Steven Kovacs

Anne Miller wrote:I like what the others have said.  I just want to add that if your compost pile was hot maybe the warmth helped more than the insects.  

Maybe having a compost pile near each tree might be even more effective.

Creating micro-climates and even planting more flowers will benefit those trees.

I wish the pile was hot! It definitely isn’t- and isn’t balanced between greens and browns, though on the flip side all the rotting vegetables and fruit on top help attract beetles and flies.

100+ pawpaws is more than I will be able to eat or give away once they are ripe so I don’t need to do any more optimizing for my garden - I just figured it was an interesting data point for anyone who wants to grow pawpaws.

I could certainly imagine that surrounding a compost pile with pawpaws would work well. In our case the linear planting pattern is to take advantage of topography (a wet ditch) and to create a privacy screen (the ditch is along the property line).

Matt McSpadden wrote:Hi Steven,
This is an interesting hypothesis. I would wonder if proximity to the compost has more to do with available nutrients and microbial life, than the pollination itself? Maybe it allows the closer trees to grow more vigorously?

I don’t think so - I could see that the trees closest to the pile had flies and beetles swarming the flowers, and the far tree did not. The compost pile is also downhill of the trees so it is less likely that nutrients are the explanation. And all three trees are of equal height and health as far as I can tell.

The compost pile is staying where it is - we have a small urban lot and it is in the best location I could find.

I planted three pawpaws, from the same nursery, in 2016 or so. One is about 15’ from our compost bin; it has 60+ fruit on it.  The next is 5’ from the first (20’ from the compost) and has perhaps 50. The final tree is another 5’ on, and has … two fruit. This basic pattern holds every year - in fact this is the first time the farthest tree has fruited.  

So - plant those pawpaws near compost so the bugs do your pollination for you!

Also - by this method I get a higher percentage of flowers to fruit than if I manually pollinate the trees.

In MA, we have had luck with violets but less with lavender - cold spells killed 2 of our 3 plants, and lavender gets “leggy” unless you prune it annually.

We actually do have a linden as one of our street trees, and I will vouch for the leaves being reasonably tasty for the first week or two that they sprout.

As for people care, I like pawpaws but not enough to eat all the ones our three trees produce - sadly few of my neighbors and colleagues like them so they are hard to give away.  You can’t get any lower-maintenance than pawpaws, though, and they make a nice privacy screen and seem to soak up a lot of water on the wettest part of the property.

Thanks everyone for all these recommendations- some I had tried before (Hablitzia didn’t germinate for me, have to try again) but most are new to me.

Oh! And what they say about the indestructible nature of comfrey is true - I have some growing very happily under our (boo hiss) Norway maple street tree.  Not even dandelion will grow there but the comfrey is flourishing in hard packed soil and heavy shade.

Many thanks!  I will read the perennial greens threads and read up on sochan, which is new to me.

I am looking to grow some food but of course not be anywhere near self sufficient.  I want to focus on things I can’t get (at all, or at a good quality for a reasonable price) so herbs and fruit (especially raspberries) were obvious choices.  I also want to have fresh greens through as much of the year as possible, which implies season extension techniques; I have Four Season Harvest but probably need to get more competent at growing annuals first. I also want to encourage my kids to have a good relationship with food and plants (one is picky but loves the outdoors, the other loves all foods but tends to be an indoor bookworm).  Fruit wins out there too although sorrel was a surprising hit.

I have finally largely defeated the aegopodium podagraria that colonized much of the yard so I am excited to plant, and the soil is extraordinarily rich (river valley loam).

The yard is also a play area for the kids (play structure, swings, grass, mud) and I plan to build a work-from-home office shed, so organizing things spatially will take a little effort.  We live at the bottom of a hill in a very wet climate so there is still some drainage work to do as well.

We have blueberries, cherries, raspberries, pawpaws, rhubarb, asparagus, rosemary, sage, mint, walking onions (though I don’t find them easy to use), chives, sorrel.  It sounds like I was right to suspect that we need to rely on annuals for greens and starch.  I love the idea of perennial greens but my foray into sea kale was a disappointment - I really wish there were more options in the perennial greens category.

Ok, something of an intentionally provocative title, but:

Can anyone point me to a successful small urban garden in a temperate climate?  I am really struggling to figure out what to do with my 1600 sq ft yard.

Some permie concepts (zones and sectors, etc.) are relevant anywhere.  But when it comes to growing food, a small lot in a temperate climate has some disadvantages when it comes to perennials in particular.  Once you exclude nut trees (which take up too much room to be practical at this scale), there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot to choose from in perennial species other than fruit and herbs  Fruit is great, but what about greens (we eat a lot of annual brassicas) and starches?    For protein we might eventually do chickens; fats will probably have to remain store-bought.

Thanks, all.  Ultimately I think I will go with concrete blocks and skirting, not least because it is the cheapest and easier option.  It also has worked well for my wood shed.

Thanks, all.  I think I will do concrete blocks, which worked for my 5x12 wood shed.

We have three rain barrels to ensure adequate water during droughts; the two droughts we have had in the last decade only required about one and a half barrels of water so I think we are good on that front.