This summer, the Northern Nevada Permaculture meet-up group helped Gear Hut beautify our alleyway with a pollinator garden box. The Wells District is primarily a concrete jungle, with hidden gems of median gardens and fruit trees flowering in private yards. We wanted to add some color and a habitat for pollinators to move through our area of the district by creating a garden box!
We reached out to the Northern Nevada Permaculture Group to see if we could be their community project of the summer. This awesome group meets monthly (2nd Wednesdays) to work on projects, educate each other and plan annual events (like their bike tour!). With their help, they procured cedar boards, soil and pollinator plants from generous donors like Moana Nursery to bring our idea to fruition.
One awesome innovation that was worked into the design of our bed was the use of ollas for irrigation. Since our garden bed was not located near a water source, a drip irrigation system was not possible. However, since our garden was south facing and against a bright white concrete wall, these plants would require regular watering. The NNP group decided that rather than making us manually water the plants multiple times a day, the ollas would be a good fit. An olla is essentially an unglazed clay pot that you bury in the ground, fill with water, and allow plant roots to pull as much water as they need through the clay. We fill these up every other day, and they allow the plants to make it through during our days off! This is a great tool for anyone to use with outdoor potted plants that they may not be able to irrigate with a drip!
The garden was initially planted with donated perennials from Moana Nursery: yarrow, gaillardia, penstemon, salvia, catmint and coneflower. These are good plants to add to a pollinator space! The NNP group also planted some herbs and veggies as well! These have taken off like crazy, with squash overflowing the confines of the bed!
Upon completion, we were motivated to add to the area, and pushed our landlord to install a bike rack for our eco friendly commuters. Now that the area isn’t just a tar slab, we wanted to spend more time enjoying the space, and also added a picnic bench for our community to socialize and enjoy.
Swing by the shop to check out the awesome work of the Northern Nevada Permaculture group, or attend one of their meetings!