Difference between revisions of "Green garage gardens"
From Green Garage Detroit
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** cleaning out and refilling bird bath | ** cleaning out and refilling bird bath | ||
** managing rain barrels, if necessary | ** managing rain barrels, if necessary | ||
| − | * ''A note on maintaining permeable pavers'': One of our biggest time-consumers is the maintenance of the permeable pavers. Because they enclose plant material within a small square of cement, they tend to form tiny micro-climates that can dry out plant material if exposed to too much sun. As a consequence, the groundcovers in the pavers | + | * ''A note on maintaining permeable pavers'': One of our biggest time-consumers is the maintenance of the permeable pavers. Because they enclose plant material within a small square of cement, they tend to form tiny micro-climates that can dry out plant material if exposed to too much sun. As a consequence, the groundcovers in the pavers need to be watered more than the plants in the beds. In addition, they do tend to attract weeds, and require hand-picking of the weeds (as opposed to the use of the hoe in the beds), which is quite time consuming. If we had to do it again, we would use more pea gravel in the pavers instead of the groundcovers. The permeability would be the same, and they would require a lot less weeding. |
== Selecting Native Plants == | == Selecting Native Plants == | ||
Revision as of 18:18, 29 October 2012
Contents
Intro
- When we bought the building, the property was surrounded by cement on 3 sides. The backyard consisted of weeds and trash. See photos.
- We wanted to make the ground surrounding the building as permeable as possible to avoid water going down the storm sewer, co-mingling with the raw sewage during rain events, then heading out to our lakes and streams.
- We developed gardens in 5 main areas around the building:
- the green alley
- the back yard
- the front yard and parking lot
- the rooftop farm
- the interior greenhouse
Goals and Design
Sustainability Goals
- Our goal was to develop garden areas around the perimeter of the building (parking lot, front, back and alley) that contained at least 90% native species. (We are referring to plants that are native to Southeast Michigan). We also wanted to add appropriate plants (low-light) to the interior greenhouse that connected us to the alley.
Strategy and Design
- Our overall strategy was "Right plant in the right place."
- Our design process:
- We explored the land that our building is on: the front and back, parking lot and alley. We measured possible garden space and made note of the dimensions on our wiki.
- We decided on our site realms, or what individual outdoor spaces we had to work with.
- We studied each realm, particularly with regards to sunlight.
- Site realms included:
- Using a number of source materials, we came up with plant lists for each of the designated realms.
- Factors considered in plant selection included:
- native/non-native (see explanation below)
- sun requirements
- moisture needs
- plant height and width
- season of bloom
- color
- manageability
- soil pH
- type of soil
- urban tolerance
- climate and micro-climate
- salt tolerance
- Plants that were under consideration during the research process....
- Master Index of Plants for the Green Garage
- Factors considered in plant selection included:
- We included other design elements in our overall plan, including:
- wrought-iron fence
- bench or table
- flagpole
- notice kiosk
- trellises
- rain barrels
- permeable pavements
- We took all of the plant lists and put them up on our Google Docs Master Plant List. That way, we could order our ideas in whatever way we wanted.
- We took sketches of the front and backyard, blew them up, and placed pictures of our plant/tree selections on the diagram, ordered by bloom times.
Flickr Error ( Photo not found ): PhotoID 3597593511
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- We ran our ideas by Susan McBride of the Detroit Historic Commission to make sure we had approval from her organization.
- We began the search for plant sources, and narrowed it down primarily to Wildtype Plants in Mason, Mi., and Native Plant Nursery in Ann Arbor, MI.
Maintenance
- Maintenance involves:
- watering regularly
- weeding
- picking up garbage
- splitting plants and planting sprouts elsewhere
- keep record of plant health
- deadheading and otherwise cutting some plants down when blooms are done
- cleaning out and refilling bird bath
- managing rain barrels, if necessary
- A note on maintaining permeable pavers: One of our biggest time-consumers is the maintenance of the permeable pavers. Because they enclose plant material within a small square of cement, they tend to form tiny micro-climates that can dry out plant material if exposed to too much sun. As a consequence, the groundcovers in the pavers need to be watered more than the plants in the beds. In addition, they do tend to attract weeds, and require hand-picking of the weeds (as opposed to the use of the hoe in the beds), which is quite time consuming. If we had to do it again, we would use more pea gravel in the pavers instead of the groundcovers. The permeability would be the same, and they would require a lot less weeding.
Selecting Native Plants
- We used a number of resources to check which plants were indeed native. Our primary resource was Landscaping with Native Plants of Michigan written by Lynn M. Steiner. The author defines native plants as "...what was growing here naturally before European settlement." Other resources we used are below. We decided that if one source listed a plant as native to Michigan, that was good enough for us. It is especially important to use local suppliers for native plants. These growers will have plants that have the right genetics to be adapted to local conditions. They are also a very good source of information.
- Sustainable Sites
- Michigan Native Plant Producers Source Guide
- Michigan Plants Database Search
- Mary Ann's Michigan Trees and Shrubs
- Wildtype Plants Mason, MI
- Native Plant Nursery Ann Arbor, MI
- Eco-Yardening from Celeste Watts
- Hortech (for ground covers)
Materials / Suppliers
Plants
Suppliers
- Wildtype Plants Mason, MI
- Native Plant Nursery Ann Arbor, MI
Resources
- Steppables
- Hortech, a Michigan ground cover supplier
- Wildtype Plants Mason, MI
- Native Plant Nursery Ann Arbor, MI
- Sustainable Sites
- Michigan Native Plant Producers Source Guide
- Green Alley Project page
- Michigan Plants Database Search
- MSU Extension Center
- Mary Ann's Michigan Trees and Shrubs
- Fairy Doors
- C. Alexander - A Pattern Language (garden related sections)
- C. Watts - Eco-yarding
- Michigan Native Plants - book
- North Branch Nursery More about North Branch Nursery including directions (american elm)
- Michigan invasive species list
- Midwest Invasive Plant Network
