Frank Lloyd Wright Inspired Garden Design for Wyoming Valley School

I know vegetable gardens can be taken to a new level of design.  In a deep mulch garden no tilling is needed for weed control, so rows are no longer needed.

I like to to think outside the row and move into new and creative vegetable garden designs.

Here is a design inspired by a couple of Frank Lloyd Wright's stained glass pieces. 

This design will be installed at the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Wymoing Valley School near Spring Green.  There will be two class/workshops for installation and planting.

In this garden, flower color, leaf color and leaf texture are used to create the color blocks.

Think outside the row!!!

Roger

Pictures of gardens

Hi All,

I will be getting gardening pictures here soon.  I am working on it.  In the mean time, there are a number of pictures at www.myspace.com/ourfarmwi.

Check out seed catalogs now.

Roger

Washburn Gardening Expo March 19, LaCrosse, WI--tomato blight

Hi All,

I will open this presentation with about 10 minutes on "Tomato Blight" an explanation of why the conventional recommendations don't really break the blight lifecycle.  Then I will move into discussing how to build a Lasagna Garden/deep mulch garden.  I will end with explaining how a deep mulch/Lasagan Garden is a great way to prevent tomato blight.

See you all in a few weeks.

Roger

Up and coming--Starting to GROW

My seeds are starting to take root.  I have been working to become an educator in sustainable gardening for a few years.  If you have heard me talk, you know I am passionate and have a philosophy of "LESS WORK--MORE PRODUCE!!!''  and I know now to do it.   The pictures are real.

If you have heard me talk, you know I throw a lot of info at you in as much time as I have and I talk fast to get as much in as possible. 

Good News, in the next few months the following will be added to this site or a new website that you will be directed to from here.

Coming:
more speaking engagements
audio recordings of my presentations, downloadable
slide shows to go with the audio recording, downloadable
Workshops where we will be doing installations and plantings

Then:
20 to 30 page booklets to go with each presentations.

If all that goes well--in about a year---A BOOK!!!

Happy day to all of you,

Roger

Winter Gardening in an unheated greenhouse

A spinach and a few other crops can be grown in an unheated greenhouse, in Wisconsin and into Canada, through the winter.

The spinach will freeze at night.  During the day, when the greenhouse warms up, you can pick the fresh spinach.  Just don't try to pick it when the plant is frozen.

From more on this see Eliot Coleman's "Four Season Harvest" book at 

http://www.fourseasonfarm.com/

Good luck,

Roger

Landscape fabric instead of cardboard

Roger,

  

If you couldn't get enough large sheets of cardboard for the bottom layer, couldn't you also use a permeable landscape cloth material?

What do you think?

Thanks, Lee

Answer:

Lee,

  

Getting cardboard is not hard.  The store where you would buy the landscape fabric, ask them for cardboard, instead.

Lasagna gardening is a sustainable long term plan.  You only need the cardboard or newspaper layer the first year.  Then your microbes, insects and plants are back to some access to the soil.  The insects are constantly moving between the soil and mulch of a Lasagna Garden.  All Earthworms migrate deep to survive winter freezing.  I imaging insects cannot get through the holes in the landscape fabric.

Grocery stores, applaince stores, mattress stores and any store has cardboard boxes they send out for recycling.  You can usually get them for the asking. 

To install a non-biodegradable membrane below a Lasagna Garden, you are going against the philosophy, principles and long term plan of the system.  I don't think in the long run you will have as good as success as with cardboard or newspaper.

Just my opinion.  Good luck,

Roger

Vining crops, keeping mulch in place and tomato blight/varieties

Hello Roger,

I very much appreciated your tomato blight seminar last Sat. at the Garden Expo. I am now well on my way to planning for this Summer and hope to eliminate or nearly eliminate the blight we’ve had for the past two years.

I’ve checked out your blog and printed all the handouts from your seminars – thanks – lots of great information. I am going to try the mulch technique, however our garden is rather large (we love vine fruits and vegetables) and it gets very windy in April around here. I may need to start with mulching only a few areas of the garden (where the tomatoes will go this year and where they were last year). Any suggestion on keeping the mulch in place?

Also, could you recommend a variety? I’ve gone into all three of the seed sources you recommended and although there is one disease resistant variety listed, it is not a plum and I really wonder about the taste

Sandy

Answer:

Sandy,

For vining crops, you just need about a 4 ft wide row to plant the seeds/plants in and then let the vines go out over unmulched area--and they will do just fine.  I have had squash vines planted like that go 35 to 40 feet long.  I did not have any of that area mulched, except where the seed was planted.

Highest priority is to mulch where the tomatoes will go this year!!  Second, where the tomatoes were last year--great plan.  If you can get at least 2 to 4 inches of mulch on the rest of the garden, you should be in much better shape for this growing season and start planning for fall mulch harvesting.

To keep mulch in place.  Once hay or straw is wet--it stays in place pretty good.  If you put down cardboard, make sure to have all the edges covered a good depth.  If the wind catches cardboard--look out. 

As soon as you install the mulch--WET IT!!  an hour a day for 3 to 7 days, until it is all wet.

If you have leaves, a bit trickier.  There is light weight bird/deer netting, black fine plastic netting.  You can place that over leaves to help hold them in place, while they are getting wetted.  Just weight it down with some wood, rocks or something.

You can top dress leaves with some old hay, straw or wood mulch to also help hold them in place.

I agree--hybrid disease resistant varieties usually don't have the richest flavor.  I plant heirloom tomatoes and keep a clean mulched garden and clean seed starting--and have good success.

May the Blight--not be with you!!

Roger