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<\/a>and vegetables and fruit. \u00a0Learning soil, chemicals. \u00a0Time with hands in the soil, with seeds and transplants and irrigation. \u00a0It takes failure. \u00a0Those tomatoes with the yellow leaves. \u00a0The potato leaves shredded by the Colorado beetle. \u00a0Over mulching that garlic. (which I did this year.) \u00a0It’s been a long time now since I started down this ancientrail. \u00a0Slow at first. \u00a0That garden at the Peaceable Kingdom. \u00a0Heating with wood there, too.<\/p>\nSmall efforts on 41st Avenue in Minneapolis and Sargent Avenue in St. Paul. \u00a0Some more on Edgcumbe Road. \u00a0Mostly flowers. \u00a0Then this property. \u00a0We hired a landscape architect who laid in the first beds, added some elevation changes, planted the first plants, designed the early iteration of irrigation and rolled out the new lawn. \u00a0After that I learned about perennials, trying to get a seasonal symphony, color throughout the growing part of the year.<\/p>\n
There was that two year correspondence course from the University of Guelph in London, Ontario. \u00a0It was good, laying down the conceptual basis for much of the work, though I feel I’ve under utilized what I learned in it. \u00a0Anyhow I have a A.A. degree in horticulture as a \u00a0 result.<\/p>\n
Kate started planting vegetables; I focused on flowers. \u00a0Somewhere in there I cut down the locust, as I said a while back. \u00a0Bought a big roto-tiller and tried the traditional surface of the earth garden. \u00a0Not good. \u00a0Got the raised beds. \u00a0They helped a lot by keeping grass and other things out of the soil.<\/p>\n
That permaculture business made sense to me. \u00a0Design your gardens, your whole home around the way nature lays out the land in your area. \u00a0Become one with the land and use it to your advantage while giving back to it. \u00a0We’ve done some of that but I think it would have been better years ago, when we were just starting, still young enough to have the personal strength to work it. \u00a0It’s very complex and required more learning than I felt like giving it.<\/p>\n
Now I’m focused on the bio-dynamic agriculture and horticulture of International Ag Labs. I would characterize my approach as pragmatic and eclectic, trying to integrate material from the traditional world, like the Guelph course, the more theoretical models like permaculture, organic and ag labs into usable information for our property. \u00a0There is just one permanent goal: \u00a0improve the land while providing ourselves with nutrient rich food.<\/p>\n
The land and the plants will teach if you see what you’re looking at. \u00a0I’m still learning the language of our land.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Beltane \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Solstice Moon Becoming a horticulturist takes time. \u00a0Time learning plants, learning pests, learning … Continue reading It’s Growing On Me<\/span>