Sweet Potato Homestead

warm fall clean up

one of the few good sunsets of this season~

The first day of fall has come and gone but we’re still here in the 70s in Vacationland and me and my plants are all confused. The chilly nights we’ve had have gotten me very excited for layers, squash mac and cheese and crunchy leaves~ But! There’s some garden clean up to be done before the true cold weather is upon us.

in the middle of cleaning out pots of their plants and dirt

L: Due to all the rain we were left with back in June and some of July, a lot of these pots were pretty wet and rotten inside. I hope next year won’t be as damp but to avoid any soil-based infections and the like, all the pots were emptied and cleaned and ready for better soil. I let a lot of plants grow out of control and go to seed (vetch and clovers, lettuce and some herbs) but they’re going to be a great source of biomass for the back gardens.

M: The herb tower I snagged at an antique place near by was a great way to set up an herb station on a deck that was already overflowing with pots. I let the parsley, dill and cilantro run ragged since they didn’t seem all that happy with their homes. The oregano, mint, lemon balm and even rosemary did wonderfully and have had a few hair cuts since I cleaned the deck off.

R: A lot of herbs that I started thrived despite the wet weather and I was running out of space elsewhere for them so they populated this weird deck storage thing. The mints and lemon balm did the best while the calendula managed to put off 5 or so blossoms. The mallow next to the calendula keeps growing and growing but I think as the nights get closer to the lower 40s, they’ll give up and I’ll move them into a garden somewhere.

While it’s still warm, a lot of critters can be found in spots around the homestead. We have had so many dragonflies and meadowhawks buzzing around eating the plethora of mosquitos still hanging around. They’ve been fun to watch before sunset and some nights there’s at least 15 or more of them enjoying a meal together~

A lil garter snake has also been a new find and my first reptile of my homestead field guide~ [a recent update from new summer entries can be found here: https://ftepermaculture.com/2023/08/08/homestead-field-guide-summer-update/] My hugelkultur beds are still a new garden addition and there are some pockets in the mounds where you can see partially inside them. Perhaps this snake will stick around and take care of any mice that Potato or our traps miss~

While it still feels like summer to us, the calendar says some things are ready to harvest~ I’ve been harvesting green tomatoes every other day since it’s been getting down into the mid 40s at night so some half homegrown red sauces will be in my future. I’ve also been harvesting the abundance of greens that have enjoyed their first years in their hugel homes and have dried and blended them to create a Many Greens Powder. I’ve been really obsessed lately with niche vitamins and minerals found in plants and I’m excited to make a really beneficial green blend from my own garden. Along with greens, I’ve also started harvesting my red and orange amaranth. They have also done really well in the clay and bright sun and I hope the seeds I missed will overwinter and maybe greet me in the spring~

It’s nice to see the leaves changing and getting crunchy but I’m sad the summer is over. Having the winter off from gardening will be a nice break but there’s plenty to plan for with all the new things I want to implement next year.

a study in suburban permaculture

This week, I want to highlight a great example of a thriving and prolific permaculture garden among the pines here in Maine. After visiting this client and her garden a few times now, I’ve got a serious case of garden envy and a great wealth of ideas for the coming seasons.

at a glance permaculture~

No plant goes without in this bright front yard and it’s easy to see that despite the constant rain all June long, this front yard is overflowing with bounty. This garden is also a great example of mixing a traditional suburban yard with mowed lawn paths and hugelkultur mounds and close sowings of flowers, vegetables, herbs and grasses. Although the tightness of planting may seem like a recipe for disaster, planting on a staggered schedule (ex: 3-sisters planting) to insure plants don’t overcrowd one another and planting more compact varieties (pole vs bush beans) can lead to a flourishing local ecosystem.

flowers on flowers~

An important note in this garden is the wide variety of flowers that are available to pollinators coming and going from the neighbors yards. This variety is a great way to maximize the amount of pollinators that would benefit from these flowers and can only help the plants they’re around.

Intermixed with kale, cabbage, squash and tomatoes is a rainbow of flowers that truly brought a smile to my face. Comos, sunflowers, scarlett runners, roses, marigolds, echinaceas and sedums were vibrating with honey and bumble bees as I walked around admiring them. Along with providing for pollinators, these and other flowers help play roles in the overall development of the garden. Marigolds are great for attracting the good and repelling the bad for tomatoes. Scarlett runners double as a food source and can shade out more sensitive plants like lettuce in sunny spots.

veggies, herbs + greens~

Poking out from underneath tall sunflowers or bushy nasturtiums, vegetables thrive in this front yard.

The star of the show for me, was this huge squash in the middle of the layout. Spilling over into mulched paths this boy cannot be stopped and is keen on showing off it’s massive leaves. Also sucking up as much sun as it can is this wall of scarlet runner beans. This beans are one of my favorites and are so fun to grow. They didn’t make it to my garden this year but I’m looking forward to using them in future 3-sisters plot.

While I’ve become more familiar with wild herbs and how to identify them, I don’t have much experience with asparagus. I don’t eat it myself so have little to no intent to plant it, but it was interesting to learn they produce berries. Well, berry-like seed pods that help them self-seed as the plant matures. I’m not sure how old this particular patch but it may be a couple of years old.

In true permaculture fashion, the last photo displays an example of companion planting. Kale, onion, cabbage, nasturtium, dandelion and cosmos all play a role and feed off of one another. Kale and cabbage are obviously for eating, while onion and nasturtium blossoms repel the bad and attract the good (pollinators). Dense planting of nasturtiums, kale and comos acts as suppression of unwanted plants or weeds. Although loathed by most homeowners, this garden happily welcomes the decisive dandelion. This high-key medicinal plant also acts as an accumulator in the garden and helps with soil health. Its tenacious roots are known accumulating out of reach minerals that are too deep for other plants and bring them to the surface. If you’re not on the dandelion train at this point, I dunno how to reach you~

uncommon features~

Here in the great state of Vacationland, weed is legal for fun and medicine and can be an uncommon addition to a permaculture garden. While I haven’t taken the leap into outdoor cannabis gardening, next year might and so I’m going to be looking into growing it via permaculture and see what I can learn and try.

In this garden, my client applied the permaculture principles as you would for any other plant and provided helper plants around the main cannabis plot. A pollinator in the form of a deep red hibiscus, a great plant for hummingbirds, bees and a vitamin-c rich cup of tea~ Also helping shade out the ever-marching suburban lawn are dandelions and a vining plant I can’t quite identify.

shady spots

While having a front yard in full sun is kind of gardening on easy mode, gardening in shady spots can be a fun way to challenge yourself. Hostas in any shape and color are a favorite for shade or forest gardens due to their eye-catching leaf patterns and dense foliage. They’re also a great suppressor when it comes to unwanted plants or grass and can spread unaided if you rather a more natural look.

Other hallmarks of shade gardens include sweet violets that will spread in small areas not yet pushed out by the hostas. Ferns, hedge grasses and mugworts are also options for a mix of orderly and sprawling.

hugelkultur up front~

While traditional hugelkultur mounds tend to be 7′ mounds of whole trees and brush, suburban-scale mounds can be closer to raised beds. This garden has plenty of space to sprawl and could probably fit a 7’x 7’x 10′ bed, keeping these beds manageable means you’re more likely to use and take care of the space with your traditional 9-5 sacrifice. Using fallen trees is a great way to keep the risk of fire down, is a free resource if your property has wild areas close by, and can be a way to introduce beneficial mushrooms to your garden, further increasing your biodiversity and biomass creation. Mulching is used in this garden as a pathway through and around beds. It’s also used as a weed suppressant and is more biomass that can be added to the overall structure of the mound.

With this use of permaculture, hugelkultur and intensive planting, this garden flourishes in so many ways, despite the strange New England summer we endured. The contents of this garden showcase a diverse amount of food sources to help supplement current food sources on property and off.

Medicinal flowers, roots and leaves to supplement the first aid kit
Dark and peppery greens to provide minerals
Flowers to lift the spirit and provide for pollinators
Large cabbage and ripening tomatoes for fermenting or canning

This garden was a delight to walk through and with its fragrant breeze and buzzing of furry bumbles, it was a snapshot into what all of our front lawns could hope to emulate~

late august garden update

It feels like the most of our sunny days here in Maine have been in August and my garden has responded with some pretty quick growth. I’m delighted everytime I find a new cucumber or tomato flower but it’s bittersweet. Nights up here have already settled into the mid to low 50s, which is the best to sleep in but not so great for struggling tomatoes.

No matter, winter will come soon and I can let go of these gardening season and start obsessing over the next. But for now, here’s what’s been growing~

There might be a small batch of homegrown red sauce this fall but my odds are slim with how few and far between my tomatoes are. The lettuce and chard on the deck have been happy this season, though all my potted deck plants are a bunch of unhappy campers and I’ll be doing a complete soil overhaul for next year. The little Spoon tomatoes have been fun to watch and I’m surprised none of the birds have had a taste but perhaps the hummingbirds might try if they ripen enough.

The bright spot of the garden, besides the outdoor shower Mike built 💚, has been the red and yellow amaranth plants. I was worried about them after I finally planted them in the hugelkultur mounds and they drooped considerably. Thankfully, their stalks have grown considerably and have started to produce huge bunches of dramatic flowers that are just so fun to play with. I’m going to attempt a harvest and then attempt to create flour so I’m very excited to see these doing well. Planted in a mix of greens and wildflowers that may bloom before the frost, this borage has been getting wider and taller by the day.

my only sunny calendulas lighting up the side deck

A wet start to the summer delayed all the flowers I wanted to grow this year. A lot of things drowned and the ones that did thrive were then slug food and then it rained some more so soil and seed runoff was yet another compounding factor. On the brighter side, these kitchen-side herbs and fungi friends in the back yard have been things to appreciate.

This backyard has been such a weird area but now seeing things thrive in its harsh sun has been a boost of confidence towards turning this place into a productive homestead. I don’t want to wish the next few months away but with all the knowledge I’ve learned this summer I can’t wait to grow better next year~