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Strawberry Tree

Since moving to Washington, I have discovered a great number of new trees. One of my favorites is the Strawberry Tree ( Arbutus unedo ). It is a four-season tree with semi-glossy evergreen leaves and lovely mahogany bark. In autumn, clusters of white flowers appear, bearing a resemblance to Lily-of-the-Valley flowers. And then there are the little fruits, which resemble strawberries that appear at the same time as the flowers. I am not sure why, but I have only seen a few fruits on ours. I don't know if birds are getting them before I see them or what happens. The fruits are said to be edible but not very tasty (to humans). This year, our tree is loaded with flowers, the most I've ever seen. Bees absolutely love it and so do the hummingbirds. The flowers usually continue to appear straight through winter, and it can be blooming even during the coldest periods of winter. Aside from the fact that I have not seen much of the colorful fruits, the major negative note is the fact tha
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Visiting the Engineered Garden

Yesterday, some friends and I had the opportunity to visit Jeff's garden in my hometown of Russellville (about 25 minutes south of Florence). I've been reading Jeff's blog, Our Engineered Garden for some time now and I'm constantly amazed at his inventive ways of growing vegetables. He truly takes the art of square foot gardening to another level.

Jeff grows many vegetables on trellises. In this photo, tomatoes grow on one side of the trellis and watermelons grow on the opposite side. I didn't realize that you could grow different plants so close to each other but Jeff says that it is not a problem.



Here is a wider shot of the bed. Okra (one of my favorites) grows in the middle. Beans are planted on the trellises. The beds are fenced in to keep the deer out.



And some yummy squash -



The tomatoes growing in this bed are all "Cherokee Purple", a variety he recommends highly.



Tomatoes growing on a compost pile!



And speaking of that, Jeff is the master of compost -



Turning the compost piles can be back breaking work so he built a contraption that turns it for him -



He also grows many plants in self-watering containers. Here he is demonstrating how he builds one (see his blog for instructions).



These are sweet potato plants growing in self-watering containers.



And more containers made from cat litter buckets. Hmmm, I have a basment full of these...



Another highlight of the trip was meeting the star of Jeff's blog, Jude. What a sweetheart!


We all enjoyed the visit and learned a lot. If you want to learn more about these techniques and more, be sure to visit Our Engineered Garden. Thanks Jeff!

Speaking of vegetables, we had fried squash (from Michael's customers), butter peas (from the Farmer's Market), cornbread, and peppers from our own garden tonight. Delicious, but if I keep this up, I will have to renew my gym membership soon.

Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy
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  1. meemsnycJune 27, 2010 at 8:04 PM

    Wow! Wow! That is quite the garden!

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  2. CrystalJune 27, 2010 at 8:18 PM

    How original, this would especially be useful for folks living in urban areas with small lots.

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  3. Jenn's Cooking Garden!June 27, 2010 at 11:08 PM

    What a great garden! I love gardens that recycle and show new ways of using things. I use cat litter boxes when i make chicken poo tea for my garden. They work perfect!

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  4. AnonymousJune 28, 2010 at 3:31 AM

    How fun to visit a blogger's garden, and so near you too, Phillip! Lots of good ideas here, love the trellises and that compost contraption is to die for!
    Frances

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  5. Lisa at GreenbowJune 28, 2010 at 4:41 AM

    What a great idea for recycling those buckets. That is some kind of compost outfit. The auger to stir the compost is quite the contraption. I will have the Beatles song "hey Jude" in my head all day now. What a beautiful dog.

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  6. Roses and LilacsJune 28, 2010 at 6:30 AM

    Good morning, Phillip. Jeff has some great ideas. I will follow your link and visit his site. I'm sure I can learn a lot, especially about trellising. Cherokee Purples are my favorite too, really great taste and an unusual color.
    Marnie

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  7. Gardener on Sherlock StreetJune 28, 2010 at 9:43 AM

    Phillip,
    Hello! I stopped by to see your photos of Jeff's Engineered Garden. You have some nice garden posts too. I'll be back. Have a good week.

    ReplyDelete
  8. LolaJune 28, 2010 at 1:22 PM

    I enjoyed your tour of Jeff's garden. Some very good ideas.
    You are the first one I've heard of speaking about butter peas. I love them but can't find the seeds. Will have to research further.

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  9. F CameronJune 28, 2010 at 2:14 PM

    What a talented, imaginative and industrious gardener! Boggles my mind!

    Oh, you're eating well. It's healthy stuff. I think you already have a membership to that gym called a garden! :-)

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  10. Jeff VandiverJune 28, 2010 at 6:06 PM

    Phillip, i'm glad you and your friends enjoyed it! It was alot of fun, but sure was hot...whew...

    ReplyDelete
  11. ThomasJune 28, 2010 at 6:16 PM

    I thought that garden looked familiar. haha. That EG is definitely a crafty one. It's interesting to see his garden from someone else's view.

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  12. serial tillerJune 28, 2010 at 7:38 PM

    How inspiring. I am getting my "feet wet" with the veggie gardening this year. I will be visiting this blog to get ideas for next yr!

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  13. Catherine@AGardenerinProgressJune 28, 2010 at 9:37 PM

    What a great garden full of great ideas! I love all that space he has to grow his vegetables.

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  14. Momma_SJune 28, 2010 at 10:21 PM

    Hi! Stopping over from EG's blog. It's nice to have another's view of his garden. I have to say, I'm a little jealous you were able to see it in person...

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  15. Rob (ourfrenchgarden)June 29, 2010 at 8:23 AM

    The man's a genius!

    I've just be checking the construction posts on his blog.

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  16. Dee @ Red Dirt RamblingsJuly 1, 2010 at 1:20 PM

    He's really an expert at what he does isn't he? I grow 'Cherokee Purple'. It is wonderful and pretty easy going. The squash bugs got all my squash. I wonder what he does to stop them.~~Dee

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  17. Chandramouli SJuly 2, 2010 at 7:06 PM

    I've always admired EG for his wonderful swp/swcs! He's simply awesome is all I can say!

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  18. chuck b.July 11, 2010 at 5:46 PM

    Tidy, intensive vegetable gardens rock. Very cool.

    I'll bet Alabama gets hot enough for tomato volunteers to produce fruit. They're just start to come up in my garden right now, but there won't be enough regular heat to ripen any fruit, so they're weeds.

    ReplyDelete

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