For Unexpected Things Give Grace
A few years ago a milkweed plant mysteriously appeared in the back corner of the micro-prairie. I didn’t plant it — it just showed up one day. The timing was perfect because I was planting native plants to support pollinators and milkweed was an essential native plant. It was a small thing at the time but now milkweed groves (see photo above) in the micro-prairie support Monarchs on their annual migration. I was telling my florista (flower shop owner) friend about this and she said “For unexpected things give grace”. I said “What?” — not only because I have hearing issues but because I wasn’t sure what she meant. When she explained that I should be thankful for the serendipitous things that happen in the micro-prairie I had to agree. Milkweed was not the only plant that unexpectedly showed up.
You may remember when I wrote about the first “pond” in the micro-prairie. It consisted of three rubber hog pans set into the ground. I was trying to make a water feature for the inhabitants of the micro-prairie. The family farm where I grew up had small sloughs called pot holes that provided water for wildlife. These pot holes were fed by spring snow melt and would often be dry by the end of summer. Most pot holes had reeds or cattails growing along the edges that survived even through dry years. But my little fake pot hole was only about 8” deep and seemed unlikely to be able to support plant growth. Boy was I surprised when a few years ago reeds came up in one of the pans. They grew tall enough to have cattails that first year. My next door neighbor has a pond in the back yard (I can’t see it because it is behind a tall fence but I know it is there) and the reeds may have come from that pond somehow.
The reeds have survived for several years now. So, when I decided to dig a larger, but still small, pond, this spring the reeds found a new home. I slid the pan with the remains of the reeds from last year into the center of the new pond. The pan is completely submerged as you can see in the picture below. The reeds have come up strong! In any case, this is another example of giving grace (thanks) for unexpected things.
The milkweed and reeds were pleasant surprises but the third unexpected surprise has been a mixed bag. Three years ago a raspberry vine came up in the micro-prairie. Birds probably “planted” seeds from a raspberry patch down the street. The vine was annoying because the thorns grabbed my clothing and skin when I walked by — so I whacked it down. Then this year someone told me that raspberries set fruit on two year old stems. “Hmmm” I said, “what do I have to lose, besides skin, if I let the vines grow this year?” So I let them grow. Below is a picture of a small container of raspberries from this vine. It should produce a few more containers like that. They taste good. Not a bad return for not cutting them down although picking them is a thorny problem.
Giving grace to unexpected plants is important but so is honoring proven methods and trying different combinations of plants in the garden. This is called co-planting and has been used by indigenous people all over the world. One such combination of plants used by indigenous people on this continent is the three sisters planting. I am testing a variation of this planting in a raised bed. I planted Indian corn (I don’t know the scientific name of it) around the edge of the circular bed. Then, inside of that I planted a ring of Hidatsa beans. These beans were grown by indigenous people in North Dakota for centuries. The third sister is squash. The raised bed is way to small for squash so I planted the squash nearby in the micro-prairie. The squash is called Lakota squash and I got it at a seed swap at the Breaks Coffee shop. It is a colorful squash that comes from indigenous people as well. The squash was a little slow to get going but is now starting to climb on the phlox in the micro-prairie. It will probably take over by fall.
The idea behind the three sisters coplanting is that the corn will grow tall and provide a trellis for the beans to climb on. Beans are legumes so they will provide nitrogen for the corn which needs a lot of nitrogen. The squash will cover the ground nearby with its big leaves and suppress weed growth. There is a lot synergy going on here. It is very different from the mono-crop plantings of hybrid corn that is so ubiquitous in current agriculture practice. Coplanting makes better use of available land and resources. I will try to document the growth of the planting throughout the summer to see how productive it is and report back later. We can do science right here in the micro-prairie!
Science project number two in the micro-prairie is the combination of cucumbers and carrots I planted in a raised bed (see photo below). The cucumbers are Armenian yard long cucumbers and the carrots are Dragon carrots. I don’t know anything about the Dragon carrots but the cucumbers produce long fruits that are not true cucumbers. They are actually in the squash family but the fruit resembles cucumbers and tastes good. I just hope they don’t cross pollinate with the Lakota squash so that I get some very strange cross-bred squashcumbers (that would be a failed science experiment). Apparently, the carrots take up space between the cucumbers were weeds could grow and make better use of the space.
Finally, here is a teaser for the next post which will be “Showtime” — when the micro-prairie bursts into full bloom with red, pink, white, yellow and blue blossoms. I have been taking pictures as the micro-prairie ramps up for the big show so there should be a lot to see. Happy summer but look out for mosquitos!
