How to lay a concrete paver path… fast and dirty.

Last year we purchased concrete pavers and laid them down on the clay soil on three sides of our home. We knew that it was risky not following any “rules” or “directions” during our installation – and we were right.

We had originally wanted to make our own clay pavers from locally quarried clay as mentioned in Christopher Alexander’s “Pattern Language”, a great design manual. He suggests that this sort of paver would blend well with the natural surroundings – a little dip here, a little slant there and perhaps some grass growing between. But we came to our senses and realized that was too much work and probably beyond our skill level. Then we thought about hiring out, but that was going to be too much for our budget. Several friends mentioned trenching, laying crushed rock and generally making a project of it. But we wanted something simple that would look country like the clay pavers we had envisioned. Well, fools always seem to have a clear road ahead of ‘em and we were set on walking that way.

So, we jumped right in. We scrapped away the weeds and, more or less, leveled the clay soil, tossing the rocks away. Then we placed our pavers three deep around the house. Tired, but done, we gazed at our work – it was too bad. Winter came along and the pavers settled in and so did the weeds. By spring we could barely see the pavers for the weeds – big nasty ones too. This spring we are pulling up the pavers and removing the weeds, roots and all, but before we put them back down (four deep this time), we have laid down some weed cloth. We also filled the spaces between the pavers with soil so we could plant scotch moss. This time, despite our hokey approach, we think we got what we want.

If you aren’t comfortable just going for it as we did, you might dig around on the web for advice. We found a couple of websites you might want to look at

- http://www.ehow.com/concrete-pavers/

- http://www.concretepaversguide.com/how-to-install-concrete-pavers-yourself.html

- http://www.diynetwork.com/how-to/how-to-install-a-paver-sidewalk/index.html

- http://www.wikihow.com/Install-Pavers

Good luck with your project!

Peony factoid

In the US, the tree peony is hardy from zone 4 to 9. The fall is the best time to plant a tree peony. New roots develop and grow rapidly in 77 to 64 degrees temperature before dormancy in winter. When the temperature goes below 40 degrees, the plant stops growing. In early spring as soon as the temperature is above 40, it starts to grow again. Cover with remay for warmth to encourage quick rooting before dormancy.

Tree peony likes dry and cool weather. It does not require a long period of extreme cold in order for it to bloom in the spring. A period of 30 to 45 days of 32 to 41 degree temperature is enough to insure tree peonies to bloom. In the southern US states where there is heavy rain fall and the temperature often reaches above 90 degrees during the summer, they will be able to grow and bloom in the spring, provided they are planted in a location with good drainage, sufficient ventilation, and under semi-shade. You might consider a covered hoop to help keep them dry and warmish initially.

Storing bare-root tree peony

If your tree peony comes in bare-root form it should be planted as soon as possible upon arrival. However, if you need to store it for a few days, it should be kept cool and moist in a moisture retaining pack such as sawdust or peat moss. Remember the tree peony is a hardy plant.

Selecting a site

Tree peony can be planted under full sun or part sun. It requires at least 4 to 5 hours of sun light daily. In areas where it is very hot in the spring, during the blooming season, the heat causes the flowers to wilt and drop fast. In this case, it is better to plant it in a semi-shady area. Good drainage is essential. In a lowland during the summer where accumulated rain water can cause root rot, it may be fatal. However, you can provide better drainage by planting it on a gentle slope or in a raised bed. Avoid planting tree peonies near large trees which may draw the necessary nutrients away from the peonies.

Preparing the soil

Chinese tree peony likes loamy soil with high humus content to a depth of at least 2 feet. It grows best in soil with a ph of 6.5 to 7.5.

Here are some pictures of peonies that we have grown -

Nursery Spring blooms…

May is slipping on past. Spring is quite the tease around here and we don’t know if we should wear a tee-shirt or a sweater. Tumultuous is the word – very typical for southern Humboldt county. Thought I might show you some of the new spring growth in the nursery. First, look at this sweet Alexander Magnolia flower -

We have a lot of plants we are getting up to speed at Milewide Nursery, but two of my favorites are the native Oregon White Oak seedlings that I have started and the 2nd year bright red Japanese Maples that are getting up to size.

Finding the yurt…

I’m looking for a yurt, and its not cuz I’ve gone all hippy-dippy, its because a yurt is a damn good tent structure. Years ago, when I did my version of moving back to the land, I lived in a small yurt for over a year with my young son. It was quite the hobbit home, sod roof and all – the outhouse was up a sweet little path along the side of the hill. An old waterbed was just off the deck and I’d sit up there sloshing around as I read to my son. Oh, I’ve got some pleasant memories of yurts.
Now I am looking for a guest space or perhaps a “community” space for a group of tenters and I thought of the yurt again. Relatively inexpensive, easily movable, elegant and comfortable – this seems to cover it with the yurt. The internet offers any number of configurations on the yurt, even including varying construction techniques. American yurts are really only the distant cousins of the Mongolian yurts. Yurts in the United States are more engineered, use higher tech materials, take longer to put up and are not intended to be moved often. My search took me to a number of websites – each was interesting in their own way -
www.coloradoyurt.com/yurts/index.php This was the first place we looked. We decided that we liked their tipis quite a bit. They make a pretty yurt and their prices are competitive, but they are a long way away and I wanted to get a break on shipping somehow… so I kept looking…www.livabletent.com/ This was a very useful website. Seems like someone had already done this looking around stuff before and here was a list of what they found. I visited several.  - www.atuktents.com/ This is where I would go if I wanted to get a yurt that was closer, traditionally, to the original Ger of Mongolia (“yurt” was the word for the imprint that the Ger made on the ground after it was taken down). From their website, they seem genuine. - www.exclusivetents.com/ Very, very cool canvas structures – elegant. Way expensive. And in Belize. Damn! - www.soulpad.com/ Another very cool, natural looking adaption of the yurt. They wouldn’t ship to California. I was seriously thinking of buying one (price was competitive) until I found out. At this point I got intrigued by all the canvas tents I was seeing and I thought maybe a yurt was too fancy. So, I took a look at a Reliable tent over at www.outfitterwarehouse.com. This was a great big canvas tent with a smoke hole – and dirt cheap. And, for my purposes, dead ugly. You can find alot of canvas tents out there, so not everyone thinks they are ugly. About this time I was ready for a break and I went on over to www.interstellarmarines.com/ to check what I heard was a very cool game promo. I’m a Myst kind of gamer and I like my graphics very crisp. This one looks promising. I have a slow country connection so on-line gaming can be a challenge. Anyway… Still no yurt. I had seen some ads for tent stoves and I thought I should check prices. Well, my favorite stove is a Jotel, but they are like $700 pricey and I wasn’t ready for that. Perhaps something more akin to the “Tin Wonder” that I have seen around.  - www.kni-co.com/ These folks offer several “Sheepherder” stoves meant for tenting with pack animals. Very clean lines. Not a $75 cheapie, but also not a Jotel. The prices ranged from $200 to $400. Worth a visit. I may buy one of these. - www.fourdog.com Wow! You will get heat and cooking out of this one. Their five dog stove runs for $310. Even boils water. I don’t care about cooking and the firebox looks too small, but I want one. - www.tentipi.com/ Looking at the stoves, got me thinking of how I admire Swedish craftsmanship and, just for the hell of it, I visited Tentipi. Real interesting tent – but very far away. Not surprisingly, they also offer stove – Hekla fire boxes and Finnmark fireplaces. After all this searching around, I remembered a friend who had described a yurt he had seen. He had mumbled something about Pacific Yurts(www.yurts.com/). The name sounded familiar. I was pleased to find that they had a very attractive 20 foot yurt and an excellent reputation. I could pick the yurt materials up myself at their factory and save myself the shipping. Their staff has been very helpful. My new yurt is shipping to me as I write.

Milewide website remake

Take a look at our Milewide Nursery website revision. Just uploaded the change in the beginning of March. Basically, got it down to just about one page. Dropped Paypal (as I recommend you do) since they started politically picking and choosing whose account they would honor and I have set up Google Checkout instead. Picked two of our favorite nursery products to offer – japanese maples and artichoke seeds. We are going to get back to website design and expand the site as soon as we can find the time. We have a great many more plants we would like to offer. I do the web design myself and between the nursery, the homestead and a little time off, I just can’t make things happen as quickly as I would like. Let us know what you think of the basic design – we are trying to make it clear cut and modern. Thanks.
steve

Spring Planting Fever

Every Spring, or almost Spring, and that means as soon as I can have any reason to start my seeds, I prep trays of six packs with Black Gold soil mix and start popping seeds into their little holes. I planted a bunch a couple of weeks ago and I planted some last week – now I got cole seedlings pushing right up – cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage. Don’t you love cauliflower? I mean, I really like cauliflower! And I was pretty well prepped for that first seed more than a month ago when I ordered my new seeds – this year I used Johnny’s Seeds, but Territorial Seeds and Peaceful Valley Supply are a couple of other sources I have used heavily. But, look around, and see what you can find. One year I wanted to go all Italian and all purple and I did find a Italian seed supplier that gave me a beautiful purple garden. I just can’t remember their name. You know, I always feel like I am taking a chance when I plant my seeds – fresh seeds seldom will fail you – but, somehow, I just feel this sense of adventure. I started ‘em; and when I harvest ‘em, all that good food will be my doing. I just don’t trust corporate food – they don’t care about me, but just about making a buck. I know that my family is getting good, clean food if I grow it.

I had virgin oak savanna meadow soil last year and since then I have tilled my garden rows several times. I added lots of compost too. This fall I planted a fava bean cover crop down each row and before the beans podded up, I cut them down in place. Legumes like fava fix nitrogen and create a substanial root mass – both these things help to prep my soil. Its actually very cool; you can see little balls of nitrogen attached to the roots if you pull a plant up. I plan to use hoops (concrete wire) and plastic on my beds to give things an extra start (and to protect them against the crows). I will use hoops up behind my house as well. My home is built into a hillside so that the flat roof lines up with the ground and the hill behind has been terraced. I have turned two of the terraces into vegetable beds. That’s where I plan to put my first covered lettuce.

And, now, its raining so hard that I can’t plant anything.

Snow at 600ft