Preparing a Strawberry Bed

I have a section of the yard on the west side of the house that gets baked in the August afternoon sun. It gets shade in the morning, which is the opposite of what many plants want. Added to this, the soil is heavy clay with lots of rocks in it and the plot slopes away gently from the house. It is windy on the north/west/side of the house as well. Also, I want to grow edible plants that are easy to access (next to the house). So, I asked around in the Master Gardener community if anyone knew of an edible I could grow in these condition.

"How about strawberries as ground cover?" 

Another Master Gardener in the same situation has been growing strawberries for 20 years in a similar location had let them naturalize an uses them as a ground cover. I inquired further about the process of establishing and naturalizing them. Since strawberries require 8 hours of direct sunlight a day, that shouldn't be a problem, and visually, strawberries give a cooling woodlands texture to the area. OK. I've got my solution. Now how to I implement it?

The first piece of the puzzle is to address the soil conditions. I've got heavy clay soil with lots of rocks in this section of the yard, and strawberries like loose soil with lots of organic matter. So, a raised bed where I create an entirely new soil structure is the only option. I want this too look natural, not a formal "garden in a box" style bed for growing vegetables in a contained space. 

I did some more research and discovered that many people grow strawberries in straw bales. Why not take the straw bales apart, mound them into an attractive form, and create sheet compost by utilizing layers of alternating composed green manure, a non-salty nitrogen source such as rabbit manure, homemade worm castings and some thin layers of the clay native soil to cement the whole thing together? Doing some more research, I realized that I had to let this sit for a year because I had previously attempted to grow native buffalo grass turf there and I dug up and transplanted the larger patches of grass, but there could still be grass roots remaining for the grubs (June beetle larvae) to feed on in the soil. In CSU Master Garden Note 7.000, it says, "When strawberries are planted after sod, grubs, which have been feeding undetected on the sod roots, divert their attention to the strawberry roots. Because there are fewer strawberry roots, a sizable grub population may cause severe damage. After a year out of sod, the grub population declines and strawberries may safely be planted."

Since I was going to let this sit for a year, I took apart the straw bales, layed down the straw in sheets and put down different layers of materials between the sheets of straw. Because of the grubs, I had to cover the entire area, instead of going straight to my final design. This technique (of making sheet compost layers) is often used in permaculture, as shown in this video: http://vimeo.com/11272967

I now realize that I should have planted a nitrogen fixating cover crop (like clover) in the bed while it was sitting, and then mix it in the Spring as green manure. Instead, I planted a few annuals that I wanted to experiment with in it, and let the sheet compost sit undisturbed for a full year.

The strawberry starters have arrived and now that it is time to wake up my landscape for Spring planting. I took a pitch fork and shovel and mixed it up and shaped it into a naturally-looking raised bed, creating a ground-level pathway through the bed (mulched with bark chips). I also positioned the mound so that water from the roof of the house will gradually soak into the uphill side of the bed to gradually feed the strawberries rain water as it peculates downhill. In the water collecting area right under the downspout, I realize that I cannot grow strawberries there because they might get Red Stele root rot if they become water logged. I also want a zone where another type of plant can serve as a water filter and strain out the debris that comes off the roof so that it doesn't collect onto the strawberries . So, in my design, I designated a section for yellow water-loving Japanese Irises. They'll love the extra water.

To complete the preparation of the bed, I looked into fertilizer requirements. I was reading in the CSU Master Gardener fact sheet no. 7.000 that strawberries require 4 bushels of organic matter (no problem there), 1 pound of nitrogen, 1 pound of phosphate, and 1 pound of iron chelate per 1000 square feet. Interesting, no potassium indicated. Our native clay soil must provide enough for strawberries. I got out the tape measure, my raised bed measures roughly 20 feet long by 6 feet wide, which is 120 square feet. I want this to be organic, so looking at fertilizers:

Super Phosphate is not recommended because it is not organic (made by adding sulphuric acid to rock phosphate) and can tie up micronutrients in the soil and kill soil micro-organisms and earthworms, certainly not what we want in a permaculture design. I read on the Internet that some people have used bone meal as an organic source of phosphorus, and I found a product, "Hi-Yield" brand that combines Bone (source of phosphorus) and Blood Meal (source of nitrogen) at a relatively equal levels of 6% Nitrogen and 7% Phosphate.

To calculate the exact amount I need to add per square foot, I did the math using a very cool fertilizer calculator I found on the Internet: http://www.math.umn.edu/~white/personal/fertcalc.html

which revealed that I need to apply 2 pounds of fertilizer, working it into the top 6 inches of my bed.

The iron chelate products that I found for home gardeners were liquid-based, and therefore will be provided to the plants when watering in during planting time. I also have some SuperThrive I can use to enhance nutrient absorption that I can use at the same time to help the strawberries get established (and to also prevent iron chlorosis because the iron is available but not being absorbed).

Gluing trees back together

I was working as a volunteer Master Gardener at a home gardening clinic at a local hardware store yesterday. I got an interesting question, "what type of glue do I use to glue my tree back together?"

The man who asked me this explained that he has a 20 year old maple tree that had split 2 feet down the middle during a snow storm this winter. He wants to use glue or some other kind of product used in the construction industry to glue it back together, and hopefully save the tree. He then showed me a bottle of Titebond glue, and wondered if that brand of wood glue was strong enough if he put a bolt through the tree and clamped the tree while the glue is curing to hold it in place. He explained how he could force the trunk to come back together without using a cord or wrap which would girdle the tree. He could use bolts. Would this work?. And if gluing trees back together does indeed work, he wondered if any kind of wood glue could work or does it need to be an all-weather sort of glue. 

Listening to his question, my first reaction was, "that's crazy." A split-second later, my next reaction was, "if this was indeed possible, why weren't we have been trained on it during our tree management classes?" Before I allowed this kind of mind progression to go any further, I stopped myself. I remembered that I stand one and equal with this man. He asked for help. He described his problem and wondered if I could help him out. He is a real live human being standing in front of me, and he deserves my shutting down the inner dialog and just being here with him in this moment. I saw that I needed to change my starting point in answering his question. I needed to see that he's got a problem to solve and he's working out a way to solve it, and I need to walk with him as an equal. I do unto others as I'd like them to do unto myself. As I looked further at this, I stopped my reaction of rejection of the man and his idea. I went with it. "Why shouldn't you be able to glue a tree back together?" Let go of my pre-conceived attitudes and ideas about the subject, let's explore this possibility together...

First, we gotta look at the physics. The tree split because it couldn't structurally hold the snow loads that it encountered in the location it was growing in. Suppose that it didn't matter that the tree is alive. Suppose that the glue could stick to living woody tissue. I still don't anticipate that the glue would hold because wind would cause many little vibrations that would cause the adhesive bonds to break. So let's look into any of the glues and see if any are both flexible (can handle the vibration) and load bearing (can handle the weight). So far, it seems to me that the solution isn't structurally sound, but we have still have to got to walk the process of seeing exactly what isn't practical about this idea.

So, I took a look at the instructions that are printed on the wood glue bottle. I read the label and pointed out that the product "isn't recommended for load bearing applications". So this wouldn't work. He would go through all this effort and the tree would just split again during the next heavy snow storm. We took a look at the other kinds of glues. It seemed to me that if they were capable of handling the load, they wouldn't work because the bond is too brittle to handle the daily vibrations from the window blowing the branches around. 

Obviously, if glue isn't the answer. What is? 

I suggested that he talk to a "tree doctor", a licensed arborist who can see if the tree can be saved. Who knows, perhaps there is a way that I haven't heard about to glue a tree back together. An licensed arborist would know. Perhaps they have another way to cement the tree back together.

I gave him a few moments to consider this, and it seemed to me that have to had the time he needed to work this through, he had an "aha" moment. It looked to me like it "dawned on him", or he saw for himself how and why glue wouldn't work. We discussed whether or not I recommend that if it cannot be saved, if he replace the tree with another maple. I then used the opportunity to explain pruning an training trees so that they can be both flexible (to handle wind) and load bearing (to handle heavy wet snow). I explained to him what he has to do to prevent this from happening again if he decides to replace the tree with a new young maple in a nearby location. I described how trees can be pruned and structurally trained where a person looks at the tree like a structural engineer would, and nurtures it into a form and shape that is best suited to handle the snow loads and high winds. If this tree can't be saved, there is a lot that can be done to prevent the same story playing out again with the next tree.

On my way home from the clinic, I continued to ponder this situation. It is easy to criticize people for "not knowing better". But, if we really embrace the instruction from Jesus to love our neighbor as ourselves, I know that there are many times I have asked questions in my life that may appear to be just as crazy. Like the one I'm asking now, "how do we realistically, practically love our neighbor as ourselves?" Using the analogy of gluing a tree back together, there are many times that I first ask if I can use a particular quick fix solution, only to find out that there is no easy answer and sometimes it takes a painful process that must be walked instead of what I had hoped would work. And it is fascinating that most of the solutions that really do work require focused effort of daily incremental changes. Facing and transcending that which stops me from doing what's best for all in every moment, with every breath requires awareness, selecting, training, pruning, together with some good insight and training from the "structural engineers" who know what kinds of principles and practices can stand the test of time. Solid timeless practices and principles to support real change.

By walking with "man with a broken tree" as myself. One and equal. I wouldn't want my questions to be laughed at. I wouldn't want to be made fun of, or told that I should have "known better". I would want to be taken seriously as an equal and shown exactly why the solution that I had come up with isn't practical or wouldn't work. I would want someone to discuss it with me and show me what other approaches I could take instead to try to sort this out. I would want to be directed to the professionals with the background and experience of looking into how to heal injured trees like mine. 

So, I did some research on the internet and found an example.

http://www.ehow.com/how_4836852_repair-split-tree.html.

As I walk the Structural Resonance Alignment SRA course I'm taking (part of the Desteni I process), I'm learning how to prune myself. As Thomas Keating aptly put it, I'm learning how to dismantle emotional programs for "happiness" that could have never worked. I'm learning how to recognize these programs, dig out the roots within myself, and make room for something better to grow in its place. Something that truly supports all life equally. Something that steps forth from a starting point of what's best for all in all ways all the time in every way possible.

Repotting myself in the soil of equality

I have a jasmine plant that grows in the entryway to my house. It stopped blooming years ago, and everyday I walked by, I knew that it was struggling in the potting soil it was planted in years ago. When I slowed down enough to take a breath, I noticed that the soil smelled like rotting dirt. It obviously was very compacted and wasn't draining properly, and the plant was obviously crying out for help. Everyday I'd walk buy, I knew that I should change the soil, and everyday I walked by, I had many excuses for not doing it. It is in a large pot. It will be difficult to lift the plant out of the large pot. I would need to recruit some help. I told myself that it would be too much effort. And when the misery of the plant couldn't be ignored, I'd feel a little guilty that this situation has gone on for years, but I'd silently yell at the plant, "deal with it!" in an useless attempt to get my guilt to go away.

I have been taking a course offered by a group in South Africa called Structural Resonance Alignment (SRA). The purpose of the course is to identify and uproot thinking within ourselves where we make exceptions and excuses to justify not finding out and doing what's best for all, and "loving our neighbor as ourselves", as Jesus long ago instructed us to do. I've been taking apart my conscious, subconscious and unconscious "emotional programs for 'happiness' that will never work," and stopping my participation in these programs so that I can work towards becoming a living application of Jesus's instructions... someone who fully understands in a real, practical sense how to truly love my neighbor as myself in real living self-expression in every moment with every breath in everything I do.

So, what about this plant? Is it really OK to walk by this suffering plant in obvious misery, doing my best to ignore it and if I can't shrug my responsibility to it, to yell at it "deal with it" and make up excuses to justify to myself why I haven't taken the the time and effort required to correct the situation? I have to be honest with myself. What's best for all is that all living things have an equal chance at a life worth living. What's best for this plant is to have a chance to grow in soil that supports it thriving, not just surviving. We must all correct the inequalities that are allowed to exist within ourselves and all within this world one and equal as ourselves.

I cannot continue to ignore this situation. I decided to end the abuse and repot the plant.

So, I recruited a friend, got the best potting soil I could find and proceeded to replace the dirt in the pot. It was difficult to lift the plant out of the dirt, and when we were finally able to pry it free, we released an odor that reminded me of what happens when a wet swim suit sit in a plastic bag and is forgotten in the bottom of a gym locker for days, weeks or months. The texture of the dirt was like concrete. It was obvious that there was no oxygen in such compacted soil. The roots were suffocating.

I cried tears of shame, regret and sorrow that I had done this to my plant.

As we gently removed as much of the rotten dirt as we could, I noticed the roots. They broke easily and had grown into twisted and contorted shapes. A compensation for a miserable situation. Obviously, the plant had put a lot of effort into creating those twisted and contorted roots, and in one fraction of a second, they broke off. What would happen if this plant, with so much will to live had supportive dirt to grow in? It would use the same effort to make strong roots, ones that could truly support the plant to live out the fullness of itself.

It was then that I realized that I am this plant. As life serves me hardships, I have grown proud that I could "handle anything that is thrown at me". If life gives me lemons, I make lemonaid. I formed a story in my head that I was tough and could grow in any dirt. I didn't think that I deserved something supportive. What if I too had a chance to bloom? Would I let go of the suffering and produce flowers?

There have been moments where I have let the suffering go and just allowed myself to unconditionally enjoy that I have air to breathe and food to eat. I let myself be grateful for all of the support that is here for me. Then, I somehow feel uncomfortable with this because I was proud of all that I overcame and all that I managed and struggled through, just like a plant growing in rotting soil that smells like a gym locker with a wet swimming suit left in it way too long, I have taken pride in "doing the best I can" by growing twisted, contorted and fragile roots. Is it time to let that vision of myself go, and to accept and allow the possibility that I can embrace supportive people and situations now. Can I allow myself to be repotted?

I've been experiencing a lot of fear of letting go of the old dirt, the old definitions that aren't true any longer. I now have supportive people in my world and my reality than can help me change, in lasting ways, from the roots up. One day I could actually bloom again. I can step-by-step, day-by-day, moment-by-moment walk into another script for who I am in and as this world. And it starts with really, actually, practically loving myself as my neighbor... loving my neighbor as myself. And this can only happen from a foundation of oneness and equality.

The dirt has been changed, and the plant has a few new leaves. Under the soil, it probably also has many new roots. I envision those roots growing strong and expanding into their newly supportive soil, growing stronger and happier everyday. I envision that as I forgive myself for having done this to my plant-as-myself, that the plant will forgive me, in whatever ways plants do that.

I have many "emotional programs for happiness that will never work", including the "deal with it" one. Here is a video that one of the instructors for the course I'm taking had made for me. In it she describes a system of "underlying control". This is specifically what led to my torturing my plant, and what working on dismantling as I "change the dirt" in SRA.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggMmm2SzMz4