Starting a Backyard Permaculture

March
8th: (early morning to 4pm) plant indoor plants: Vegetables: broccoli, gourds, tomatillos, tomatoes; Herbs: Alpine strawberry, basil, lavender, oregano, rosemary, thymes, yarrow; and flowers.
Plus, outside planting: Vegetables: beets, broccoli, carrots, chard, kale, leeks, lettuce, onions, radishes, spinach; Herbs: Arugula, chamomile, chives, cilantrol, dill, parsley, watercress; flowers.
Also, sow fruit and nut trees for a mini-nursery & herbs for the spiral
Plus: Soil test! (2 hours)
Boulder Valley Going Local’s Food Summit @ 7pm, Boulder Outlook
Class: Vegi. Planting
13th: (early morning to 4pm) Community Outreach in the neighborhood: resources & interest
* If you and/or your roomates could join me?
Class: Wildlands Restoration @ 7pm, RIE (conps.org)
15th: (early morning to evening) Collect supplies for 22nd….
21st: (all day…spend the night?) Work on ponds, water tanks, shower, mini-greenhouses (3′ x 8′), swalls, and an herb spiral, and sheet-mulch!!!
* If you and/or your roommates could join me?
22nd: (early morning to 10:00am)
Vegan Meetup/potluck at noon.
27th: (early morning to 4pm) Finish work from the 22nd & plant pees.

If you could?
* Collect all organic material, sorted into worm food (most all food scraps except meat (for the compost) and not. & Take care of my worms! (It’s very easy…once a week, 2lbs of food).
* Collect the stuff needed to sheet mulch: 3′ stack of newspaper, 6-8 cubic yards of bulk organic matter (straw, yard waste, leaves, ground bark, wood shavings), 6-12 cubic feet of compost, 1/4 to 1 cubic yard manure, 2-4 bales hay, sawdust, or pine needles.
* Get me two or three “trashed” tires? Plus, save any and all of the plastic bottles ya’ll use (Reduce, reuse, and THEN recycle ….. (*~drool~*)
* To help keep my costs down, do you, or someone you know, have any useful tools: Shovel, gloves, etc?

Please get back to me ASAP. Let’s talk sometime Wednesday or Thursday before I start buying seeds and other supplies on Thursday and Friday (6/7th).

I have about $200 I can spend for this week. You?

My initial guess is that it will cost:
$160 for 20 x $2/20 vegetable plants plus 10 seed starters
$10 for wildflowers: 2 x $5/10′x10′;
$15 for native (drought tolerant) grass, 1,000 square feet;
$15 fruit & nut birdseed;
$6 clover.
TOTAL SEED COST: $200
$30 Flexi-Fence for dog, 2 x 25′x2′
$50 soil fixin’s (potting soil and compost)
$50 greenhouse material
$30 sprinkler
$15 for trellis netting, 3 x 6′x12′
TOTAL EXPENSES: $375

If we want to implement a more complete permaculture design, it will cost more to include:
$30 for dwarf fruit and nut trees;
$40 for two water tubs for ponds; (or plastic…)
$150 for a water storage tub (500L)
$350 bee-hive
TOTAL: $570
TOTAL TOTAL: $945

Observation: Research

THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF BOULDER:

Animal Species:

Plant Species:

Community Resources:

Temperature: Hi _____, Low ________

First Frost: _______, Last Frost: __________

Rainfall Amounts and Seasons:

Snow: ____________, Hail, ____________
Utilities: power: _____________ sewer: __________ gas: __________

Water:

Homeowners associations:

Government activities: recycling: _______, Yard waste:_________,

Herbicide spraying:___________, Zoning:______________,

Structures:

History of the land:

ALLENSPARK:

Animal Species:

Plant Species:

Community Resources:

Temperature: Hi _____, Low ________

First Frost: _______, Last Frost: __________

Rainfall Amounts and Seasons:

Snow: ____________, Hail, ____________
Utilities: power: _____________ sewer: __________ gas: __________

Water:

Homeowners associations:

Government activities: recycling: _______, Yard waste:_________,

Herbicide spraying:___________, Zoning:______________,

Structures:

History of the land:

Maps

United Sates Colorado

Regional 1, 2, 3

St. Malo: Overview, Zone 1

St. Malo: Main Areas #1, #2

St. Malo: Creating a CSA Vision

St. Malo is at 8600 feet elevation (Montane Zone w/ ponderosa pine and douglas fir).

A list of potential permaculture elements to incorporate into the design:

• ponds, water tanks, outhouse, shower, rain catchment,wetlands
• compost bins, worm farms
• chickens, guinea pigs, animal housing, BEES!
• tyre moats
• greenhouses, solar stills, swalls, haybox cooker,
• windbreaks, fire protection,
• tool shop or shed,
• cooking space, recycling area, clothesline, cold frames/hot beds,
• biodiesel processor ($1500 or $150: to make 40 gal @ $1/gal) (w/moped?), PV solar panels (avg home: 4k or 190w x 21 pannels @ $10,200)

A Few Plant Options:

Include plants for

• Food:
• Birds and Mammals
• Insects
• Herbal Medicine:
• Nitrogen Fixation:
• Mulch:

• Vegetable garden: (EUG: 126).
  • Plucking beds: broccoli, silverbeet, swiss chard, rose chard, kale, spinach, brussels, sprouts, onions, celery, lettuce, zucchini
  • Narrow beds: beans, peas, carrots, tomatoes, radishes, peas, asparagus, okra, eggplant
  • Borad beds: lettuce, cabbage, lupin, sweet corn, pumpkin, sugar cane, cauliflower, jerusalem/globe artichokes
  • Trellis crops: climbing peas and beans, passionfruit, choko, brambles, kiwifruit, jicama, spinach, cucumbers, pumpkin, grapes.
• Herb mound: oregano, rosemary, sage, basil, thyme, tarragon, marjoram, savouries, etc (EUD: 125).
  • holy basil, licorice, lycium, hawthorn, lemon balm, lindan, mimosa, passion flower, skull cap, st. John’s wart, lavender, white peony, parsley, chives, garlic, ginger, chamomile, coriander, french sorrel
  • Fertilizer: stinging nettles, chamomile, yarrow, dill, dandelion, tansy, horestail
  • Sunny: lavendar, rosemary, sage
  • Shade: angelica, mints, comfrey
  • Activator (compost): yarrow, comfrey
• Cover Crops (GG: 76): Annual, cool weather: clover (crimson & nitro Persian), mustard, rapeseed. Annual Warm weather: black-eyed peas, pinto beans, soybeans, sunn hemp. Perennial cover: alfalfa, bird’s-foot trefoil, chicory, clover (stwberry, white Dutch & Ladino).
• Fruit& nut trees:
  • At the kitchen door: citrus tree (lime or lemon) with chives & parsley underneath (EUD: 125).
• Mediterranean climates (moist winders, dry summers, to survive wet periods & drought): almond, blackberry, borage, fennel, fig, gloden garlic, grape, hind’s lack walnut, lavender, lupine, olive, oregano, quinoa, rosemary, rue, sage, snowberry, summer savory, thyme, wormwood, yarrow (GG: 87).
• Wetland: Canna lily, cattail, comfrey, high-bush blueberry, soft rush (GG: 97).
• Edible weeds: Chicory, garlic mustard, goldenrod, lettuce, mint, mustard, sheep sorrel, sow thistle, stinging nettle, wintercress (GG: 111).
• Nurse plants (fast growing, harsh conditions): acacia, alder, russian olive, bush clover, tree of heaven, hackberry, elderberry, lilac (GG: 118).
• Insect Host: alfalfa, buckwheat, crimson thyme, golden marguerite, maximilian sunflower, tansy, spearmint, parsley, goldenrod, dill (GG: 127).
• Bird Host: Alder, Ash, Birch, Euonymus, Maple, (lots!) (GG: 133).
• Forest Garden: acacia, black locust, honey locust, mesquite, tagasate, almond, fig, golden-chain tree, mulberry, russian olive, cucumber, grape, hops, jasmine, melon, passionfruit, pea, squash, bearberry, clover, stawberry, garlic, jerusalem artichoke, mashua, peanut, potato (GG: 176-8).
• Clipping Beds: edges of paths (EUG: 126): chives, sorrel, corn salad, dandelion, salad burnet, mustard greens, nasturtium.
• Energy crops: corn, soy, canola, safflower, sunflower, flax
• Indigenous plants:
  • Trees: Limber, Pinon, Ponderosa Pine; Oak, Sugar Maple
  • Shrubs: Thinleaf Alder, Barberry,black mulberry,
    
  • Shrub Community: myrtle-leaf blueberry, Grousberry (or red whortleberry , scoparium) under coniferous trees of engelmann spruce ground cover w/tall whorteberry or thin-leaved huckleberry.
  • Shrubs: cranberry, hyssop, plum, silverberry
  • Herbaceous Plants: camas, cattail, chives, columbine, dandelion, sunflower, etc.
  • Source: Rocky Mt. Plants (Nelson: 1969).
    

MATERIALS

Tyre, plastic bottles, cans, boxes, 200L drums, oil containers, newspaper, wood stakes, chicken wire, hessian bas, seedling trays (25×30cm), cement mix, hanging basket frames, wheelbarrows, shovel,

Hothouse, shadehouse, geodesic dome, animal tractors, hay box cooker, labels, bird feeders, cleaning/soap.

Permaculture

Observations for Boulder:
snow, heat extremes (June, July & Aug of ‘07 had 45 days above 90F), mean precipitation (last 13 years: from 13.9 in. to 29.9, & 17 avg)
Records and Averages (weather.com)

first (Oct. 6th avg) and last (May 3rd avg) frost, the effect of El Nino,

Observations for Allenspark:
Monthly averages w/record highs & lows & precipitation,
Changes in precipitation,

Site Observations: maps, shade & sun, wind, sunrise & sunset, microclimates (cool, hot, wet, dry spots), activities of neighbors, neighborhood resources, and vegitation.

(Visioning): Chose from plants: Mediterranean climate, cover crops, C:N for compost, wetland, for insects, for birds, forest trees, shrubs, herbeceous plants, vines, and energy.

(Visioning): Choose from Zone 1 (20-40 ft from the house) elements: greenhouse, trellis, arbor, deck, bird, feeders, storage, workshop, herbs, greens, flowers, dwarf trees, low shrubs, lawn.

Zone 2 elements: greenhouse, shed, staple and canning crops, small orchards, fire retardant plants

Zone 3 elements: feed storage, field shelters, cash crops, large fruit, nut trees, animal forage, cover crops