What to do with Your Flood Plain When You Stop Mowing

Thanks to our friend G who passed out Catalpa seeds at our annual squash potluck, I started some catalpa seeds (in 2005 or 4). There are now 4 ten foot high trees in the flood plain, flourishing, holding their own against the buckthorn. We even saw some catalpa blooms this year and they are pretty, multiple white flowers, fragrant.

I keep stripping the leaves off of the buckthorn twice a year, pulling small starts where I can. Saplings too large to pull are cut off yearly and mulched if I get to it. I am sure a good covering of maple leaves would wipe out the whole crop.

All of this takes place under the shade of a willow, one that lost a main branch in 2006 (amazing how many pounds of wood came down). We have more sun on the hill now. The hill on the west is steep. Out past the back fence there are lot of leave piles and a large branch pile. I believe these to be regenerative, much of the soil was planted there when the house was built in 1964. As long as we don’t put old refrigerators and cars out there, we are within bounds I think.

Snakes and Toads

Some day, I would like to get some domestic ducks to eat the tasty slugs in the yard, although we have begun seeing more snakes and toads. The mail carrier saw a snake in the front of the house on her way to the mail box last summer, dropped her sack, screamed, and refused to deliver the mail. There is a nice covering of leaves in the bed out front. Apparently a garter snake has taken up residence there, though I have not seem it.

One toad was sunning itself on a black plastic flat this summer. I rudely (and unknowingly) took the flat with toad to church. The flat sat in the social hall for a week until the kids took it upstairs, thinking the brown spot was dirt. There was surprise when the dirt moved and then jumped out. The teacher prevailed upon M to take the toad outside, it was put in the bushes where I assume it took up residence. The church in question is located downtown; lots of cars go there. Puddles have petrochemicals in them and the drainage isn’t built for and is not ideal for toad breeding in spring. These are not ideal conditions for an American toad to prosper in or breed. I hope to know what happened to the toad, but the odds are not with me.

Hazel Nut Trees

I want a Hazel nut tree for the backyard. Hazelnuts trees are the right size for my landscape, small. I have been making areas of cover for the wrens who like to eat the aster seeds. These wrens are not as visible as the usual suspects that like a feeder, but I think I have seen them.

I have felt bad about taking out the seven sisters (wild) rose that they were nesting in. I put up a nesting box and they raised their children in that for about ten years.

This year urban regenerists must get serious about wildlife corridors at the edge of their lots. If neighbors connect their wildlife corridors, it will make long spaces, walks and houses for wild life. If you build it, they will come.

Good to know are principles of Ecosystems like the bigger the area, the more species. In making over our landscapes to be many species friendly, we can make bigger places in urban areas by working together. Planting our edge places with native plants (Ones the work in the area they are planted) will invite birds and others.

Hazelnut is native, produces nuts, is small enough so I can look over it to my neighbor’s house and the cottonwood down the hill. I intend to put it next to the dwarf apple by the fence. Sounds like a good plan, spring is a good enough time to plant. Too late now for fall planting.

Indoor Gardening Dec 8, 19

Gardening, December, Winter, 2009

December 8, 2008- Houseplants have gone into a mode that requires less water- dormant. They do this in lower light conditions. It is also very dry in the house with the heat on. When it got below freezing (24 degrees F) last week, I brought many plants in from the porch. We may or may not have insulated enough to keep it from falling below freezing.

December 19, 2008I have many house plants from other climes that, particularly the South and Southwest that can take occasional freezing, but do not like cold conditions for so long. In February, when much is still dormant around here, there is much thawing and blooming going on in the south.

It is said we have slipped into zone 6 where we used to have a zone 5 climate. I am cautious about this. I have given up growing apricots here. Late frosts can kill their buds. I tried growing them in the shade of the house, where they would not bloom so soon, but have had no luck. Perhaps one day I will try a potted apricot, maybe when I have an unheated glass house.

Poster of regeneration of Lake Plain area

Poster

In making the poster for the stewardship network conference in January, I want to show regeneration projects we have done in the Lake Plain area, including the Rouge River Watershed. We have little left of the ecosystem that was here in settlement times, the area is mostly urban; paved over and tied up with fences, if you will. We have the bones, the geology has changed little.

Regenerating an ecosystem is heady work. Few protocals show the way. Strip miners have done projects to put back a layer of topsoil, but they put in golf courses and lanscape that needs heavy inputs. Our urban ecosystems have been torn up and paved over without regard to living systems that might have occupied the land. There is much nonnative grass, maintained with petrochemicals, and many paved roads, many roofs of buildings. Roofs and roads are impervious surfaces, little like the spongy forest floor that used to carpet our land. Much of the water that falls from the rains goes into the river, straight to the river picking up dirt and petrochemicals along the way. The natural hydrology cycle is disturbed here.

I keep thinking there is an authority who would know how we ought to proceed in these matters, could outline the path to regeneration. I have some idea of what I want to highlight in the poster, projects moving toward a healthier ecosystem on the lakeplain. Much of our area is urban. There are certainly people who know a lot and have experiences that would be useful and relevant to the process of rebuilding a watershed. But the work of regenerating a city ecosystem is not work that has been done much.

There are areas of the country that have progressed farther than we have in making progress toward a healthiy ecosystem. We have come far in learning what needs to be done. I wanted to put photos with captions as examples of our sucesses on the poster. I think the Rouge watershed has taken steps, baby steps, has a long way too go.

There are grow zones, over 24 acres in Wayne County alone. The County of Wayne and Oakland have many employees and many in local city government are aware of the importance of the areas that are left unmowed. Especially in Oakland county, the parks department has hired experts in the field of landscape architecture who are advocates for sustainable landscaping.

Progress has been made in part because the clean water act has mandated we clean the water in rivers all over the country. In the Rouge watershed, munipalities are struggling with ways to meet mandated standards. Some want huge, expensive waterworks and pipes that connect to huge water works. One of the problems the old core area has is combined sewers. During large rain events, the combined sanitary and storm sewers overflow. Currently much sewage water is sent to huge storage areas during large rain events, treated and sent to the river. The large storage areas are called CSO’s (combined sewer over flows). This is an expensive solution and not very elegant but it does treat sewage in the river.



I would put together a poster on river hydrology. The information SOCCWA has collected over the years on making rain gardens, the importance of healthy hydrology, is impressive. I am a SOCCWA volunteer, though would not do the project representing SOCCWA.






Rouge river restoration, many hands, many organizations

Photos of at the top: Rain gardens, green roofs, ponds, swales, wetland imitating technology.

Center: Elmwood cemetary, has original topology of lower Rouge. Streams allowed to run free, not buried. Photo.



Old technology/ new technology: Photos

Flood plains, Hines park, flooded.
CSO
tunnel
Paved banks of Rouge

Rain gardens
Green roof, green walls
Green roads and driveways
pond/ swale: Photo of reconstituted pond in Ford Field, Dearborn
Wetland restoration- Crosswinds marsh, photo, bird list (Built on former dump property funded by Wayne County to replace wetlands in airport expansion) , Oxbow reopening, Dearborn

Watershed Poster Part 1

Poster

In making the poster for the stewardship network conference in January, I want to show regeneration projects we have done in the Lake Plain area, including the Rouge River Watershed. We have little left of the ecosystem that was here in settlement times, the area is mostly urban; paved over and tied up with fences, if you will. We have the bones, the geology has changed little.

Regenerating an ecosystem is heady work. Few protocals show the way. Strip miners do it, but they put in golf courses and lanscape that needs heavy inputs. We have done much the same to our urban ecosystem. There is much nonnative grass, maintained with petrochemicals, and many paved roads, many roofs of buildings. Roofs and roads are impervious surfaces, little like the spongy forest floor that used to carpet our land. Much of the water that falls from the rains goes into the river, straight to the river picking up dirt and petrochemicals along the way. The natural hydrology cycle is disturbed here.

I keep thinking there is an authority who would know how we ought to proceed in these matters, could outline the path. I have some idea of what I want to highlight in the poster, projects moving toward a healthy ecosystem. There are certainly people who know a lot and have experiences that would be useful and relevant to the process of rebuilding a watershed. But the work of regenerating a city ecosystem is not work that has been done much. There are areas of the country that have progressed farther than we have in making progress toward a healthiy ecosystem. We have come far in learning what needs to be done. I wanted to put photos with captions as examples of our sucesses on the poster. I think the Rouge watershed has taken steps, baby steps, has a long way too go.

There are grow zones, over 24 acres in Wayne County alone. The County of Wayne and Oakland have many employees and many in local city government are aware of the importance of the areas that are left unmowed. Especially in Oakland county, the parks department has hired experts in the field of landscape architecture who are advocates for sustainable landscaping.

Progress has been made in part because the clean water act has mandated we clean the water in rivers all over the country. In the Rouge watershed, munipalities are struggling with ways to meet mandated standards. Some want huge, expensive waterworks and pipes that connect to huge water works. One of the problems the old core area has is combined sewers. During large rain events, the combined sanitary and storm sewers overflow. Currently much sewage water is sent to huge storage areas during large rain events, treated and sent to the river. The large storage areas are called CSO’s (combined sewer over flows). This is an expensive solution and not very elegant but it does treat sewage in the river.

Balance of potting soil

Potting soil

I have given up buying potting soil when I garden in containers. I have also given up mixing my own, preferring to use compost. Pure unmixed compost is what I use. I have heavy clay soil, it is no good for mixing in. Sometimes I buy sand, or take it from former children’s sand boxes.

I figure the variety of microorganisms in the soil will make a nice environment for the plants. By the house is the paved part where I grow in pots. This is the only place broccoli and lettuce don’t attract the ground hog. Carrots and parsley get tucked in here, also flax seeds itself. I also have luck with potatoes, sweet potatoes, tender herbs, many seeds I like to toss in the pots like Love in a mist, Nasturtums, vining annuals like morning glories and patio tomatoes. Staking and letting the vines spill over the sides of the pots keeps me entertained.

I think the compost gets heavy and I know it dries out, has to be watered everyday in July and August. Potting soil has sphagnum moss or peat or perlite to lighten it up and absorb water. Sphagnum and peat are acid, will kill nasties. Compost usually has a balance of bacteria and will support a heathy colony, prevent overgrowth of cooties (I stole the term cooties from a landscaper who was talking about not putting mulch within an inch of a tree trunk in order to avoid unbalance of microorganisms and kill the tree. This situation seems analogous to Candida albicans in the gut).

I like the idea of balance of microorganisms. Alternately, an acid environment can be maintained. Potting soil with perlite is best added to the compost after it is used, in the compost pile, it will acquire a healthy balance of microorganisms. Being sterile, perlite potting soil has no defense against any cootie that decides to take up residence in your pot. Sometimes it will work, sometimes it won’t.

Maybe Jerry Baker has a vinegar solution for nonacid soils. Or water perlite soil with compost teas. Aforementioned are untested ideas