Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Jobs



Below are some of the products and services that I've created.  I charge $40 per hour for labour and do all of the below and more including tree liming and care, stone and aggregate pathways, small ponds, fencing and irrigation.
  ___________________________________________________________ Residential installation, no design, making it up as we go.  Cost about $4000.
Before 

After:  A cedar hedge and some grass.  Edible Strawberry trees, Mulberry, Cherries, and Figs.  Some things are caged to keep the deer away.  When they are over 5' tall the cages can go.  Split rail planters are very solid and will last along time.  Arborist chip mulch is good for the soil and easy to replenish.  In the planters; tomatoes, peas, peppers and chard.





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Food Forest Design
Food Forest design for single family residence.  This image shows many layers all at once and can be confusing to understand.  Viewing individual layers makes it all clear and easy to understand.  The client received 9 maps to depict all the layers of this design.  You can download it all right here.
Some of the deer resistant flowering plants include: Oxeye daisy, Viola, Lavender, Yucca, Calendula, Day Lillie's, Cammas, Yarrow and Sage.  Some deer resistant evergreens include: Rosemary, Chilean guava, Bay laurel and Seabuckthorn.
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Rodent proof compost bin and irrigated, vertical garden panels all in one.


1/4" Micro Drip irrigation
-Reduce back bending
-Holds up to 2 yards
-Make compost
-Heat from composting helps plants grow better
-Efficient space use
-made from reclaimed and untreated wood
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Single vertical garden panels


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2 bin compost, rodent proof.

These wooden compost bins are made 100% from reused shipping pallets.  Most pallets are made from expensive tropical hardwoods like mahogany and will last a long time.  The greenery growing at the base of this bin is Comphrey.  It is a "bio-accumulator" meaning that it will send it's roots down to 7 meters and grow big green leaves that can be cut and composted to help accelerate the composting process and add minerals from way down under the soil.  The tiny pink, purple and white flowers of the Comfrey make a sweet addition to salads.
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 Slow composting bin

Before
After

This bin is large enough to accommodate all pruning, trimmings and weeds from an regular 1/8 acre lot with many mature trees and hedges or vines all around.  Each season the bin is filled right up and then the materials reduce in size by the next season.  It all turns into soil which is ready to harvest in about three years.  With two bins like this, you will have a continuous supply of accessible compost for free, forever and no need to haul away valuable organic matter.  This is how the forest makes soil.  You can do it too!
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Year 'round pruning for homes and farms.
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Front yard curved bed






The client has a plant list including how to eat them.





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Ebony place Before


 Ebony Place after
No weeds!  Every new addition is edible.  The client has a document that lists all the plants and how to eat them.

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Design for residential property

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1663 Fairfield before
Stone and driftwood borders for several raised beds were created.  A large turn around area for vehicles using flowing curves to make it easy to mow all remaining grass areas.
1663 Fairfield (Sidewalk View) before
1663 Fairfield (Sidewalk View) after



___________________________________________________________ Before Irrigated, evergreen, deer resistant privacy screen
Before the edible hedge were two layers of asphalt.  The criteria for this project were to create an evergreen, deer resistant privacy screen between the trailer on the right and the house farther to the left and out of view.


 After ...





We used mature Arbutus Unedo (Strawberry tree) which will bear strawberry sized fruit in December to screen the top of the view.  To screen the bottom we used Gaultheria Shallon (Salal) which will make little berries in the late summer, Mahonia (Oregon Grape)  which makes berries in the early mid summer and Bay Laurel who's leaves are great for spicing soups and sauces.  A lavender adds a little colour and is great in making sweets.  For a ground cover we sprinkled a mix of greens and beans which will germinate in a week or so.


Sure, the deer ate some of the ground cover and that wasn't a problem at all.  They didn't eat them all and they will go to seed and come back next year!  Stay tuned...
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Raised beds and trellis
We built these raised beds for the residents of Caulfield low-income housing in Duncan.  They are very sturdy and act as a meeting place for the residents.  It was great to see on my last visit that the residents are taking care to raise a diversity of edible plants.

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Scale map of plantings I did at O.U.R. eco village
This is a scale map that I made for OUR Eco Village in Shawnigan Lake so that future stewards will know what varieties were planted in case tags or labels are lost.  I had the opportunity to plant over 100 edible perennials including nuts, fruits and berries over the course of my stay.
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Irrigated octagonal raised beds

These raised beds at the Horticultural Center of the Pacific make it easy to show people a close up view of annual veggies that would normally be below knee height.