Western Sword Fern

I just bought nine Polystichum munitum, commonly known as the Western Sword Fern.  This fern is a typical understory element in a redwood forest or woodland and is native to California.  They will be planted below the plum tree to the North of South House.  The leaves are evergreen, leathery and finely serrated.  I love the look of the mature plants spores on the underside of the leaves, which you can see in the image below.  The Western Sword Fern looks similar to the Southern Sword Fern, the Nephrolepis cordifolia, as both are in the Polypodiaceae family.  However, the Western Sword Fern can be distinguished by these full circle spores.


Image originally uploaded by June Beetle

Yellow Flag Iris

One member of our house gifted a water dwelling plant from Santa Cruz's Antonelli Pond recently.  He says "thank you for setting up the Yellow Flag Iris in the water feature: I'm sure the fish love it, especially little White-nose who is my favorite."

Don't be fooled by its humble appearance, the Yellow Flag Iris is actually illegal in several states due to its invasive nature.  Since there is little risk of the plant "spreading downstream" in our little fish pond I see no reason why we shouldn't keep it, especially if it does well since its so hard to grow plants in that pond.  Besides the fish really do need protection from the wildlife and Eleanor the cat.

Images taken from http://www.chicagobotanic.org/research/conservation/invasive/iris_pseudacorus.php

Midterm Votes of Confidence

Thank you everyone who responded. Thank you for the compliments and I'll try to address all of your concerns. I really appreciate feedback, including constructive criticism! This is your garden, after all.  

# votes	rating
11	Outstanding
15	Exceeds Expectations
2	Acceptable
0	Poor
0	Dreadful

Comments:

the garden is beautiful

great gardens

bok choy!

teaching us how to pick things in the garden and recognize delicious herbs

can we get a pomegranate tree?

Labels! Announcements at Council about what to harvest and how to do it.

More Labels!

great great job in the front yard. looks fantastic.

still having trouble navigating around the garden. How can I find out more about what's growing where?

Yummy freshly picked gardens foodstuffs inside. Labeling stuff in the garden.

Keep reminding us what we have in the garden ot pick ourselves.

gardened, death triangle looks good

more garden parties Considered aesthetics and tastiness simultaneously. Fewer tomatoes... the tomatoes we get from the garden are mostly not that tasty and mostly go to waste. More biodiversity at hip! Garden looks lovely! She's also helped a great deal to make the front of SoHo look better. Let's install some point-leaf plants around SoHo! :)

Image of Asarum Caudatum in the Triangle of Death

Fall Harvest

Copper Edging for Snail and Slug Management

As part of our pest managment we've installed copper edging around the perimeter of all the raised beds.  When slugs and snails touch the copper the slime on their bellies interact to create an electric current, which shocks them.  Its worth noting that you have to be sure to get rid of all the slugs and snails inside the bed for this to work.  This (hopefully) keeps them out of our veggies so we can coexist in peace.  So far I've been happy with the results.  We used a product sold at Berkeley Horticulture that is essentially a copper tape.  This was relatively expensive and so when it comes time to reinstall the copper it might be cheaper to find the copper strips elsewhere and just staple them into the edges of the raised beds.

Plastic Recycling

Whenever we purchase plants from nurseries there is also an exchange of plastic.  Yes, credit cards, but what I really mean is all the little plastic pots that the plants come in.  Its useful to have some on hand for starting seeds and whatnot but there is an inevitable buildup.  The other day at Berkeley Horticulture the lady ringing me up at the cash register mentioned that they will take these to reuse them and if they don't reuse them they will recycle them for you!  Apparently the drop off is outside the gate so you can even do it when they are closed.  Awesome. 

First Coldframe is Finally Finished!

Started over a year ago, the first cold frame is finally finished and set up with irrigation on the roof.  It will soon be accompanied by a second.  Thanks Paul for giving us the momentum to get this done!  It is complete with flats of seed starts for our summer garden.

Compare the finished product with the SketchUp rendering from the design process.

New Plant Name Tags!

Keep an eye open for our new plant name tags.  The tags will gradually be disseminated throughout the garden over the rest of the semester.  Hopefully these guys will help you identify tasty herbs and vegetables, as well as specimen plants.

Mushroom Cultivation: A second attempt

Sean and I used logs pruned from the large ornamental plum tree and plug spawn from Fungi Perfecti to start another batch of Reishi and Pearl Oyster Mushrooms.  Thanks Jack and M.T.S. for the photos.

Chard... and other winter greens

Chard, Kale, and Bok Choi are still available for picking in the raised garden beds.  Photo by M.T.S.

Garden Party March 13th!

Garden party Saturday, March 13th from 9am-3pm. It's a fun way to get to know the garden and complete your HI hours! Please confirm your attendance.

Mushroom Cultivation with Plug Spawn Part Two

Fruit Tree Pruning

January is a good time to prune fruit trees in the garden. There are a lot of resources that explain how to prune fruit trees. The Sunset Western Garden Book describes basic pruning techniques and Berkeley Horticulture offers free fruit tree pruning classes on weekends in January.  A big thank you to M.T.S. for taking these photos!