Planting fun

Last week, you saw the beautiful, extensive first half of our western shrub-tolerant plant border. Now, we bring you the second planting installment of our western shrub border! It was a very exciting day of planting, as it’s probably the last time the three of us will be planting before the beginning of the fall semester. We had a special delivery from plant guru Nancy herself, and the WestCo courtyard saw quince for the first time! Other action-packed highlights include a giant wasp attack on an equally giant insect prey straight out of the southwestern beech tree. If you’re among those planning the trek back to Middletown in a few short weeks, get excited to see the transformation!
Here are some pictures from our most recent planting marathon!

The “farewell, Nate” post

Yesterday, our comrade and teammate Nathaniel Skylar Dolton-Thornton left the jungles of central Connecticut to return to his home in Santa Cruz, California. It’s been a trip working with him this summer, and he is truly a wonderful person and an incredibly valuable member of the WILD WestCo team. He is just the right mix of unbelievably hardworking, passionate, and sassy. He’s like Superman. No, he’s like Paul Newman. And even though we know that he will be back very soon, I will be leaving Middletown for a solid four-and-a-half months, so on a personal note it’ll be a while. This one’s for you, Nate, the infamous farewell post. Enjoy it, and please don’t be too angry.

 

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Plants just keep on coming

I know that, as a loyal and devoted WILD WestCo fan, you’ve been waiting on the edge of your seat since last week’s tantalizingly teasing note about a “new post coming soon” showcasing our newly-planted northwestern salt-tolerant shrub border. Well, all of those sleepless nights paid off, because here it is! We planted the first half of our shrub border all along the western edge (or along the very top) of the WestCo courtyard. We’ll be planting the southwestern half in a few days, which will nearly complete the hardy, salt-tolerant shrub border all along the western periphery. You might also catch a glimpse of our new labyrinth project in the large social space (and seriously, look for a post on that one coming soon!). And if you notice the white, ghost-like shapes all around the site, those are just other plants covered with row cover, a light fabric designed to protect plants from harsh sun and hungry critters!

Here are the photographs from our most recent planting escapade, so enjoy!

A lot of these bushes are actually different types of edible berries, which you will be able to eat very soon! So tell us about YOUR favorite kind of berry below!

Breaking down barriers

It’s nearly impossible to believe that it is already the first week of August – in less than one month campus (and WestCo) will be full again! We’ve been doing some really cool stuff in the courtyard lately, but we have a lot to do to in our last month of work. Last week, we took down all of the beaten-up fencing (those green stakes with yellow rope) surrounding the site, and quickly found that we would have to do some serious wrestling with more than a few pretty gnarly and warped metal posts. They also turn your hands very greenish-blue, which made me feel like I had the look of someone who had strangled a family of smurfs. It was definitely worth it, though, because we’ve already had new visitors come into the space to see what’s going on (including one very bold groundhog). We will be replacing the old fencing with some wooden stakes and white rope, so we’ll have some fencing but in a much more subtle and open way. Here are some photos of our efforts; check out the difference!

What do YOU think about fencing in a landscape or public outdoor space? Should it be living, minimal, clearly defined? Share your thoughts below!

Salt-Tolerant Shrub Border

Hey all!

Just so you know, all of the plants in the new Salt-Tolerant Shrub Border on the western edge of the site have been added to the Implementation and Maintenance Guide. Feel free to check it out here!

The northwestern portion of the border was planted on Tuesday (new post coming soon), and we’ll be planting the southwestern portion in just over a week — so stay tuned!

Earth Care, People Care, Fair Share

In the early hours of Saturday, July 14th, Nate, Evita, and I dragged ourselves out of bed and settled into my 1996 Plymouth Breeze to make the long and difficult trek up to the 8th Annual Northeast Permaculture Convergence at the Soule Homestead in Middleborough, Massachusetts (OK so it’s really barely two-and-a-half hours North of Middletown). The convergence is, in essence, a three-day gathering of permaculture enthusiasts and savants discussing ideas, initiatives, successes, and failures. We were only there for Saturday, the day of workshopping, and had the chance to be a part of inspiring and exciting idea-sharing. We met some really cool people doing really cool things in the Northeast, and saw a lot of familiar faces and allies of WILD Wes. The homestead was beautiful too – you can see some of it in the pictures below. By the time we arrived at 9, the day was in full swing, with lecturers including Ethan Rowland, Dave Jacke, and Felix Lufkin – we dropped right into Dave Jacke’s conversation, Eden Arising: The Inner Landscape of Ecological Culture Design. After that, Evita and I sat in on Lisa Fernandes’ presentation titled Eating the Suburbs, a look at her truly inspiring work to transform her own 1/3-acre property into a permaculture neighborhood farm. At the same time, Nate went to listen to a panel on Infiltrating Academia with Permaculture, with our own rad permaculture designer-WILD WestCo friend Abrah Dresdale. We heard Scott Kellogg talk about everything going on at his cutting-edge bioshelter and permaculture education center in Albany, New York, Nate and Evita heard about all kinds of polyculture designs, and we had an in-depth look at native bees and their habitats from bee lover and expert Tom Sullivan. Finally, the three of us saw a really cool presentation by Julious Piti of the Chikukwa Ecological Land Trust Project, a transformative community permaculture project in Zimbabwe. As you can probably tell, it was an energizing day!

You can check out some pictures here – and maybe we’ll see you there next year!

Plant Profile #1: Stanley

Standing firm in the far southern section of the West College site, almost marking the eastern edge of the forest garden, is a six-foot high Prunus domestica, cultivar “Stanley.” Stanley was the first tree ever planted on the WestCo site, long ago in the early spring of 2012, and ze has been faring wonderfully since then.

Our buddy Stanley.

Actually a prune-plum cultivar, which gives it a comfortably long shelf-life when compared with regular plums, the Stanley plum has been described as “without a doubt, the most popular of all prune-plums” (“Prunus ‘Stanley,’” Sooner Plant Farm). Stanley is a late-blooming variety of plum: soft white flowers adorn the tree in late spring, followed by fine blue-violet fruits with yellow and orange flesh in late summer to early fall. The variety is self-fertile, but generally produces better with another variety around; therefore (and because most of us like plums a lot) there are actually two Stanley’s on site — the second just northwest of the first, nearer the northern edge of the Forest Garden.

Stanley is a delicious fruit for both fresh eating, drying, and canning. The tree’s bark can also be used for medicinal purposes, and dyes can be made from both its leaves (green) and roots (red) — although we hope it will be a long time before the time comes to use the latter.

In about two to three years, we’ll be getting our first yield of these delicious fruits, and we hope it will keep producing for many years after!

What fruit do you wait for each year, and/or when was the last time you practiced delayed gratification?

A garden in bloom

The last few weeks of the WestCo courtyard extravaganza have been filled with research, planning for a lot of new plantings (coming soon!), site maintenance, and weedingweedingweeding as thick grass threatens to take over. We now have our watering routine down, and things are growing well – even the Serviceberry, which you might remember from the heart wrenching Diserviceberry post, looks better than ever! Nate and I spotted a red-tailed hawk eating a squirrel on site the other day which was totally awesome (albeit disturbing), and lots of other critters are showing up too. Plus, the southern rain garden is just beginning to bloom! It smells delicious and looks absolutely beautiful – so here are some shots for your viewing pleasures!

And since today is the 4th of July, included are a few pictures from our very own 4th of July Middletown fireworks, which curiously took place on July 3rd. Enjoy!

What kinds of creatures would YOU want to see in the WestCo courtyard? Share with us below!

When plants come back for more

It was round two of understory planting this week, and I am honored to announce the arrival of the newest addition to the WestCo courtyard landscape family ! Our favorite plant guru Nancy stopped by with a fresh delivery of woody shrubs and perennials, gave us some quick tips about our sadly sun-scorched Dogwoods, and then it was time to plant ! With teamwork and determination, we planted some key players in the Sugar Maple, Persimmon, and Serviceberry understories. The courtyard is greener than ever, and it looks like we’ll have a whole lot of berries before long (in all of the excitement, some of us made the mistake of eating some too soon, much to our own chagrin). Here are some photographs from our wonderful day.

Today, Nate and I found the most amazing neon yellow caterpillar crawling over by the southern rain garden. When was the last time your backyard surprised you? Leave us your story in the comments below !

It’s party thyme

This week, we truly hit the ground running in the WestCo courtyard, bringing the project to new heights. Yes, we took a short repose from our beautiful tree and shrub plantings to focus on what lies at our feet. Some would say our work really broke new ground - we now have a small patch on site of some fascinating, exciting new plantings of trample-resistant and not-so-trample-resistant-but-still-totally-rad ground cover. We also took a field trip to the nearby Ballek’s Garden Center to visit none other than our mentor (we wish?) Nancy ! Our new experimental plantings include different varieties of sedum and thyme – while not all of it can be walked on, we are growing different kinds of both to see what grows well and where they could be placed on site, and hopefully we will be planting it more widely later on or in the fall. We also placed another order of plants that will begin to make up the understory of some of the trees (things that grow under larger trees to create mutually beneficial relationships). Eventually, the entire courtyard will be made up of smaller, self-sustaining systems known as polycultures. It’s really cool ! Here are some photographs of the brand-new ground cover, plus some shots from our trip to the nursery. Have a look !

What do you like most to feel beneath your feet? Clover? Thyme?? Moss??? Leave us all a comment below !