The Garden at La Casa Collectiva

2009

La Casa Garden Blank Map for you, plus a plebian image of a "sun trap":

The concept of a sun trap has been used in this garden, although not strictly. The idea is that, in general, the tall perennial components of the garden are arranged in the shape of a "U" with the open part of the U facing south. In this way, the perennials serve to create a few walls around the garden, protecting it from wind, and providing some privacy, plus a nearby source of mulch (tree leaves) etc. while leaving the south side open for good light penetration from the sun. Additionally, the La Casa Garden has some warmer climate perennials planted near the house, specifically a timber bamboo and a black-cane bamboo, which are otherwise impossible to grow in Illinois - they can survive in the warm microclimate by the house. The plebian drawing above shows the suntrap wrapping around the back of the house whereas the one at La Casa passes in front of the house, so that when people look out the southern windows of the house, they see shrubs and trees just outside the window.

2008

Flooded Garden, June, 2008:

Michael Pennington and Rob Scott ogle at the flooded area of the garden

One day when Eun Ah visited Urbana for the first time she found Michael and Rob staring frustratedly at the flooded annual beds and chicken area in the garden. Note the objects placed around so that the chickens could use them as islands where they could stay dry. This was a combo of sump pump water (from the house) and continuous rain that logged the soil through May and into June. Flooding makes it difficult to work on the garden! Michael was bright and diverted the sump water to the sewer in the street after this. The swale in the garden can take some water but this was too much this year.

Garden Concert, April 27, 2008:

Braden Elliot plays at a concert in the garden

From left to right: (1) Braden Eliot plays guitar at a concert in the garden; (2) it was a cool and wet spring, here is an image of the swale full of cold water, with the willow trees still dormant.

Gardening Day at La Casa, April 20, 2008:

Random stuff from Spring 2008:

From left to right: (1) an invoice for some perennials: the 25 Cavendish Strawberries were planted by the willow, and mostly eaten by squirrels, the Candice and Interlaken seedless grapes were planted on the west side of the garden, and in late April Rob built a trellis for them to grow on, (Rob planted the 2 Elderberries elsewhere); (2) Kyra's map of her garden plans, circa February/March 2008; (3) Kyra with some herb beds she build around the Aronia and Gooseberry on the east side.

Tim Richardson and Kyra Shaughnessy planting Kale seedlings started indoors, April 2008:

Three more pictures from April 2008:

Kyra uses the sump water to feed her seedlings

From left to right: (1) Chickens introduced for the first time, donated by Danielle Chynoweth; (2) Tim and Jacob Barton adjust the topography following standing water in the annual beds in March; (3) Kyra uses the sump water to feed her seedlings.

Internal view of the garden, March 2008:

Panoramic view of the garden, March 2008:

2007

These are the only three photos of the garden from 2007, taken by Kyra in the fall before frosts (i.e. September or early October):

Photo of the House at La Casa, behind garden

From left to right: (1) photo of the house with the northern part of the garden in front of it; (2) photo of the annual beds - stinging nettles at lower left, elderberries above that... some tomatoes further to the right give a flash of red color; (3) general craziness of the garden from this time. This is an apple tree covered with vines including American Hops, surrounded by weeds and other trees.

2006

AUTUMN 2006

Random artifact: the La Casa Garden was part of the 2006 Ecological Construction Symposium in Urbana -- here's the crazy map/agenda that shows the La Casa garden as one of many local stops on the Ecological walking tour or whatever.

SUMMER 2006

From left to right: (1) Bamboo map for surviving bamboo as of summer 2006, it should be noted that the Phyllostachys aureum and the Phyllostachys aureosulcata basically became nuisances in the locations chosen for them and they've been virtually removed since this time; (2) Perennial map after a discrete planting of perennials, it should be noted that both of the Mulberries were killed in a late frost in Spring 2007 whereas the Aronia bushes have lived on, and one of the Mulberries was re-planted in 2008; (3) A "veggie map" from 2006, which also shows that two new bamboos were added this year, of those the one labelled "new bamboo" (possibly a Thamnocalamus) died in the winter and the Phyllostachys rubromarginata was chopped down by Rob in 2008.

SPRING 2006

Notes from Todd Rusk

To do this spring:

Sump pump water
Downspout water - get barrels for rain catchment
Pruning experiments with nanking cherries, if it's not too late
Identify and maybe transplant more of the mysteriously bountiful grassy allium
Set up annual vegetable breeding plots
Plan annual vegetable crop locations
Trellises for viney things - hops
Garden boundary

3/14/06 - 1 hour

Observation: Someone reattached the pipes with a lot of duct tape, and a section of the wall of the house was saturated with water>

Activities:

Foiled! Connector I needed not available at Sunnycrest True Value and Do-It Best is not answering phone
Dug a small channel across garden path near bench to convey sump pump water into swale, then filled the trench with branches and straw. Channel is basically a straight line.
Detached the pipes again to protect the house and left a friendly note written in purple crayon explaining that they're not yet ready to be connected

3/13/06 - 0.5 hours

Activities:

Purchased a 1 1/2" x 1 1/4" clamp on flexible connector from Sunnycrest True Value, $5.00
Installed connector between 1 1/2" sump pump drain pipe and 1 1/4" pipe into garden, now a lot of water backs up onto house because of the increased pressure drop --> another connector is needed between 1 1/2" sump pump drain pipe and 1" pipe coming out of house - I left the pipes disconnected to protect the house

3/10/06 - 2.5 hours

Observation: Lots of water from sump pump is flooding strawberries and herbs near house.

Activities:

Said hello Rita, Mariana, Katlyn
Rob pruned the fruit trees
Rob and Todd trained the curly willows in the swale
Todd rescued a nanking cherry from chicken wire entanglement

3/9/06 - 1.5 hours

Activity: Transplant & consolidate chives - finished 1 area

3/7/06 - 1 hour

Activity: Transplant & consolidate chives

3/6/06 - 1.5 hours

Observations:

Steaming compost
Wheel barrow has a flat tire

Activities:

Tie up loose ends of mesh around compost bin
Remove bricks from around compost base, stack by garage

3/4/06 - 2.5 hours

Observations:

Tire tracks in grass south of garden. "Dude, wanna do some donuts?"
2 partial compost piles, stinky
Some scattered plastic trash & debris in garden
Chives stands, tasty & mild

Activities:

Pick up trash
Attempt to balance compost pile: consolidated into 1 pile, added hay from around yard, watered
Collected hops seeds for Love Pond green tunnel
Removed steel frame thing holding hops vines
Inventoried miscellaneous stuff around site
Talked to Rita, met Mariana

Inventory of miscellaneous stuff around site

5-gallon bucket (Nasty) 2
Asphalt shingle (Sheet, 2'WxLong) 1
Bat (Waffle ball) 1
Brake drum (Car) 2
Building bricks (Red) Pile
Chemicals (Nasty) Assortment
Chicken wire (3'H) Roll
Cinder blocks (Various sizes) Few
Flat (Seed starter, various) Few
Garden tools Basic assortment
Lawn chair (Functional) 4
Lawn chair (Broke-ass) 2
Lumber (Various) Some
Metal frame (Rectangular 4'Wx6'Lx3'H) 1
Metal pole (Long) 9
Metal thing (Artistic, strange) 1
Metal tub (Probably leaks, 2'dia x 1'H) 1
Metal wire (Wavy, thick gauge, 6') 1
Painting (4'x2') 1
Plastic mesh (like compost bin - Black, 3'H) Small roll
Plastic pipe (Various dia, long) Few
Plastic tarp (Green, gray) 2
Platform (Carpeted, wood frame, 3'Wx7'Lx5"H) 1
Play sand (Blue) 40 lb bag
Pots (Terra cotta) Few
Radiator (Car) 1
Rim (Bicycle) 1
Seat cushion (Blue) 1
Tire (Bicycle) 4
Tire on rim (Car) 4
Tomato cage (Metal) 5-ish
Toys (Various outdoor, plastic) Bagful
Trash can (Metal) 1
Tub 15 gallon (plastic) 1
Wire rack 3'x3' 4

WINTER

In February 2006, this grant (.pdf) was submitted to Fiskars for their "Project Orange Thumb" program, requesting $1500 in garden support mainly in the form of new tools. A rejection letter arrived within a few weeks.

From Rob Scott's notes, January 2006:

Site History
2003 - Bob Cook made a design and executed it
In the winter most of the fruit trees were girdled.
2004 - Bob moved out of La Casa and we did some workdays together on the site.
2005 - I organized some workdays, and did a lot of labor on the site personally.
This year, my efforts were mainly aimed at reducing wasteful space-use.

2005

AUTUMN

Profile photo dated September 2005:

SUMMER

An undated hand-written addition to the 2004 Species list found below says:
"2005 Vegetables
Assorted Chili Peppers
Collard Greens
Long Cucumbers
Some Garlics
Some Pumpkins"

Composite photo dated August 2005:

SPRING

Three photos dated April 23, 2005:

Left to Right: (1) bamboo shoots the first year of bamboo regrowth; (2) American Currants under a Peach tree -- this is a common assosication of Prunus species with a Ribes underneath; (3) Rosa rugosa and Comfrey growing through straw mulch.

WINTER

This picture was taken on February 1, 2005, to demonstrate the effect of house temperature on the garden. On this particular date the temperature was approximately 0 degrees celcius / 32 farenheight. Therefore the snow was right on the verge of melting. The melt pattern illustrates the warm microclimate near the house, which is a few degrees warmer than the surrounding area. Thus, on a day like this, the snow has already melted in the warm microclimate.

If you are familiar with the garden you will note that the Japanese Timber Bamboo is not visible in the above photo. It was added in 2005 after this photo was taken. This specimen of Phyllostachys vivax was planted in 2004 into this little microclimate but it was about the size of a blade of grass at this stage. The large tree in this photo is a Black Locust which was removed later in the summer -- the same black locust and apple are pictured just below from a different angle, in August 2004.

2004

Two internal views of the garden dated August 2004:

From left to right: (1) what we see here is overgrown lawn grass and hay-bale mulch (pasture grasses) with a couple of bronze fennel plants visible and a couple of lemon balm plants and other herbs visible. There are likely seedling trees and shrubs dwarfed by the herbatious plants in this picture; (2) apple tree with egyptian onions and dill planted understory in hay mulch. This is the apple tree closest to the street, to put it in perspective. To the far left is an encroaching fast-growning Black Locust tree -- several were planted and they were removed after a few years when they got 15' tall -- they were intended as a legume to supply nitrogen to surrounding plants.

Floral Survey of the La Casa Garden compiled in the fall of August 13, 2004

Bamboo

Phyllostachys sp "Evil Tree" Bamboo ('03)
Fargesia dracocephalus ('04)
Phyllostachys dulcis Giant Timber Bamboo ('04)
Phyllostachys vivax Golden Bamboo ('04)
Phyllostachys aureus
Phyllostachys aureosulcata ('04)
Phyllostachys N. Henon ('04)
Phyllostachys nuda ('04)

Copses

Curly Willow Salix sp
'Flame' Willow Salix sp

Herbatious

Alfalfa Medicago sativa
American Columbine Aquilegia canadensis
Anise-Hyssop Agastache foeniculum
Asparagus Asparagus officinalis
Catnip Nepata cataria
Chives Allium schoenoprasum
Clover Trifolium pratense
Comfrey - Russian Symphytum x uplandicum
Echinacea purpureum Echinacea purpureum
Egyptian Onion Allium proliferum
Horseradish Armoracia rusticana
Iris -Blue Flag Iris versicolor
Ironweed Vernonia sp
Lamb's Quarters Chenopodium alba
Lemon Balm Melissa officinalis
Mustard Brassica sp
Oregano - Greek Origanum vulagare hirtum
Sage Salvia officinalis
Spearmint (all over) Mentha spicata
Stinging Nettle Urtica diocia
Strawberry - Everbearing Fragaria sp
Strawberry - Honeyoye Fragaria sp
Taragon - French Artemisia dracunculus sativa
Valerian Valeriana officinalis

Nut Trees

Black Walnut Juglans nigra (50' tree on site)
Hazelberts - Ozmun #2 Corylus americana x avellana ('03)
Chinese Chestnut Castanea mollissima ('04)

Shrubs

Black Currant - American Ribes americana ('04)
Black Currant - European Ribes nigrum ('03)
Chokeberry - Black Aronia melanocarpa ('04)
Elderberry - American Sambucus americana ('03)
Hibiscus - Rose of Sharon Hybiscus syriacus ('03)
Gooseberry - Red Ribes sp ('03)
Nanking Cherries Prunus tomentosa ('03 & '04)
Red Currant - Red Lake *seedlings* Ribes sp. ('03)
Rugosa Rose Rosa rugosa ('03)
Serviceberry - Pembina Amelanchier alnifolia 'Pembina' ('03)

Tree Fruit

Asian Pear - Yakumo Pyrus pyrifolia ('04)
Apple - girdled ('03 - girdled Auvil Early Fuji)
Apple - Sun Fuji Malus pumila ('04)
Manchurian Apricots Prunus mandshurica ('03 & '04)
Mulberry - seedlings Morus nigra
Nectarine - Fantasia Prunus persica var. nectarina 'Fantasia' ('04)
Nectarine - Mericrest Prunus persica var. nectarina 'Mericrest' ('04)
Peach - Harrow Beauty Prunus persica 'Harrow Beauty' ('04)
Peach - Red Haven Prunus persica 'Red Haven' ('04)
Peach - Saturn Prunus persica 'Saturn' ('04) --Raintree source
Peach - Wild Prunus persica ('04) -- Oikos source
Pear - girdled ('03 - girdled Bosc)
Plum - girdled ('03 - girdled Green Gage)

Tree Legumes

Honey Locust Gleditsia triacanthos
Black Locust Robinia pseudoacacia
'Millwood' Honey Locust Gleditsia triacanthos 'Millwood'

Rubus

Japanese Wineberry Rubus phoenicolasius ('03)
Black Raspberry Rubus occidentalis ('03 & '04)
Red Raspberry - Heritage Rubus idaeus 'Heritage' ('04)

Umberlliferae

Dill Anethum graveolens ('03)
Dill x Fennel hybrids ... ??? ('04)
Fennel - Bronze Foeniculum vulgare dulce 'Rubrum' ('03)
Queen Anne's Lace Daucus carota
Tansy Tanacetum vulgare ('04)

Vegetables (including volunteers)

Broccolli Chard (volunteers)
Daikon Radishes
Garlic - hardneck purple skin
Lettuce (volunteers)
Nasturtium
Pumpkins ('04 - grew out of the compost)
Tomatoes - Purple Calabash, Orange Roma ('04 - volunteers)
Tomatoes - Pink Oaxacan, Costocuoco, Jewish #1 ('04)

Vines

Hops - American Humulus lupus ('04)
Morning Glory Ipomoea tricolor
Grape - Himrod Vitis sp. ('03)
Grape - Muscat Ottonel Vitis sp. ('03)

Composite photo dated July 2004:

Basically what we see here is that a ton of perennials were planted and there was manure, cardboard, and hay mulch applied around the new perennials so that they could beat the lawn grass and what not.

2003

The one and only blurry photo of Bob Cook in the La Casa Garden in the Fall of 2003.
Bob partnered with Rob Scott to start the garden that year, with lots of help from Willow and Sarah Kanouse.

Profile photo of the garden, summer 2003:

WANTED: PRE-GARDEN PHOTOS

If anyone can locate images of the site before there was a garden, please give them to us!!
We currently have no photos of 2002 or earlier.

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