2021 Garden Summary
This was the first year with our new hardscape, greenhouse, and double the area of raised beds! We began to see all the natives we planted over winter begin to bloom and take-off, as well as integrate many more flowers to feed the pollinators. :) But this year was hard. Portland broke temperature records with both a crazy freeze in February and the heat bubble in June/July. Both of these extremes put our plants, even natives, through a serious test. Annual crops that did amazing last year were stunted with the heat bubble and did not finish growing or produce. Some annuals still seemed to thrive (still with attentive watering), such as our sunflowers, tomatoes and lemon cucumbers. But most everything else suffered.
Our critters had a great time this year with all the new beds and more flowers. The chipmunks harvested all the snap peas and a number of cherry tomatoes. The squirrels harvested a ton of sunflower heads. And the finches had the best time at the ‘salad bar’, feasting on sunflower leaves and swiss chard.
This was also my first year canning — and I preserved a number of tasty things from the garden. See blog page for more!
New Water Features
Behold! Two new finished projects that make our certified backyard habitat even more amazing. Eureka Falls helped us out… they dug a trench and built a rocky river bed to help with water flow and runoff ahead of another rainy season. They also built an amazing cascading waterfall and left room for me to add native plants all around. After the work wrapped up, I spent a couple hours in the garden planting and cleaning up and the sound of the water was such a joy!
Backyard Habitat Certifcation
We are so excited to announce that as of May 2021, we are officially a Certified Backyard Habitat by the Portland Audobon Society! 🥂 🐝🦉🌿 Our journey started a year prior with the consultation and a self-determined deep dive into pnw plant education. Since then we made substantial changes to our backyard space, removed the lawn, planted literally hundreds of natives, added sustainable habitats for pollinators and more. We are so proud of all the work we've accomplished, but more thrilled to add a safe space to this planet for the bees/birds/bugs/critters that share our slice of Oregon.
There are 3 levels of certification: Silver, Gold and Platinum. We achieved Gold for this certification, but our native areas are nearing the 50% needed for Platinum, so we're gonna keep at it and hope to recertify next year. Yay, Oregarden! You did it!
Our garden is working toward Platinum level certification, top-tier. Learn more at https://backyardhabitats.org/
Gallery
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