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Home >Ask William > Questions
Reader Questions for 2009
Review questions and answers below or submit a question of your own.
Q: Hello William. I read your article on building a birm to deal with wet areas in the yard. I have been searching for a solution to a continued wet area in my yard (a spring on the hill side of my back yard that keeps this one area very wet, and it also continues to travel through my neighbors yard towards an eventual storm sewer several yards away). There were a number of springs found on the hill side when our subdivision was build. Origionally, the builder had placed rock and plastic under the sod and this seem to work for a number of years moving the water through the yards to the storm sewer mentioned above. So over the years I guess something has failed in the original solution. My question regarding the construction of a birm given the above situation is; Do I simply raise the area that is affected by spring run off by mounding up soil to create the birm, or do I put down landscape fabric, followed by drain tiles, with rock over those followed by more fabric and top off with soil to create the birm? or is there any other solutions that you can provide as alternatives.
Regards, Ray S.
A: Ray you are a lucky guy. Without visiting the site I cannot give you definitive advice, but I am envious of your natural springs.
As long as you don't have serious slope and drainage problems (like basement flooding), you don't need tiles or fabric. Simply raising the area will give you dry ground to garden. But you could also just create a bog garden in the area with big thirsty plants, like Joe pye weed, Japanese iris, hardy hibiscus, bald cypress (if you need a shade tree), etc.
If you choose to raise the area, try to keep the top of the berm between 18 - 30" in height. Any greater and the slope may create erosion problems. You could make one simple berm or you could form a series of berms to create a berm-swale effect where you had dry upland and moist lowland habitat. Then you could plant a variety of moisture loving plants in the swales (blueberries, lobelias), lilies and irises on the slopes, and drought tolerant plants (serviceberries, asters) on top of the berms. You could even sculpt the berms so that the swale resembled a dry creek bed.
This should be a fun project with lots of potential and a chance for you to be creative. Let me know how it turns out.
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Q: I have 2 little dogs. What rules should I live by as I prepare for the coming (let’s hope soon!) spring and summer? How can I balance the needs of myself, my little dogs, my neighborhood’s needs and my raised gardens and few trees, as well? What garden areas MUST be cordoned off (e.g. herbs, obviously) for one reason or another? What soil concerns do I have after so many months of the dogs’ “passing along” what they’ve ingested? Okay, maybe not an attractive topic. But relevant to more people than suburbanites ( and some urbanites, too) may think, for sure!
Any guidance will be most appreciated…!
Rosemary. Boston, MA
A: Rosemary, the best way is to keep them separate. Safe dog repellants include garlic and hot pepper sprays as well as the plant Coleus canina, Raised beds, low hedges, or small decorative fencing can exclude dogs from the garden.
Dog feces, like human's, is not an approved organic amendment, so meticulously clean up the vegetable/herb area and incorporate compost to buffer any residual poo. Avoid dog urination on lawns or small plants.
Now is also the perfect time to train them to enjoy the outdoors without disturbing the garden. Be stern now to eliminate problems for your garden and your dogs later.
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Q: Hi William, I enjoyed your talk at the Flower and Garden show last weekend. I grow lots of container plants on my deck here in Chicago and have subscribed to your newsletter for a while (with a different e-mail address). You got me really excited to try a Regent Serviceberry. Can you recommend a place to buy it? I have done a bit of searching and have found St. Lawrence Nurseries has them (I think.) My normal plant catalogs don't seem to have them. Thanks,
Beth Manning
A: Thanks Beth, the Chicago Flower and Garden Show was fun. I look forward to it every year.
I have written a lot about Regent Serviceberries through the years (http://wemoss.org/topicks/top_chicago_container_plants/amelanchier_berries.html, http://wemoss.org/topicks/jun07_plants/amelanchier_berries.html). Its tasty fruit, tough constitution, and compact size make them perfect for Chicago containers.
My source for Regent was an Oikos catalog. There website is http://oikostreecrops.com They offer many types of serviceberries and other fruiting plants. You will have fun perusing their vast selections. And if you need that serviceberry granola pancake recipe, let me know.
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Q: My question or a series of questions have to do with indoor vegetable gardening with just natural light. With your experience in urban gardening and the urban gardener in general - is indoor vegetable gardening with natural light something that is...
1. feasible from that stand point of enough plant varieties available to accomplish this?
2. is it being done now to any great extent that you know of ?
3. do you think people can wrap their heads around growing fresh tomatoes and peppers...etc. starting in say October or November?
4. Could a model be developed to make natural indoor vegetable gardening appeal to the urban environment?
Interested in your thoughts...will try to catch your presentation at the Flower Show. Thanks
John
A: John, great questions.
1. Only if you have a conservatory or greenhouse. Most indoor spaces without transparent roofs just don't receive enough natural light for garden crops to grow and produce well. Some root crops and some leafy greens will grow, but not thrive.
2. I do not know any successful indoor vegetable gardening stories without supplemental lighting.
3. Yes gardeners would love to extend the season on either side of winter.
4. Only if you can find a crop that grows and fruits in the dark, dry, warm conditions of most urban households during winter (or any other season).
It takes a lot of light to grow fruits, like tomatoes and peppers. A better angle might be to look for tropical rainforest herbs that may be better acclimated for inside conditions during a winter in the northern hemisphere.
Good luck
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Q: My name is Willie Hughes, I'm a Lead Teacher at a Magnet Elementary School focused on the Environmental Sciences. We are decorating and preparing some logs in our school garden. I'm wondering what can we do to keep termites away from eating up the logs???
A: Willie, I would love to hear more about your school and some of the kid's projects. It sounds very interesting.
Your question can't be answer simply, but I'll try to give some guidelines short of using pesticides. Things you can do to reduce termite damage to logs:
- Keep them elevated off the ground, like on concrete blocks (may be impractical in your garden)
- Choose cedar, cypress, or juniper logs as they as somewhat termite resistant
- Avoid invasive Formosan termites, which break the rules and eat just about anything, anywhere
- Move to a northern climate where termites are not as big a problem (also potentially impractical)
Now let me pose you a question. What's wrong with termites eating the logs in the garden? That could provide many teaching moments and projects (colony growth rate, wood preferences, decomposition rates, etc.) for the students. It is typically not difficult to get donated logs from your local Streets and Sanitation dept., park district, landscape companies, etc. I'm not saying invite termites to your garden. But if you get 'em, make lemonade out those lemons.
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Q: What are the hardiest prarie plants for this area?
Addiz from Elk Grove, IL
A: Living near Chicago, that's like asking which wine is the tastiest or which stooge is the funniest? All of them! Most prairie plants are hardy in Illinois. Some of the hardiest include butterfly weeds, leadplants, joe pye weeds, goldenrods, perennial sunflowers, asters, grasses, and sedges.
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