Edible Gardening Tips

We at City Steward are please to have been among those interviewed for a recent Oregon Home Magazine article offering tips to successfully create a Victory Garden in your own backyard, transforming your backyard into a productive garden filled with edible herbs and vegetables. The article is entitled 18 Tips for Growing a Victory Garden and can be found on Oregon Home Magazine's website.

The Victory Garden concept originated in World War I after the US government was forced to ration many staple food items. Labor shortages made it difficult to harvest and transport frutis and vegetables, so the government began encouraging citizens to plant "Victory Gardens." The effort led urban dwellers to plant gardens in backyards, empty lots, and on city rooftops.

Today, against the backdrop of a down economy, concerns over GMSs and pesticides, and the large carbon footprint of our mainstream food supply, the term "Victory Garden" has taken on a new meaning. There is tremendous momentum-appropriately-behidn enabling families to grow some of their own food in backyard gardens, or to participate in Community Supported Agriculture programs. One example is the Victory Garden Initiative which promotes the use of our own backyards (and front yards, rooftops and patios) for the production of a self-sufficient, sustainable, and healthy food supply.

With the right additions to your yard and the right gardening techniques, anyone can cultivate a flourishing backyard edible garden. Here are a few tips from the Oregon Home Magazine article:

-When conceiving of the raised beds your edible garden needs, think beyond the traditional rectangular shape.

-Edible gardens can be aesthetically pleasing as a traditional yard landscape with the proper planning to balance platn colors, patterns, and heights.

-Not all plants grow well from seed, so when planning your garden, pay attention to which seeds can be planted directly in the ground and which should come from starts.

-You may want to alter the layout of your backyard to allocate prime growing areas (those with plenty of sunlight) for your vegetables.

Below is a photo of rasied beds for edible gardening that were recently installed by City Steward at a North Portland multi-family property.

Reclaimed Materials in Garden Design

Using reclaimed and recycled materials makes for beautiful, distinctive and eco-friendly garden schemes. Reclaimed timber, bricks, tiles, and stones add character and a sense of history. Recycled stones and bricks can be used to border beds or pathways; broken dishes and mosaic tiles splash color in unexpected ways. Crushed seashells and abalone shells are another great way to give the garden color, promote drainage, or serve as mulch. Reclaimed lumber is just as sturdy as virgin wood and can be used for decks and other structures, helping reduce your home’s carbon footprint.

We occasionally take finds from the Rebuilding Center and repurpose them as garden trellises. Another take on this concept may be right in your garden. Many yards contain existing materials – stone, pavers, etc. – that can be readily integrated into a rehabilitation project and new landscape. City Steward takes pleasure in drawing on resources already on site and helping our clients reuse these materials in our projects. The photo to the left shows a path created with blocks and flagstones that were hidden behind an old garage at this NE Portland home (only the gravel had to be purchased).

Alternative Materials for Building Decks and Patios

The photo above shows a deck that was created by City Steward using a mix of composite material and treated wood.

At City Steward, we offer the option of using composite “lumber” for decks and backyard patios. Traditionally, native woods like Redwood and Cedar have been used for decking due to their visual appeal and inherent insect-resistance. Though nice to have, they require trees to be cut down. An advantage of composites is that they’re a green alternative to virgin wood, in that most use a combination of recycled and reclaimed materials.

In some cases, people think all composite decking is Trex, but actually there are dozens of composite decking products on the market. The primary components are most often a plastic and an organic material, usually fiber from scrap wood. But not all composites contain wood fiber and new products with new combinations of materials are rapidly appearing.

Virgin lumber, treated wood, and composite materials all have their upsides and downsides in terms of cost and performance. This Backyard America.com article goes over the advantages and disadvantages of each type of material that can be used for building decks.

The bottom line for City Steward and our clients is that experience indicates that composite materials, when applied and installed in the right ways, are an effective and environmentally-friendly option. We are particularly enthused about an emerging product that uses rice hulls instead of wood scrap.

Raised Beds for Enhanced Garden Space

Many yards in our area have precious little space for both recreation and gardening. Building raised beds has become a popular way to conserve usable backyard space while still adding capacity to grow herbs and vegetables.

Raised beds contain loosely packed soil that allows for better drainage than Portland’s soil, which is high in clay content. Raised beds also provide warmer soil and an enhanced growing environment because the sides of the beds are heated by the sun. This can allow for a longer growing season. Another benefit of installing raised beds is that the follow up care of your plants is easier, as there is less bending required when pulling weeds or harvesting the vegetables and herbs.

Not only are raised beds a useful addition to your home garden, but they can be aesthetically pleasing as well!

Checking the Spread of Invasive Plants

Invasive plants like English Ivy or Garlic Mustard can have detrimental effects on Northwest native plant and animal communities. The invasives out-compete native plants for nutrients and thereby disturb food chains and reduce biodiversity.

Butterfly Bush is a common invasive plant that originated in China and Japan but now proliferates in Oregon and Washington. It is a large bush with pink, purple, or blue flowers. From yards and gardens, they have spread to forest boundaries, streams, and road shoulders, endangering native landscapes in those areas.

Photograph of a Blooming Butterfly Bush courtesy of Tom Forney, OR Dept of Agriculture

The City of Portland has an anti-invasive policy and is actively trying to eliminate plants like the Butterfly Bush on city-owned sites. It is important for home owners to do the same. At City Steward, we aim to help reduce the negative impact of invasives in our area. One of our service offerings is removing invasive plants and replacing them with natives that will strive and contribute to the vitality of our ecosystem.

The Portland Bureau of Environmental Services has a great reference for those interested in learning more about controlling invasive plants on their property. Here is a link to the city’s “Invasive Plant Management Strategy” as well as a comprehensive list of nuisance and prohibited plants, and the natives that can be planted instead.

Edible Gardens

There are many reasons that edible gardens are taking over yards all around Portland. Growing your own food is a natural fit for the do-it-yourself culture here. What could be more symbolic of independence and self reliance than producing one’s own sustenance and nutrition.

For families, a home garden is a wonderful way to get kids engaged with nature, more aware of how food grows and more willing to eat vegetables. And there is no more certain way to eat organic than have grown it oneself. Saving some money on grocery bills isn’t bad either.

Work into edible gardening gradually by planting one or two spots, or get into it more fully by converting wider areas. The idea is gaining popularity, and was the subject of a September 14, 2008 article in the Oregonian entitled “Is it time to kill your lawn?”

The article chronicles a “new American lawn ritual” – removing it and replacing it with vegetables, fruits and herbs. Just about every yard – with the right site planning, soil building and crop choices – can support edible gardening.

Building Healthy Soil

Healthy soil is made up of various things – clay, silt and sand, air and water, and organic matter in various stages of decomposition. The more organic material in your soil, the more productive it will be.

One reason for difficult gardening is that many yards just don’t have good soil – it may lack nutrients, have heavy clay soil or be compacted. One solution is to add organic fertilizers and thoroughly till the soil before adding new plantings.

Another way to build healthy soil is by planting temporary cover crops. They’re an excellent way to naturally add organic matter and fertility to soil. During most of the year, these annual cover crops can be planted, and after their growing period tilled into the soil to decompose.

For success in growing a wider range of plants, build healthy soil first, plant second.

Going Native

A conventional approach to yards is what many homeowners have inherited as they buy homes in close-in neighborhoods. In many ways, conventional yards reflect outdated practices and standards – the lawn that constantly needs to be either watered, fertilized or mowed; traditional plantings that are boring, tired and often, overgrown; or showy hybrids that are typically too thirsty or maintenance intensive.

Another approach is more interesting, easy and earth-friendly – converting yards with native plants. “Naturescapes” promote biodiversity, preserve our natural heritage, help reduce pollution and enhance livability. They also provide habitat and food sources for butterflies, birds and small animals, while supporting essential pollinators like bees.

Native plants have thrived in this area for thousands of years. They have the advantage of being naturally drought-tolerant and disease-resistant through adaptation to unique local conditions. They are just as attractive as traditional landscape plants, and varied enough to meet most any need. By viewing our yard choices as environmental choices and going native, we can give back to the earth. Expanses of native perennials and shrubs enable any yard to reconnect with our ecosystem. There are several online tools, such as this Native Plant Finder, that enable easy research and review of options for planting with Oregon natives.

DOWNSPOUT DISCONNECT: Containing the rain is fish-friendly and now gets you a water bill discount.

Portland has a “combined” sewer system. This means rain falling on homes, streets and sidewalks is collected and then channeled into the sewer system. When it rains, pipes fill with stormwater runoff and sewage. During heavy rains, untreated sewage overflows directly into the Willamette River.

While the "Big Pipe" project will dramatically reduce these overflows, it will not completely control them. So, part of the solution is reducing runoff from homes.

Clean River Rewards is an incentive for Portland homeowners to do just that – by disconnecting their downspouts from the combined sewer system, homeowners get a discount on their quarterly water bill. After a disconnect, rainwater is routed away from a foundation and into a rain garden, which is planted with moisture-loving plants and allows roof runoff to seep naturally into the ground. Rain gardens make your yard more attractive while building urban ecological health.

The discount applies to the Stormwater portion of your quarterly water bill. Typical savings are about $21.00 per household each quarter. Once the required downspout adjustments and landscaping additions are done, homeowners can easily register online (or by mail) and see savings of about $84 annually. These projects pay for themselves in short order and truly help make a home greener.





In one recent Downspout Disconnect project, City Steward combined reclaimed bricks, a copper rain chain, and native plants in a rain garden design, adding an attractive and watershed-friendly element to a home.