Sunday, 9 August 2015
Long Beach Peninsula Edible Garden Tour
The annual edible garden tour, presented by the Long Beach Grange, is a benefit for local food banks.
Homewood
“A young food forest on about ½ acre, with some big changes underway this season”
Homewood lives up to its name with such a feeling of hominess. The house was designed to have windows on two sides of every room and has an entire wall of books, something I always like to see. Lisa, the owner of this garden, is the organizer of the Edible Tour. She and her late spouse designed and built the house together. She is a fiber artist as well as a food forest gardener, and her creations can be found at the Bay Avenue Gallery. While some of her creations are elegant fashion accessories like her beaded purses, you can see that others are inspired by her kitchen garden.
photos courtesy Bay Avenue Gallery
So what is a food forest? “A food forest is a gardening technique or land management system, which mimics a woodland ecosystem by substituting edible trees, shrubs, perennials and annuals. Fruit and nut trees make up the upper level, while berry shrubs, edible perennials and annuals make up the lower levels.”
Lisa’s garden lives up to the description, with food at all levels of the garden.
arriving at the garden
entry, with climbing roses
Teresa and I enter the garden (Allan’s photo)
I love the blue trim on the house. The white cages hold blueberries.
Lisa told us that she had at last successfully managed to make a deer-proof fence all around the perimeter of the property. The smaller cages are to protect fruit from the birds; otherwise, there would be none left for Lisa of the special delicacies like blueberries.
looking south over the rain gauge: The summer has been exceptionally dry.
I first took the path around the south side of the garden.
past the outdoor sink
sink
handy for washing soil off produce out in the garden
apples (Allan’s photo)
Asian pear, Lisa’s photo
hydrangea
Just this last month, Lisa laid this stone path instead of having grass paths.
nettle, a beneficial plant, caution-taped to avoid accidental contact
aronia (chokecherry)
path destination, a secret sit spot
path back to the house
Malva (mallow) flower
Lisa and Teresa
The sunny center of the garden on the south side of the house is given to kitchen garden rows.
Lisa made numbered edging for the garden beds and told us that she is planning to do so for other beds, with tree names set into the concrete.
concrete mosaic row numbers
beans
beans
I am sure that earlier in the year there were edible peas, as well. By the almost mid-August date of this tour, the early season crops are done, especially in this hot dry year when the season for most flowers and fruits is earlier than usual.
sunflowers, turned away
cucumber tower, Lisa’s photo
Bay Avenue Gallery art (Allan’s photo)
cat from Bay Avenue Gallery
east end of deck
refreshing herbal tea
edibles on display
Allan, Lisa, and Teresa look at the garden plan and plant lists.
Allan’s photo
looking southeast from the deck
Lisa and her garden, showing the south wall of the greenhouse
figs against the south wall of the greenhouse
fig, Lisa’s photo
in the window
inside the lean-to greenhouse on the south wall of the garage
in the green house
stacked rock art piece, a gift from a friend
We walked between the house and garage to see the north side of the garden.
between house and garage, looking north
the between garden
ladies in waiting against the east garage wall
hydrangea and buddleia
fire circle
north side of house
shed on north side, with a little sit spot
east side of house: A work area is always of interest to me.
almonds, Lisa’s photo
We returned to the deck on the south side of the house and sat with Lisa for awhile as the tour drew to a close.
view from the deck
south view from living room
east windows over bookshelves
one of Lisa’s many books
At five o’clock, the official end of tour time, we departed and saw Lisa taking in the tour sign.
the end of garden tour season
That’s the end of our local garden tour season! There will be one more tour, the Cannon Beach Cottage Tour, in mid-September. Meanwhile, it’s back to focusing on work and my own garden.
I’m interested in how she builds the blueberry cages–did she use PVC for the frame? Maybe you can give me the scoop this weekend. I have to protect my blueberries too, and her method looks easier than just draping the netting over the bush. Less damaging, too.
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I think it is PVC. I don’t have the scoop though. I can give you her email address. It looks like an effective method and she told us it does work.
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