Ideas about creating a new space to replace the poison ivy and bittersweet that used to lurk outside kitchen.
Dreaming of a Kitchen Garden at Camp Caravan
Now that the Camp Caravan’s Main Building porch repairs are about to start, it would be good to explore creating a landscape design for the garden outside the kitchen.
The kitchen garden is a sunny area. I would be putting together a planting plan for sun, once we confirm that it is full sun throughout. We would need a strategy for eliminating any poison ivy and invasive bittersweet vines that are still lurking.
We may not be able to install plants during a summer seminar, as some of the planting probably needs to be done in the fall. Also, we need to leave that area unplanted until the work on the porch area is completed. Covering the area heavily, ahead of time should kill many of the persisting weeds.
At this time, there is a large mound in the area. I’m not sure yet what is creating it, but we will need to explore it to determine a plan for leveling it. There may be rocks, roots, or unforeseen large items that we’ll need to remove.
When we do eventually do the full installation, someone would need to water it in frequently for the first few months, so we would need to establish a maintenance plan in advance.
We would need to do some soil testing and get some landscape cloth or lots of cardboard to suppress weeds. If lead is not an issue, I would include a kitchen herb garden in the design. If it is an issue, I would put the herb garden in large pots
For a practical work project, we could do the following
- Test and analyze the soil (better to do ahead) from multiple places, especially right near the building.
- Measure the space. Note the direction, shadows, etc. to determine sun exposure across the area. Estimate amount of landscape cloth/cardboard required. Do we have it?
- Find out from Walt about the wires, tank, etc. What are the requirements for those?
- Design and draw up the landscape design and initial planting plan
- Remove any plants we want to keep. There are some nice bulbs in that area. Have empty pots ready to transplant those that are useful. Dispose properly of any invasives
- Add any amendments required, revealed by the soil test. Probably will need manure and weed-free compost
- Put down landscape cloth or several layers of cardboard, covered over with mulch to kill weeds the previous season.
- A pergola, obelisk, trellis, or birdbath would be terrific there. Could we carve a depression into a tall rock and move it to the space? A view of that birdbath from the kitchen window would be inspiring.
- Rather than incur extra costs, are people interested in creating obelisks/ pergola as a woodworking project?
- About a dozen pieces of slate or bluestone may be needed, with a mulch path an alternative.