Winter Protection

 Suns Scald

Can heal if damage is light

diluted latex paint for prevention

Rabbits and Mice

Deer Rubs, too late this season Tposts

Micro Orchard & Rain Garden in Beaverdale

These Beaverdale homeowners are passionate about being good Stewards of the Earth.  They were already using solar panels to produce electricity, had a vegetable garden and flowers.

Before

In addition to that, they really wanted to do something more with their home space; potentially turning the yard into a more natural and environmentally friendly, food producing landscape.  We mentioned this project on the blog earlier this year!

Downspout collection and basin plan

We shared about the city's stormwater rebate program, and they immediately wanted to do something about their runoff.  Besides the function, a rain garden would provide pollinator habitat and curb appeal.

Mid construction progress pics often look bad

We planned a mini orchard mixed into and nearby the native area that would also benefit from the pollinators and other beneficial insects attracted to the rain garden.  Native paw paw trees, gooseberry and serviceberry shrubs would be included in the stormwater element.  Planted close by were a pair of dwarf apple trees as they were under some utility lines.  Dwarf apples are generally more precocious but need staking for the life of the tree.

In addition to the beneficial native plants in the rain garden, we included many multifunctional plants in the orchard understory.  Permaculture design principles use plants to fill the many growing layers and niches that unwanted weeds will have to fight making management easier. 

Other companion plants in the orchard guild will help prevent disease, cycle nutrients and provide additional yields.  Each role is filled by multiple plants, and each plant serves multiple roles.  The understory includes strawberries, clover, chives, sage, thyme and more. 

"The crew came out and put in the rain garden and orchard, it's so beautiful!  Total win/win/win for the City of Des Moines in helping keep (at least our) runoff out of the sewers, in providing food for us and our furry/non-furry neighbors, and for our pollinators who have already started their amazing work!"

Iowa Lemons!

Lemons can be a lot of fun to grow in Iowa!  Wait, what!?  That can't be right...

Unless you live in a tropical or semitropical climate the idea of growing your own lemon tree might seem impossible.  It may not be possible to grow a citrus in the ground here (without some serious effort*) but we can easily grow them, in pots!

*Visit a Nebraska greenhouse that grows lemons and oranges

*Fruit Trenches: Cultivating Subtropical Plants in Freezing Temperatures

These wonderful trees can be a unique addition to any home.  By growing a small lemon tree in a container, you'll be able to get homegrown lemons with limited space, even in the Midwest.  In addition to lemons, the flowers are beautiful and smell amazing! 

Lemon trees actually have pretty good cold and heat tolerance, but our winters get cold, and they need to come indoors.  Growing lemon trees in pots allows them to be mobile.  Having a "mobile home" won't mean they can head south for the winter, but it does allow them to "migrate" to the inside. 

In summer you can put them on your patio, deck or an open area by your vegetable garden.  An apartment balcony can be great too, especially for those who have limited access to other kinds of gardening.  Besides a few citrus trees, I also keep lemongrass, rosemary and bay laurel on our deck.

Almost like a container food forest!

As the weather starts to cool off simply bring them indoors for the winter.  When the temperature gets down below 50°F I'll make plans to bring them in, a frost can be deadly to a potted citrus tree.  Check for aphids, spider mites and scale so you don't bring those in with your tree.  A spray with insecticidal soap usually does the trick.  If your citrus tree drops some or many of their leaves when moved indoors at the end of the growing season, don't worry!  This is a natural response as the tree adjusts to different light levels.

When the late winter months start to seem extra, extra-long you can enjoy the bright, citrus fragrance and think of warmer days soon to come.  With proper care, growing a lemon tree in a pot is easy enough that you can do so anywhere.  

Even in Iowa...

Go Big! Drake's Harkin Center - Phase 2

After the first stormwater basin was renovated, a bigger portion of the remaining original design was slated for renovation the following year.  The West entrance featured double stormwater collection basins with a curved sidewalk to the parking area.

Harkin Center ph2 the following May

Again, Kelly Norris was tasked with reimagining the space to take it the next level, and Abundant Design was chosen as the contractor.   Originally the surrounding areas were planted with prairie dropseed and echinacea, with sedges in the basin floors.  

Before pics

Most of the existing plants were removed.  The basin sedges were left in place, but we did get some of the weeds removed.  The turf lawn was removed, from the existing planted space to the west parking lot; this ground was so hard we tore up two sodcutters and had to use the tooth bucket on our Dingo™ to remove the turf grass.  

Many of these plants ended up transplanted at Sprout, between the garden fence and parking area.  Another bunch of them were donated to the DMACC Food Forest and Learning Garden to fill in some gaps.  

We also removed the turf from the open space south of the main entry lobby.

That's a LOT of plants!

The layout begins... yep, that's a lot of plants...

Planting, planting and more planting!

Just keep planting!  Time is short, called in a few reinforcements for the weekend.

Watering - Again this project was late in the season, but watering new plantings is critical to success.

Long days made for some late watering

Planting completed, but it was late enough in the season that any visual impact would just have to be anticipated...

After winter the plants were coming up nicely by May.  Several of the evergreens didn't make it however, guessing due to the late season planting and the drying winds funneled up University Avenue.  We replaced those as needed.

By year two the space is looking absolutely spectacular!

For MORE AMAZING PICTURES Visit Kelly's Project Page Here

Harkin Institute — Kelly D. Norris (kellydnorris.com) 

Snack-able Rain Garden in Clive

Earlier this year Clive rolled out its new stormwater assistance program 

City of Clive's 

NEWLY UPDATED 

Stormwater Assistance Program

We shared their website on our social media, and soon after, we were contacted about installing a rain garden close to our office.  The first one using their new program.

The homeowner wanted to help by reducing her runoff and is making steps to become more environmentally responsible with her property - less spraying and more habitat.  However, she isn't fond of the wild, "prairie look" and hoped for something "tidy" looking.

Keeping this in mind, much of the basin floor was covered with low growing sedges for a clean palette.  As the eye travels towards the back and berm, we added a bit more diversity to try to maximize time with blooming plants, balancing that by keeping the number of different species lower.

And, as much as possible she wanted to include lots of edible and food producing plants.  We mentioned this fun project earlier!

We do have a fair amount of smaller native plants with edible fruit such as serviceberry and gooseberries, so we used two of each!  Although not in this project elderberry, paw paw and hazelnuts would be good native options too.  We also included strawberries, asparagus and some herbs.

We were sold out of strawberries, thanks to Iowa Backyard Farmer for these!

A rain barrel was also on the project wish list, too.  She chose a barrel that she found online, which matched the house well, but was a little different for us to install.

The overflow was directed down the front and the online reviews didn't make me feel confident we could drill into the side without damaging it.

We removed the existing downspout extension, to make mowing easier, and buried a drain tile in its place with a popup.

Before installing the stand and stabilizing rock, I ended up putting in a perforated tile under the overflow.  This was connected to the downspout tile we buried.  

I used larger river rock there, to hide that pipe, and also allow the overflow water in where it was directed into to the downspout tile and popup.

While I worked on the rain barrel, the guys started burying the downspouts and excavating for the catchment basin and berm.

Once the basin was dug, the amended soil was added, and inlet/outlets were armored.  The plants were put in, watered well and mulched.

For the final reveal and walk through, her sister was visiting and invited along.  They shared some family stories, and both agreed that they "absolutely love it!"

Since the strawberries are everbearing, and were already growing well, they have produced enough for a treat every few days! 🍓🍓🍓