Your living wall inspired me to do the same… I am in zone 9b humboldt county California on the coast. THANK YOU SO MUCH for all the content and ideas. I added heritage turkeys to my flock recently. Their manure has a different nutrient load and their force of disturbance is slightly different. Sending you all love!!!
Holy Hannah...be careful out there it sounds like a freeway! I bet the wall cuts down significantly on the sound. Love how you have intermixed so many diverse plants and that they are all thriving. Such an inspiration!
We have the same Japanese willows. We cut them back from bout 9foot bushes, the 2.5 feet. They've filled in nicely. Also, rabbits love the leaves. Something to ponder.
My type of gardening, more of a natural beauty! Working on this type in Arizona, much harder with less rain but my thoughts are, if everyone planted more trees in our desert, it would attract more rain.
Love your living wall. I bought property on what I thought was a quiet little road. I've since learned that construction trucks, school buses, and myriad lifted and loud trucks use it alllllll day! My plan is to mimic your living wall. I appreciate you sharing your talent and expertise.
Great update, thanks for sharing. My living wall is planted along the outside of an existing tree line with the intention of creating more density from 8-10’ down. Miscanthus Grasses, shrubs and brambles have been my friends, though the existing over story does limit the amount of growth each year. Thanks for providing a continuous flow of inspiration! You’ve significantly influenced the evolution of my property.
I like it. it looks like you are keeping it up and it looks better than mowed grass! you have some great ideas to make it fill out lower. I live on a busy street too, the vegetation does helps some.
I do like the free form of your living wall over a pedicured one. I wish I could grow all those wonderful trees like Hazelnut, etc but not enough winter chill. I do have 2 Walnut trees (and planning to add one more) they grow well and set fruit (north-central of Mexico). I got some Hazelnut seeds from Turkey that I will experiment with since it is reported to have the least chilling requirement.
I would say a couple trees may have grown a little too tall but you said that it will be addressed in the Fall. Which will make a very busy time for you as you try to beat the snow.
The variegated willow is so unique and beautiful! I'm looking forward to videos about how you decide where to make your cuts. I'm just about ready (this winter) pollard some mulberry, and I'm a little nervous that I'll hurt them or make the cut in the wrong place, it will be good to hear the voice of experience. Thanks for sharing!
@@awakenacres My friend whom is a Dermatologist has 2 Mulberry trees in her garden and she has not being able of killing them :) so yes they are tough. She loves plants so much that she ask her gardener to water/feed the plants more than they need. During winter time she would knit scarfs for her trees, I use just plain cardboard to protect the tender ones from frosts.
I really enjoy watching your vlogs. Very interesting and informative, your presentation is considered and calming. Keep up the great work, watching from Australia.
Living wall not new to me, I watched it grow from day one. Just wondering if it would be possible to change the way into the property to another angle and remove the old road and build the living wall to close of the view and deaden more sound with some sort of a hedge that stay short and more compact, just a thought. Silence is golden in a garden when all you want to hear is the birds and the bees... lol lol
I would suggest that you lay the shrubs to make a denser hedge lower down. Laid hedges were designed as stock barriers but they do give good, dense growth from the ground up. Hazels, elder and willow would make a really good laid hedge. (Edited to provide more info.)
I can understand how it might look chaotic to folks who aren't into plants. What about adding something with bold impact flowers to the front of the wall to make it look more intentional? Of course if you don't care what those folks think of you, then do whatever, but I feel like broadcast seeding some bold flowers like zinnias or day lilies might hint to passers by that there's more going on than neglect. My father used to sow wildflower mix instead of lawn, and its amazing when things are blooming, and looks a bit rough when they're not.
My home backs to a main road. I would love to do this. We have some established trees but they don’t bock out enough. Also want to do this on the sides that face our next door neighbors. I have some hybrid willow cuttings ready to plant but here in NJ they will only help during spring through fall.
Have you tried hedgelaying? The traditional british craft of cutting and laying down small trees to thicken hedges, used for stockproofing before barbed wire
When you think about it, sounding like the oceans is appropriate. Man has traditionally use the oceans for commerce and now we use roads as well as oceans to deliver goods.
@@edibleacres yea they’re growing pretty slow only like 3 or 4 inches tall so far….I was able to collect thousands of seeds from some plants in front of a local bank… the germination rate is good but something likes to eat them
I remember in the past that you had some grapes growing in the vine layer of the living wall. I'm curious if they are still there even if it is too thick for you to get into harvest any. I haven't had the chance to experiment to see just how shade tolerant grape vines can be at the most extreme end!
@@edibleacres Be careful with letting the grape vines get too out of hand. We moved into a home that was renovated but had previously been abandoned for four years. There was a huge vine growing on the edge of the property that I think was a grape vine gone wild. It was up several trees and had rooted itself in numerous places. Four years later it’s still coming up everywhere even though that area was covered in cardboard and mulched to about six inches. I would be worried the vine would choke your canopy rather than just connecting/supporting…..and take over everything. My vine looked beautiful to me that first year (a green privacy wall I thought) but it turned out to be extremely invasive.
I was about to make this EXACT comment. Just cut a sapling halfway through 5" from the ground. Bend it at the cut and weave it in and out through its neighbors. When it sprouts (and it WILL sprout), the new branches will fill in the gaps. Then each fall or spring you can repeat the process until you have a living fence ("Bull strong, pig tight and horse high"!!) After 5 years or so, the interwoven branches (vertical and horizontal) will self-graft together into a solid wall of wood.
Pleaching & hedge laying is used in a lot of countries I think so a variety of species could be used based on regions.....hawthorn, hazel, beech, Ash, maple,....
I've got about 75 feet of red alder, big leaf maple, and a little hazel that I laid as an experiment. So far it's all leafing out nicely. I have high hopes, as long as I can keep the blackberry off of it...
If you had a lot of trees in a row to be coppiced or pollarded, would you ever do half of them one year, the other half 1 or 2 or 3 years later? (or some other fraction) The idea of always having some of various heights.
The old system was a 7 year rotation. That is one seventh would be pollarded each winter, working through the plantation. This gave a steady supply of wood for use as needed.
Really nice note. Yes, that makes sense and some extent we've done that here. There are poplars cut to 4' mixed throughout, and the other larger ones will get the same treatment this year...
@@edibleacres, I see that now. What an interesting variety of willow. I have a soggy spot that is destined to become a pond. These should live happily on that edge.
Just yesterday i advized clients on a busy roadside that they could build a mound, quickly sow it to annuals and intercrop perennials and trees, shrubs... Perhpas a mound, by lifting your miscanthus and re plantin it on top and sides of the mound, would help with sound transmission ?
I'd like to do something along these lines in a dry-ish 8b climate zone, yet in the shade of a double row of old-growth trees (tilia cordata) lining a small road to the south of a fairly light patch of forest. I had been looking a berries, but am afraid that most would prefer more light to bear fruit. Ribes alpinum seems to be able to make a scraggly living there, elderberry is present in more sunnier patches, as are old growth hazelnuts and bramble galore. Any suggestions what could thrive in the shade, yet provide a natural border for the little forest?
In zone 5 here... what would create this kind of living wall without invasive root systems. Also, which plants/shrubs/trees grow more quickly to form the wall?
If you are looking for something that will naturally form a dense thicket and is native to Nother America, you could try Black Hawthorn. It sets edible fruit, can germinate from seed, and also sprouts from suckers that mature trees put out. They don't grow very tall either pretty easy to just prune their lead branches to keep it down to ten feet - so you just need something like a currant or blackberry understory to flush out the bottom.
@@Dontreallycare5 or lay the plants. Hawthorn was a traditional hedge plant in Britain. To 'lay' traditionally you let them grow for 10 years then you trim back branches and cut the main stems almost through, at an angle up the stem, then literally lay them over. You use poles driven in between the plants to frame up, weaving your stems through. It looks drastic but come the spring those stems will burst into new growth and give you a dense hedge. You can just trim the hedge to suit for the next decade before re-laying.
I'm not sure I understand 'invasive root system'... In this installation there are ample and massive roots, all mixed together, all working to create resilience, soil holding and habitat for soil life. I personally would want a powerfully robust root world...
At least with the advent of more electric cars, the sound and emissions (locally) of the engines will go down (vs ICE engines). The tires will still scrape the road (making noise) and release particles, unfortunately.
I thought about it, but it is too late now since everything is established... Also there is a gas line somewhere down in there that we wouldn't want to bury too deeply
We hoped to offer that plant this fall but it go too dry for germination, oh well! Blue False Indigo or Baptisia Australis would be what you are searching for.
Watching from the low desert of Arizona. Your channel is a bad influence on me. I tend to water more after watching your garden and then I see the results in the water bill.
I hope you are actively exploring planting densely with a wide range of deep taprooted plants and bringing in as much mulch as you can too... Hope you can build a resilient and healthy space where you live!
The living wall was how I found your channel
Neat! Glad you are still with us!
The living wall is probably my favorite place on your property.
So glad! The wild birds fully agree with you :)
Your living wall inspired me to do the same… I am in zone 9b humboldt county California on the coast. THANK YOU SO MUCH for all the content and ideas. I added heritage turkeys to my flock recently. Their manure has a different nutrient load and their force of disturbance is slightly different. Sending you all love!!!
I find this living wall so beautiful.
Thank you!
I laughed out loud when you said “folks don’t tend to the place,” given all the work you guys do. The street view looks great!
lol me too, the great spirits go quietly unnoticed in this world age, we are a subdued and serene people, us permies
It is an interesting idea to work hard to design and develop a space that to some folks it seems no one ever touched.
@@edibleacres And on the flip side, places people think are completely natural have been devoided of biodiversity and are degraded
I really enjoy your way of talking. It's so precise, without hassle including so much information.
Hey thanks!
Can't wait for your video that shows the living wall pruned and coppiced. 💕🇿🇦
We'll share more notes in the fall.
Holy Hannah...be careful out there it sounds like a freeway! I bet the wall cuts down significantly on the sound. Love how you have intermixed so many diverse plants and that they are all thriving. Such an inspiration!
I wish the plants stopped the sound in a very real way. It reduces it a bit for sure, but it's an intense amount out there!
What an incredible, beautiful creation.
Thank you very much!
We have the same Japanese willows. We cut them back from bout 9foot bushes, the 2.5 feet. They've filled in nicely. Also, rabbits love the leaves. Something to ponder.
I could imagine rabbits really enjoying them!
My type of gardening, more of a natural beauty!
Working on this type in Arizona, much harder with less rain but my thoughts are, if everyone planted more trees in our desert, it would attract more rain.
Beautiful job! If only everyone could see the beauty. And, yes, more cuttings please!
We plan to ramp up the cuttings offering a LOT this fall!
Thank you so much for everything. 😊🌱💚🙏✨
Such our pleasure!
@@edibleacres 😁💚🙏
I don't know how you keep track on everything but my hats off to ya its all I can do to keep up with a job small chicken flock and summer garden 👍
Love your living way. I made living walls to slow down the hot and dusty wind. It's great for privacy. Susie
Always great to get updates on Al those projects that you have growing about!
Amazing…on sooooo many levels!
Love your living wall. I bought property on what I thought was a quiet little road. I've since learned that construction trucks, school buses, and myriad lifted and loud trucks use it alllllll day! My plan is to mimic your living wall. I appreciate you sharing your talent and expertise.
Good luck to you. If you can incorporate a pile of soil or some sort of structure down low that is super dense that would help immensely.
Great update, thanks for sharing. My living wall is planted along the outside of an existing tree line with the intention of creating more density from 8-10’ down. Miscanthus Grasses, shrubs and brambles have been my friends, though the existing over story does limit the amount of growth each year. Thanks for providing a continuous flow of inspiration! You’ve significantly influenced the evolution of my property.
Really lovely to read Justin. Always happy to share notes and to remember we are part of a much larger community of great folks like you!
have LOVED watching it grow over the last 5+ years!!! Amazing!!
I'm a bit surprised you didn't pair pawpaws with the walnuts. Are the plums OK with the juglones?
Plums -seem- to be really happy with juglone context with our experiments so far....
I like it. it looks like you are keeping it up and it looks better than mowed grass! you have some great ideas to make it fill out lower. I live on a busy street too, the vegetation does helps some.
I do like the free form of your living wall over a pedicured one.
I wish I could grow all those wonderful trees like Hazelnut, etc but not enough winter chill. I do have 2 Walnut trees (and planning to add one more) they grow well and set fruit (north-central of Mexico). I got some Hazelnut seeds from Turkey that I will experiment with since it is reported to have the least chilling requirement.
I bet there are really regionally appropriate options you can explore where you live.
@@edibleacres Yes, but I want them all :)
I would say a couple trees may have grown a little too tall but you said that it will be addressed in the Fall. Which will make a very busy time for you as you try to beat the snow.
The variegated willow is so unique and beautiful! I'm looking forward to videos about how you decide where to make your cuts. I'm just about ready (this winter) pollard some mulberry, and I'm a little nervous that I'll hurt them or make the cut in the wrong place, it will be good to hear the voice of experience. Thanks for sharing!
Mulberry is very tough once established. Anything you cut will quickly grow back.
@@awakenacres My friend whom is a Dermatologist has 2 Mulberry trees in her garden and she has not being able of killing them :) so yes they are tough. She loves plants so much that she ask her gardener to water/feed the plants more than they need. During winter time she would knit scarfs for her trees, I use just plain cardboard to protect the tender ones from frosts.
@@awakenacres Good to know, thank you!
In my area the native birds are all it takes to spread it even in places you don't want it😁
Awesome work! It looks so beautiful and functional.
Thank you very much!
I really enjoy watching your vlogs. Very interesting and informative, your presentation is considered and calming. Keep up the great work, watching from Australia.
Thanks kindly!
I get so many great ideas from your videos.
I'm so glad!
Living wall not new to me, I watched it grow from day one. Just wondering if it would be possible to change the way into the property to another angle and remove the old road and build the living wall to close of the view and deaden more sound with some sort of a hedge that stay short and more compact, just a thought. Silence is golden in a garden when all you want to hear is the birds and the bees... lol lol
I like the idea, but I can't imagine re-doing our driveway here now. If only we could design from scratch!
I would suggest that you lay the shrubs to make a denser hedge lower down. Laid hedges were designed as stock barriers but they do give good, dense growth from the ground up. Hazels, elder and willow would make a really good laid hedge. (Edited to provide more info.)
Thank you for those notes. Very reasonable idea for sure but I think the context in here is just too complex to have that element...
I can understand how it might look chaotic to folks who aren't into plants. What about adding something with bold impact flowers to the front of the wall to make it look more intentional? Of course if you don't care what those folks think of you, then do whatever, but I feel like broadcast seeding some bold flowers like zinnias or day lilies might hint to passers by that there's more going on than neglect. My father used to sow wildflower mix instead of lawn, and its amazing when things are blooming, and looks a bit rough when they're not.
My home backs to a main road. I would love to do this. We have some established trees but they don’t bock out enough. Also want to do this on the sides that face our next door neighbors. I have some hybrid willow cuttings ready to plant but here in NJ they will only help during spring through fall.
Have you tried hedgelaying? The traditional british craft of cutting and laying down small trees to thicken hedges, used for stockproofing before barbed wire
ua-cam.com/video/9gzmdgq7Yfo/v-deo.html
Beautiful Sean ❤️💕💖
When you think about it, sounding like the oceans is appropriate. Man has traditionally use the oceans for commerce and now we use roads as well as oceans to deliver goods.
wonderful
I am growing some baptisia from seed this year and looking forward to watching them turn into shrubs!
They are slow (for us) in year one.
@@edibleacres yea they’re growing pretty slow only like 3 or 4 inches tall so far….I was able to collect thousands of seeds from some plants in front of a local bank… the germination rate is good but something likes to eat them
I remember in the past that you had some grapes growing in the vine layer of the living wall. I'm curious if they are still there even if it is too thick for you to get into harvest any. I haven't had the chance to experiment to see just how shade tolerant grape vines can be at the most extreme end!
THere are grapes in there. They grow very well for sure, but don't crop much at all and can be quite challenging to maintain!
@@edibleacres Be careful with letting the grape vines get too out of hand. We moved into a home that was renovated but had previously been abandoned for four years. There was a huge vine growing on the edge of the property that I think was a grape vine gone wild. It was up several trees and had rooted itself in numerous places.
Four years later it’s still coming up everywhere even though that area was covered in cardboard and mulched to about six inches.
I would be worried the vine would choke your canopy rather than just connecting/supporting…..and take over everything. My vine looked beautiful to me that first year (a green privacy wall I thought) but it turned out to be extremely invasive.
@@sbffsbrarbrr are you sure it's grape and not Virginia creeper? Sounds super aggressive for grape.
Why not lay parts of this to increase the density lower to the ground? Especially the hazels could be laid rather than just pruned
I was about to make this EXACT comment.
Just cut a sapling halfway through 5" from the ground. Bend it at the cut and weave it in and out through its neighbors.
When it sprouts (and it WILL sprout), the new branches will fill in the gaps.
Then each fall or spring you can repeat the process until you have a living fence ("Bull strong, pig tight and horse high"!!)
After 5 years or so, the interwoven branches (vertical and horizontal) will self-graft together into a solid wall of wood.
@@jasongekko373 very interesting. Other than hazel, what are the best plants to do this cost effectively?
@@p_roduct9211 I would like to know also
Pleaching & hedge laying is used in a lot of countries I think so a variety of species could be used based on regions.....hawthorn, hazel, beech, Ash, maple,....
I've got about 75 feet of red alder, big leaf maple, and a little hazel that I laid as an experiment. So far it's all leafing out nicely. I have high hopes, as long as I can keep the blackberry off of it...
The barrier keeps the streets noise down
If you had a lot of trees in a row to be coppiced or pollarded, would you ever do half of them one year, the other half 1 or 2 or 3 years later? (or some other fraction) The idea of always having some of various heights.
The old system was a 7 year rotation. That is one seventh would be pollarded each winter, working through the plantation. This gave a steady supply of wood for use as needed.
Really nice note. Yes, that makes sense and some extent we've done that here. There are poplars cut to 4' mixed throughout, and the other larger ones will get the same treatment this year...
Awesome!
Hey, what is a curly willow? Do you offer them in the nursery store?
We do have curly willow we offer as cuttings, and perhaps established plants. We offer them in fall and again in spring.
@@edibleacres, I see that now. What an interesting variety of willow. I have a soggy spot that is destined to become a pond. These should live happily on that edge.
Just yesterday i advized clients on a busy roadside that they could build a mound, quickly sow it to annuals and intercrop perennials and trees, shrubs...
Perhpas a mound, by lifting your miscanthus and re plantin it on top and sides of the mound, would help with sound transmission ?
A huge mound of soil would be incredibly helpful, but not enough room here!
I'd like to do something along these lines in a dry-ish 8b climate zone, yet in the shade of a double row of old-growth trees (tilia cordata) lining a small road to the south of a fairly light patch of forest. I had been looking a berries, but am afraid that most would prefer more light to bear fruit. Ribes alpinum seems to be able to make a scraggly living there, elderberry is present in more sunnier patches, as are old growth hazelnuts and bramble galore. Any suggestions what could thrive in the shade, yet provide a natural border for the little forest?
In zone 5 here... what would create this kind of living wall without invasive root systems. Also, which plants/shrubs/trees grow more quickly to form the wall?
If you are looking for something that will naturally form a dense thicket and is native to Nother America, you could try Black Hawthorn. It sets edible fruit, can germinate from seed, and also sprouts from suckers that mature trees put out. They don't grow very tall either pretty easy to just prune their lead branches to keep it down to ten feet - so you just need something like a currant or blackberry understory to flush out the bottom.
@@Dontreallycare5 or lay the plants. Hawthorn was a traditional hedge plant in Britain. To 'lay' traditionally you let them grow for 10 years then you trim back branches and cut the main stems almost through, at an angle up the stem, then literally lay them over. You use poles driven in between the plants to frame up, weaving your stems through. It looks drastic but come the spring those stems will burst into new growth and give you a dense hedge. You can just trim the hedge to suit for the next decade before re-laying.
I'm not sure I understand 'invasive root system'... In this installation there are ample and massive roots, all mixed together, all working to create resilience, soil holding and habitat for soil life. I personally would want a powerfully robust root world...
Lovely content thankyou.
At least with the advent of more electric cars, the sound and emissions (locally) of the engines will go down (vs ICE engines).
The tires will still scrape the road (making noise) and release particles, unfortunately.
How would you design a low maintenance, no pruning living wall?
I don't know that I could offer ideas there... I think pruning makes it function best.
have you thought of adding a berm?
I thought about it, but it is too late now since everything is established... Also there is a gas line somewhere down in there that we wouldn't want to bury too deeply
Where can I source the batestia astrilla (sp?) @edibleacres
Try Baptisia Australis and see if you get any results at your local nursery....or maybe Sean will be selling seeds/plants this fall?
We hoped to offer that plant this fall but it go too dry for germination, oh well! Blue False Indigo or Baptisia Australis would be what you are searching for.
Pumpernickel.
I would like to politely request you consider uploading content to Odysee also. Please and thank you
Cars are loud, so loud clomping horses would be cooler.
Watching from the low desert of Arizona. Your channel is a bad influence on me. I tend to water more after watching your garden and then I see the results in the water bill.
Mulch, mulch, mulch, mulch... ;)
Hahaha, watching from the South of France and experiencing the same effects 😂
I hope you are actively exploring planting densely with a wide range of deep taprooted plants and bringing in as much mulch as you can too... Hope you can build a resilient and healthy space where you live!