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Wednesday, May 25, 2011

H20 & Some Foraging


So we've got a lot of stuff planted and are designing a simple drip-irrigation system so we can capture and store storm water, since its free (!) and it is the biggest infrastructure and environmental problem in America right now. Hopefully we can come up with and build a cool little system that we will be able to eventually share on here so you can do it at your house too, modifying to fit your needs of course.

In the meantime we are learning more about native plants and edibles by doing some foraging on the Northwest edge of the city in the Caldwell forest preserve. We hope to get up a foraging page with photos and information on forageable edibles in our area, and where you can share info on whats in your area too. In the meantime, here are some photos from the adventure: Urban Forage Adventure!

Here is the link for Nance Klehm's website 'Spontaneous Vegetation', which is loaded with info on many things. You can contact her to do some urban foraging yourself as she is an urban forager extraordinaire.

Now go find some plants and eat them! (But make sure they aren't poisonous first)

Saturday, May 21, 2011

The Planting Has Begun

On Tuesday May 17th, we planted our first stuff in the north garden. We got in 3 different varieties of carrots and some melons on the western edge of the bed. On Wednesday we got in some tomatoes, and on Thursday we planted 160 corn plants, of 2 different varieties. We will continue to plant more and more fruits, veggies and other plants to help turn the old parking lot from an expanse of gravel and trash into a space of sustainable permaculture, learning from our mistakes and letting you know what we learn, so you can experiment too.

Where we planted our carrots we learned that transferring ideas from paper to dirt is not always as straight forward and easy as we imagined it would be. We intended to plant carrots, onions and lettuce together in successive rows, as a companion planting. However what seemed like proper spacing on paper, just didn't turn out when we went to actually apply that to the garden. Now we are redesigning the other two 15 foot sections of that middle row of the north bed to properly fit what we want to experiment with there. Now we will have some trials in both companion planting and what we are now calling our "Carrot Chaos" bed, to see how the different varieties of carrots do in comparison to the ones that are planted along side the onions and the lettuce. Do the companion plantings really have a substantial advantage to an area of mono crop? Only time will tell!

Here are some good downloadable PDFs on companion planting from ATTRA, The National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service: Companion Planting Downloads

Also, here are some time lapses of our planting and planting preparations:

3 Sisters Mound Building

First Planting
Midnight Melons
Candy Corn Plant

Monday, May 16, 2011

Soil!



We just got our soil last week and have been feverishly spreading the dark, dense dirt across the beds we have been building. About to start planting this week, now that the chance of frost has dropped below 10%... though, we're not sure how much we trust that statistic given the weather we've been experiencing in Chicago even in this 3rd week of May. Here are a couple of drawings showing what we will be planting in two of the four beds we have designed and built. Any questions on why we are planting what we are, where we are? Or why certain plants will be inter-planted with each other? Fell free to email us at haymarketgardens@gmail.com. We'll also be posting more info on the process as we grow with it.

Fund Raising on Indie Gogo Up & on it's Way!


Hey all! We have our fund raising call on the website Indie Gogo up and on its way to the amount we need to make this whole experiment a reality. We already have some help from friends, family and members of the community and appreciate any help at all. In giving to our project you become a part of it, being a vital resource in both sharing what is going on and in information, which is the most important part of our garden and film adventures. Sharing the information helps people sustain themselves, the ones they love and the people in their community. Depending on what you give too, you'll receive a certain prize package, ranging from screen printed tote bags to photography lessons to helping to create the space our garden resides in. We wish to share this experience with as many people as possible. Lets make this happen together!

Thank you in advance for your interest and help.

To view our fundraising page go to this link: Haymarket Gardens