Category Archives: garden visits

exploring other gardens

boulevard garden, garden visits, months 10-12: fall, projects

Extreme Mulching

11/21/2012 svseekins 10 Comments

Parks Department vacuuming leaves — photo by SVSeekins

Last year the Parks department hauled away the big leaf pile from in front of my house. They vacuumed all the leaves off Richard’s boulevard, too.

I was happy about it, but Richard had wanted to keep his leaves.

Instead of grass, Richard has planted his boulevard with drought-tolerant decoratives.

leaf pile along Richmond Rd — photo by SVSeekins

A thick layer of mulch protects against drought in summer, as well as insulating from the cold in winter. Leaves make great mulch, so Richard had intentionally raked his leaves onto the boulevard garden.

I suppose that because most of the perennials had died back for the season, and because Richard had raked the leaves so thickly onto the boulevard, the garden bed was obscured. The vacuum guys must ‘ve thought it was just another curbside pick up.

This year Richard was in his yard when the Parks truck came by. They were thrilled to hear he was making good use of his leaves. Then they asked, “Would you like some more?”

leaf mulch - from above — photo by Judy Atkinson

Richard was in heaven! For mulch, leaves are great, but chopped up leaves are superb.

Better still is a big truck delivering them – – free!

It was a win-win.

The vacuum guys saved themselves a trip across town to unload.
Richard got free mulch – – 2 big truckloads of it!

A couple of years ago, Richard had a dirt-mart deliver a couple of truckloads of mulch (about the same amount). It cost $800.

I’m told the Parks Department accepts requests for leaves, and are happy to schedule a drop off when they’re vacuuming in the neighbourhood.

A shared task makes lighter work — photo by Judy Atkinson

Of course, there’s still the chore of moving it all from the driveway & into the beds. That’s a whole lot of wheel barrel trips.

Indeed, a big task is less daunting when shared with friends. It was fun to pitch in. It was also excellent exercise. 🙂

As long as I’ve known Richard as a gardener, he’s never been shy about mulching the beds. It always looks a little thick to me.

mulching the boulevard — photo by Judy Atkinson

Over a couple months, the heavy rains will compact all that mulch down. The spring bulbs will be shooting through it. I’m really looking forward to seeing that.

But for now, I’m thinking of calling Parks for myself.

Is that crazy?

-30-
© copyright 2012 SVSeekins

Subscribe to Blog via Email

boulevard garden, garden visits, projects

Nature Improves Urban Life

11/07/2012 svseekins 5 Comments

In the downtown core of BC’s capital city, I’m glad there are some spots where pedestrians enjoy some separation from the vehicle traffic as they all go about their busy schedules.

the Atrium rain garden - separating pedestrians from vehicle traffic — photo by SVSeekins

But in this spot, on the northeast corner of Yates & Blanshard streets, it’s more than just a pretty boulevard. Here nature is working hard as a public utility: a rain garden.

A rain garden is basically a ditch.

Most cities have been done with ditches for ages, favouring underground storm drain systems to pipe rainwater away quickly. Although that sounds pretty civilized, it means:

water drains so fast that there’s no time for it to soak in and nourish boulevard trees & landscaping, much less refill the natural water table
street pollution washes into the storm system and then dumps directly into streams or the ocean
in heavy rains, the storm drain system can’t handle the rush of runoff, so streets flood anyway

the Atrium rain gardens - parking & street drains into ditch — photo by SVSeekins

The rain garden acts as a bit of a pond containing the flow for a small rain event (about 2.5 cm rainfall). That’s the amount that washes the oils & chemicals off the street.

The trees, plants, and soils in the ditch are not only nourished, but they also break down the pollutants before the water infiltrates more deeply into the earth beneath.

It sounds kinda crazy that plants can break down pollution, doesn’t it? Science swears it’s true.

the Atrium rain gardens - ditch grate — photo by SVSeekins

In a heavier rainstorm, the runoff gathers in the rain garden, and the excess water flows more slowly away in that handy storm drain system.

It sounds like a win-win situation to me.

The rain irrigates the garden naturally.

Pollutants are treated by an effective process.

There’s less flooding now & the storm drain system won’t need expensive pipe enlargements to handle the increased rains we’re getting over the past few years.

the Atrium rain gardens - nature assisting urban life — photo by SVSeekins

I especially appreciate that the gardens provide some natural beauty to an otherwise glass, steel & concrete desert.

Now the curiosity rises in my mind: which trees & plants thrive in one of these ditches? They’d need to be happy with both very wet feet in winter and very dry in summer…. ideas?

-30-
© copyright 2012 SVSeekins

P.S. Check here for more on rain gardens:

Subscribe to Blog via Email

attracting birds, boulevard garden, drought tolerant, evergreens, garden visits, months 10-12: fall, natives, perrennials, projects, urban deer

Fall Fun with Friends

10/25/2012 svseekins Leave a comment

It rained over the past week. What a transformation. It’s truly fall now.

entrance to Jeneece Place — photo by SVSeekins

Woo hoo! Wishes granted.

Because I’d already committed to helping out in the garden at Jenecce Place, I was especially grateful for the wet. The West Coast might be damp & chilly in the fall, but weeds are a whole lot easier to dig if the ground isn’t concrete dry.

the spot for the future kitchen garden — photo by SVSeekins

There were 2 challenges presented to the volunteers from the View Royal Garden Club on Sunday afternoon.

The first was to create space for a veggie garden near the kitchen area of the house. The chosen site was previously planted with native kinnickinnick for ground-cover & a blue fescue grass for architectural interest.

the weedy slope along the sidewalk at Jeneece Place — photo by SVSEekins

The second challenge was the slope running along the entrance sidewalk. There were Yarrow, Oregon Grape, and the occasional grouping of blue fescue tufts planted close to the walkway, but nothing further up the slope. The staff’s concern was the upcoming rainy season would bring erosion problems.

What complimentary challenges! One site needed plantings removed – – the other needed plantings added. Kismet!

the crew gets busy weeding & digging transplant holes — photo by SVSeekins

We set about weeding & preparing planting holes. The effort kept us warm.

When gardening in a team a fair amount of visiting can be accomplished while still continuing the task at hand. I like that 🙂

I also found it interesting to see the different tools each seasoned gardener chose for her/his tasks. Perhaps I’ll try some new tricks next time I’m in my own garden.

Dark clouds gathered, but happily the rain stayed away. We progressed to moving plants from one bed directly into the other.

I’m always amazed at how proportions & space gets mixed up in my head. I figured the plants to be moved wouldn’t come close to filling up the space available on the slope. I was mistaken. Near the end of the afternoon we squeezed in extra holes between new transplants just to finish clearing out the kitchen garden bed.

muffin / tea break before heading home — photo by SVSeekins

With a sense of satisfaction we sat down to muffins & tea knowing that the job was done. it’s so nice when a project starts & finishes in one gathering.

A bit more visiting was a lovely wrap to the afternoon before I headed home to a warm shower.