The First Organic Garden Tour couldn't have been more perfect for me. On a hot July day, while my husband and son were out of town, just me and the dog cruising around the towns of Newton, Needham and Wellesley. Dropping in on some very knowledgeable and passionately organic gardeners who are reaping the rewards of their thorough research into sustainable gardening methods. Low cost. Low impact. Superb results.
They are all here, in my own (not numerical) order, because of my interests at each site.
At the first stop, despite the close suburban quarters, I saw a large butterfly garden, shaded perrenials, and useful medicinal herbs. Now I know I'm not the only one with an old-fashioned push-type mower and rain-collection system.
At the fourth site, I learned that roses love coffee grounds and garlic. Daffodils planted with any member of the allium family (onions) will not be bothered by squirrels. Covering bulbs with chicken wire and a little more mulch or compost will also keep the squirrels at bay. And cinderblocks make a strong border for raised beds that won't fall apart like wood.
Site 5 bordered the Charles River Reservation. Their solution for poison ivy was a wide black plastic path covered with mulch, which allowed the owners to put their kayak and canoes in the water without the itch. Corn gluten keeps the pH of the lawn just right for fescue (drought-tolerant grass) and deters crabgrass, mold, etc. Astilbe makes a nice ground cover for a shady area. A woman from the Waltham Garden Club said one rule for dividing perrenials is 'Roots Not Fruit in the Fall.'
Site 7 was truly amazing (read engineering and horticultural marvels). A passive solar heating system provides 60% of the home heat and hot water. Although most of the back wall of the house is glass, with tile floors, because of the sun's seasonal angles, direct light pentrates only 1 foot during the summer but all the way to the front wall in winter. Green leaf mold (www.greenleafcompost.com) and household compost keeps the asparagus, kiwi, Asian Pears, high bush cranberry, strawberry, jostenberry, raspberry, blueberry, oriental chestnut tree, peach trees, apple tree, and many other delightful and edible species happy. Tomatoes like red plastic for ground cover - something about the light-wave spectrum. Copper sulfate keeps fungus off the peach trees. This was a wonderful example of how to blend solar heating with low-growing shade/fruit trees and full-sun crops on a suburban plot. President Bush and the oil lobby must be scared to death. Alternative energy is here. You can have it all!
Several of the sites are owned by members of Green CAP (Coalition Against Pesticides) and displayed a nice sign with silhouettes of children and pets and the motto 'Too Precious To Poison.' Site 8 had some nice ageratum, snap dragons and French Marigolds. Covers from the various organic soil amendments were on display. Any Newton resident may register with the Newton Town Clerk to exclude their home from public area-wide pesticide application and receive advance notification of a neighbors pesticide applications by landscaping contractors.
Site 9 was an inspirational lesson in what is possible in an average-size yard owned by someone with allergies and a house that needs regular repainting. I had seen some incredible Japanese gardens during my twelve years in Japan, but this English theme with many Japanese species was true stunner. One hundred forty different Rhododendrons, 48 Conifers, 9 types of Japanese maples, spring bulbs, and 13 'other trees of note' are crammed into a yard overlooking the Newton train stop.
Site 10 holds the oldest swimming pool in Newton, which the owner may one day convert to a lily pond. The compost pile is covered by trumpet vine. Other features included American holly, St. John's wort, Cedar of Lebanon with Aegopodium growing underneath. And the Birginia which the owner is trying to grow as it does in France.
At Site 11, I was given sweet woodruff as a souvenir. The owner looked up the scientific name for me of Snake Root - Liatris punctata - in The A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants (ISBN 0-7894-19432). I learned about making Hypertofa containers - garden pots with a mixture of cement, sand and peat.
Site 2 was the Needham Garden Center, one of the few places that sell my favorite organic fertilizer, Neptune's Fish and Seaweed Fertilizer, by the gallon. Site 5, The Town of Wellesley Demonstation Garden at the State Street Skating Pond, is full of plants which act as buffers to draw toxins and excess nutrients out of the water, cleaning up the drinking water. Sites 3 and 12 were the Needham Town Hall plantings and the traffic circles on Centre Street in Newton, organically maintained and hardy enough to take the foot pounding and exhaust fumes of city life.
Of course, I had to brag about my own garden. In my 'Square-Foot Garden' I have five 4' x 4' raised beds: 1) Perrenial Herbs; 2) Bottle-Neck Gourds for craft projects; 3) Salad Bed (tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, greens); 4) Child's Sand Box in center; 5) Wampanoag Indian 3 Sisters (corn, beans and squash) for succotash. At Plimoth Plantation I earlier learned that beans twine up the corn and provide nitrogen, the broad leaves of the squash shade out weeds and deter animals, and together they make a delicious stew which is also a complete protein. I get 16 square-foot blocks in each bed. Four lettuce or one corn plant per foot, depending on the space required for each species. Along the fence I have more corn, and sunflowers which the blue jays eat from in the fall. Bulbs and root crops grow in the 2' x 2' x 5' hardware cloth cage I buried two years ago so the moles, raccoons, squirrels, skunks and assorted neighbors will stay off them. All organic seed, fertilizer, and compost.
Like all gardeners, I share the bad, too. My garden shed (my stay-at-home-mother project I built by hand) soon became the home for yellowjackets, the sting of which took two years to heal up. My reading led me to reduce the kitchen scraps going into the compost and pick up the dog and cat poop more diligently. It seems that yellowjackets are a predator of flies and the flies and wasps love fruit and vegetable scraps. With grass/leaf compost, and regular nest knock-downs, the yellowjackets are not as prolific this year. I thought of using Sevin Dust but one gardener on the tour said the EPA is about to take it off the list of approved substances because of its neurotoxicity.
I can hardly wait 'til next year's tour. I learned a great deal, and found inspiration for my pursuit of the alternative lifestyle.
This page was last modified on January 14, 2008 at 12:25:36 PM.