Part 1
Personal Garden Site Description
- Size: 15’x 25’ approximately
- Shape: oval-rectanglish
- Topography: Fairly flat, the two little nurse logs make for two ridges.
- Slope: 10% or less, at entrance.
- Exposure: about 6 hours a day, filtered sunlight.
- Soil Characteristics: fluffy loam dark in color, lots of decomposing organic material. The top layer of leaves and soil is soft and giving when you walk on it, but it seems firmer underneath. Everything seems quite moist, so I assume the drainage is fairly slow in this area.
- Principle Plant Species
- Mahonia nervosa- dominant, robust and mature, 2-4 ft tall.
- Polystichum munitum- moderate abundance, young-mature, mostly healthy, 1-3 ft tall.
- Vaccinium parvifolium- occasional, young, one beat up plant, others are healthy, 1-3 ft tall.
- Thuja plicata- abundant, one mature (50 yrs?) tree splits into two trees partway up, other cedars range from young to old, most seem to be very healthy. The splitter is about 150 ft tall.
- Tsuga heterophylla- one in my site, maybe 30 years old, looks healthy.
- Urtica dioica- abundant at entrance, young shoots approximately 3 in. tall, healthy and vigorous.
- Rosa spp.- tiny baby shoots every couple of feet in between the nurse logs, maybe 1 inch tall, very healthy.
- Asarum caudatum- 4 plants in site, moderately healthy, have been stepped on, largest leaves are approx 4 inches across.
- Mosses!- covering decaying wood, various species, one is sending up reproductive parts, some are old, some are new, and they all love it here!
- Evidence of animal activity: There is a nice little pile of broken acorn shells on one of the downed logs, from a squirrel or chippy I assume.
- Story of this site: My parents bought this property in 1980 or 81, they lived in a trailer while they built the house on the upper section. I’m pretty sure the whole 5 acres (and more) was logged sometime in the early forties. These days, my mom cuts a few trees down every few years for firewood. Last year, a road was made farther down the property, creating a clearing in the woods. My site is right off the side of this clearing.
- My feelings: I love the mossy logs, everything is so green and moist. I also really like this spot because it’s in the middle of the forest, I can barely see any houses! I chose to garden here because it is so beautiful and calming, and it’s on my mom’s property so I’ll be able to visit as long as I like.
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Area Description
My site is located in forest dominated by Pseudostuga menziesii and Thuja plicata, with Acer macrophyllum, Alnus rubra, and Tsuga heterophylla mixed in as well. The under storey is dominated by Mahonia nervosa and Polystichum munitum. This is a moist area of the forest, with moss blanketing many a log and tree.
Ownership, Location and Directions to the Site
The property is owned by my mother, Peggy A. Young, and is located in northeast Olympia, Unincorporated Thurston County. From downtown, take 4th Ave until it veers right and turns into Pacific Ave. Turn right at tavern onto Boulevard Rd, follow until second stoplight, then turn left onto Yelm Hwy. Stay on Yelm Hwy for about 5 miles (give or take), then turn right onto Spurgeon Creek Rd. Go about a mile and a half and turn right onto 80th Ave, squiggle up this road and turn right at the top onto Thrulake Circle.
7830 Thrulake Circle.
Part 2 Preliminary Design & Plan for Forest Garden
Specific Plant Species to add (for now)
Smilacina racemosa False Solomon’s Seal
Trillium ovatum
Asarum caudatum
Cimicifuga elata Black Cohosh
- Shady, moist notches; needs old growth or once-cut forest, much species diversity, rotting nurse trees.
Coptis laciniata Goldthread
- Moist, shady areas.
Chimaphila umbellata Pipsissewa
- Shady chuff.
Sequoia sempervirens Redwood
Achlys triphylla Vanilla Leaf
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Sequence of activities based on the season
- March- Research where to acquire these plants and when best times for planting are. Begin planting on or two species, watering and tending to weeds if needed. Plant Redwoods, perhaps.
- April- Plant remaining species and fertilize with good stuff, tend, water.
- May- Take time to plan compost system that I can use for this garden and Mom can use every day as well. Or if I’ve already planned it, take more time to build it! Water stuff.
- June- Harvest some nettle, dry it, make good tea, or cook some greens. Water the garden, sit with it, observe how it grows and feels. Does it need anything?
- July- Harvest some OR Grape leaves and roots, dry leaves, make a fresh root tincture. Offer something to the garden as a gift, maybe.
- August- Continue to sit with the plants and watch them grow, tend and love them, water.
Materials & Tools I’ll Need
Shovel & trowel $ = might have to buy
Gloves
Gallon jugs of water
5-gallon bucket(s)
Plants $
Organic fertilizer $
Compost System
I will most likely make a compost bin up in the yard by the house, that way my mom has easy access to it. I’ll have to carry stuff down in buckets to till into the soil. Maybe make a smaller worm bucket/bin for inside the house? Something cat-proof.
Watering System
For now I’ll just have to visit my mom a lot and water with jugs, unless it’s raining adequately. I shouldn’t need to make an actual watering system because all the plants are natives.
Techniques
I’ve been thinking about gardening by the moon lately, so I’ll try some of that. Also, I’ll try my best to garden when I’m in good states of mind, as I want to plant and nurture with good intention, and I want the plant sot know my intentions. But gardening does help my mind relax and calms my energy, so it is always a good thing.
Step 3 Implementation
Something small I can do Now
Go to Johnson’s Nursery with plant list and talk to Walt, see what he has, see how he is, buy some T. ovatum is he has any yet. Buy about 7-13 (odd #s) Trillium, depending on prices. Plant behind squirrelly nurse log and maybe to the sides as well, water, bless.
I visited Walt on 3/5/07 and he was afraid that the Trilliums might have died because of extreme freeze we had this year, so I’ll go back in a week and a half to check. In the mean time, I should start designing a compost plan.
