wall sympathy
- To:
- Subject: wall sympathy
- From: J*
- Date: Sun, 24 Sep 2000 10:44:55 -0700
I have a similar rock retaining wall with blue oaks growing above it. It
only gets half a day's sun and I haven't tried to amend the soil other than
the sandy mix used to backfill when the wall was built. The summers here in
Redding are probably hotter than yours, and I water the wall once a month or
so in the summer with a sprinkler. We haven't lost any oaks yet. After ten
years of trying lots of things that didn't do well, the winners are
zauschneria, a couple different forms that have crept around and emerged
from in between the rocks as well as on top; gray santolina, and Centranthus
ruber. Several buckwheats (Eriogonum) have done OK but don't like the
afternoon shade & are leggy. Teucrium polifolium and Convolvulus
mauritanicus (blue bush morning glory--it's called something else now but I
forget) are slowly increasing in size. Native populations of purple
needlegrass, Nassella pulchra, and yarrow are interesting but not
spectacular. Anyway, it's filled in enough that I've stopped fiddling with
it.
-----Original Message-----
From: michael larmer <mlarm@hotmail.com>
To: lorettagerity@home.com <lorettagerity@home.com>
Cc: medit-plants@ucdavis.edu <medit-plants@ucdavis.edu>
Date: Saturday, September 23, 2000 8:11 PM
Subject: An analysis of your situation/ the no-till system
>As much as I admire, and in some situations use, the so called no-till
>or lasagna system of growing, I don't think it will in and of itself solve
>your problem.
>
>If I correctly understand your situation, you have a retaining wall
>which creates a raised bed area which is in full sun and occupied
>in significant part by an oak ( You did not say what kind or how large.)
>
>Your complaint is that it is laborious to keep watered and impossible
>to keep in good tilth.
>
>I don't know what you are trying to grow in this spot, but it sounds like
>part of the problem might be what you are choosing as plant
>material or your expectations of what this area should be/ how this
>area should look.
>
>Generally, areas and beds occupied by large trees are some of the most
>difficult to garden successfully. While you don't apparently have the
>problem of shade in your situation, you still have the competition
>from the roots of what I assume is a native oak of enough stature that
>you want to keep it and therein lies the problem.
>
>If you have been reading this message board long enough, you have no doubt
>heard warnings about watering oaks here in California in the
>summertime. Eventually such trees succumb to one or more root pathogens
>that are encouraged by soil moisture in warm temperature soils.
>
>Now layering well composted organic material topped with a bark or wood
chip
>mulch will keep the soil cooler and retain some of the winter
>moisture from rainfall, as well as providing a more open soil surface
>and protection from compaction (therefore better aeration and overall
>plant health), but if you continue to water this you will eventually
>lose the tree unless it is one of the import oaks that are adapted
>to summer water. Even in this case, such a tree transpires at a phenomenal
>rate in summer, and you will be hard pressed to replace the
>moisture by hand watering.
>
>In addition you need to think about choosing plants that will grow in
>competition with roots and need little (preferably no) summer water.
>This seems an ideal situation for a great many geophytic plants (bulbs).
>You have sunlight, obviously excellent drainage, and the raising of the
>wall puts the flowers up at eye level.
>
>A great many of the Narcissus (the tazetta in particular) would do well in
>such a spot, but there are a host of other bulbs which also will do well
for
>you in Marin and will extend the flowering season, just don't pick anything
>with much of a chilling requirement like tulips. A great many of the Iris
>will also do quite well for you in this place.
>
>You will probably also want to fill in spots along the top of the wall
>with evergreen mainstays like prostrate rosemary cascading down or
>one of the drought tolerant vines, to hide the dying bulb foliage
>and give some visual relief for the rest of the season. I have also
>seen lantana used to good effect in a similar situation.
>
>Having selected such plant material, the no-till methods so ably described
>by many others will help you to grow them with a minimum of
>fuss after the first year or so of establishment(always a touchy time).
>
>At any rate, this is the approach I would take in such a case. For further
>inspiration consult any of Sidney Mitchell's books (From a
>Sunset Garden, Gardening in California, Your California Garden and Mine)
>which, though out of print, are well represented in the libraries and
>used booksellers inventories. He gardened and wrote not all that far from
>you, in Berkeley and Oakland, in the days before automatic watering systems
>were in vogue.
>
>
>Yours most respectfully,
>Michael Larmer
>
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