maturity as opposed to the 60 to 90 feet of a Loblolly pine.  The bark on a mature Virginia pine is red and brown and rough with relatively small bark scales. 

• Mary Beth

December

by Mary Elizabeth [McGrath] Blake

Chill the night wind moans and sighs,

On the sward the stubble dies;

Slow across the meadows rank

Float the cloud-rifts grim and dank;

On the hill-side, bare and brown,

Twilight shadows gather down,—

'Tis December.

Happy Gardening!