Reports: Peace Garden

DAVE’S REPORT ON THE LATEST ACTIVITIES IN OUR

PEACE GARDEN

Hi everyone
Thanks to the hard work of several of 11 of our members the Peace Garden has been planted. We have a large assortment of vegetables in and we will be planting more in a couple of weeks as the remainder of the starts mature. We planted 50′ of raised bed, held in with straw wattles, wire underneath. And we planted a large area of in-ground veggies as well. The whole effort took about 4 hours with a couple of breaks for food and wine. The wattles we have left are very much deteriorated, so please keep an eye out for used ones sitting around. We can ask the owners of the wattles to donate them to us, and I have a pickup truck to transport them.

We have a watering schedule now where we take turns keeping the garden green. Tetsuo Matsui has graciously offered to donate his old irrigation system for us to use.

Special thanks to Ron and Maryette Selkovitch for the use of their land, water and tractor work. Special thanks also to Cathy Sellers, our Garden coordinator, and John Gardner who nurtured most of our new plants. It was Cathy’s brainstorm to use wattles in straight rows, allowing us to put in a large amount of plants, using the straw wattle to hold in the dirt and moisture. With this type of garden you do not need to till the soil to get started. We placed 1/2″ aviary wire underneath to keep the gophers out. The only disadvantage of using wattles this way that I could find is that it requires many more wooden stakes to hold the wattles in place. When used in a closed loop the wattle holds itself in shape.

Here are some more photos!

Dave Patterson

Ramona Forum

760-207-9139

Peace is the future

OUR PREVIOUS FIRST REPORT

THE BEGINING OF RAMONA FORUM PEACE GARDEN

(includes how to do it)

Sustainable Personal Peace Gardens
www.ramonaforum.org
We call it the peace gardens because well (healthy)-fed people are happier and naturally peaceful!

Small sustainable gardens in every yard should be the push in every community in2009. With the potential of an economic meltdown and possible interruptions of food supply it is more important than ever that personal gardens are growing food that we need. The greatest chance of success of any project is one where there is personal ownership, and the Sustainable Personal Gardens come in.

We at the Ramona Forum have been working to develop an inexpensive and easily installed garden that most people can manage, even the elderly. Recently we saw that in San Francisco they installed a community garden on the laws of the capitol using straw wattles as a raised bed frame. Working on that model we have installed a wattle garden as a test model, and it worked better than we had planned.

The finished product

Keeping with the goal of low cost we purchased the following materials:

9” X 25’ Straw wattle 17.00
9 cu ft top soil 7.87
28’ X 7’deer block netting 6.00
Brick shards or rocks Free
1 Cu yard clean Fill dirt Free from various sources
9ea 4’ stakes Free from a pallet repair business
2ea 1’ stakes Free from a pallet repair business
Total 30.87

Optional Gopher wire 5.00

Tools needed:
Shovels
Maul or sledge
Pitchfork
Rake
Trowl

Installation
Installation was very easy and took about 1 hour. We rolled out the wire and coiled the straw wattle on top. A 25’ wattle if placed in a circle has a radius of 4’, too far to reach from the side, so we shaped it into an oval about 4’ across at the outside. The garden footprint then is approximately 4’ X 9’.

In this example the wire was 2’ wide so we had to overlap it with 3 runs, but if the garden is 4’ wide, then a single piece 9’ long is preferable.

We used short 1’ stakes to fix the ends of the wattle together, and 6ea 4’ long stakes placed on the outside to hold the wattle in place. Stakes with a sharp point went easily through the wire. The ends of the wire were folded under the wattle, so that we wouldn’t trip on it.

Next we filled in the wattle with clean dirt. The quality of this dirt is not that important, as afterward we put the composted soil on top and tilled it in with a shovel to about 6” deep.

Next we planted several plant starts, however we recommend that the planting be as dense as possible for maximum yield.

After planting we put in 3 more 4’ stakes in the middle to support the deer netting and conveniently some tomato plants when it warms up slightly. In the above photo a piece of wire is wrapped around the outside 3 stakes on the left, so that the pole beans we planted will have something to climb on. Tomato cages will work fine for this also.

The deer netting was streached across the garden and stapled on one side to the top of the 3 middle stakes. This allows the netting to be lifted for access from one side or the other. The netting lay on the ground 2 feet from the wattle and is held don by brick shards. This left an opening at the ends that had to be closed with clothespins.

The entire garden can be installed by 3 people in less than an hour, and we are hoping to get the price reduced through wholesale purchases and volunteer work. One are of volunteer work that is invaluable is in getting the plants started in people’s garages and sheds. A pack of seeds can produce a lot of plants of started in trays that people have stuffed away.

You can see some short videos made on this project on youtube by searching on Ramona Forum.
If you are interested in helping the Ramona Forum seed these small gardens in your community please write us at: www.ramonaforum.org

Or call Dave Patterson, 760-207-9139

Where to buy the materials:
I purchased the wattle and 4 short stakes for $19.64 including tax at this location:
Hydro-Scape Products www.hydroscape.com
731 Enterprise St Escondido, CA 92029 (760) 746-8000

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