Happy Easter 2016!

Happy Easter from Abundant Design!

Here are a few pictures from last weekend's Seed Exchange and Grafting Workshop

Photo: Jennifer Miller of ClarionSage.com

"Sweet Tater" TeRonde provided the music, and picked up a new fan.

Some of the seed traders and their loot

 

Fruit tree grafting workshop was a hit!

Photo: Julia McGuire of JulieCache.com

Thanks to all who came and made the event a success!

I hope you all have a blessed day!!!

 

Exhibitor Spotlight

This story appeared on the MarketPlace Events website just prior to the opening of the Home and Outdoor Living Show. 

Read the full article here:

 

Also WOI-TV Channel 5's Sam Shreier stopped by Abundant Design's feature garden to do Friday's mid-day weather forecast and tape this interview that played in the evening.

Saturday morning I made a stop at the Channel 13 WHO studios for a quick interview with Jannay Towne before heading back to the Iowa Events Center.

 

Congratulations to the following winners!

•   Donna J. of Des Moines
•   Alison K. of West Des Moines
•   Nick O. of West Des Moines

Enjoy your new compost bucket and children's garden book packages!

The Little Gardener and Compost Stew: An A to Z Recipe for the Earth are also available on our Amazon Store!


The show and lead up was super exciting, especially since "Have Your Lawn and Eat It Too" won "Best in Show" but now it's time to get back to business! 

As this article posts we will be conducting a Community Seed Exchange and Grafting Workshop at the Waukee Library.  Then work will begin shaping the land, building soil and planting edible landscapes for the 2016 season. 

Are you on the list? 

Do you want an Abundant Design for your property?

Contact us today to make it happen! 

Best In Show!

As you know Abundant Design was invited to do a feature garden at this year's Des Moines Home + Outdoor Living Show.  Here are some pictures from the garden and the event.

Moving in!

Pieces coming together...

Getting closer...

Finished!

 

Elements in the design included:

A small food forest including a pollinator bed and honeybee hives, fruiting wall, stepper access path through the apple, pear, peach & cherry guild that ended near an arbor with trellised grapevines.

Continuing around the yard you came to the compost bins, herb spiral and annual garden.  There was even a bean tipi for the kids.











The edible oasis patio was where you could gather to enjoy the fire ring with privacy provided by the elderberry hedge on one side and evergreens on the other.  Blueberries were placed near these.

Don't forget to stop at the "Eat Your Weeds" display.


Back to the house, which was accented by an Autumn Brilliance Serviceberry specimen tree, you could find nasturtium and lupine mixed in the foundation planting.  The rain barrel from Rain Barrels Iowa was nestled on the other side to collect and store rainwater, and the overflow would be diverted to the food forest or maple tree ring.  Hostas provided the ground cover under the maple with tulips planted to hold nutrients through the spring rains.  A tree tapping mock up was nearby along with a recipe for hosta shoots.

On the deck behind the house were herbs, a salsa pot and bucket growing system provided by Forest Avenue Outreach to promote their new mentoring initiative.  You could register to win a growing system and also one of three kitchen compost bucket gift packs.

 



 The big news though is that the feature garden display

WON BEST IN SHOW!

 

Thanks everyone who has supported Abundant Design, and Market Place Events for inviting us to the show!

If you were unable to make it enjoy the pictures, copy the ideas in your landscapes.  Contact us if you want help with the design and installation.

Welcome to the great new friends and customers we met down at the Iowa Events Center this last week.  We look forward to working with you and helping you enjoy

Having your lawn and eating it too!

 

See you soon!

Gardening Today

I took a break from show prep this morning to visit with Aaron Steil and Jessica Krupicka on Gardening Today on AM 1040 WHO.

We had fun talking about gardening, edible landscaping, food forests and the Home and Outdoor Living Show.  If you missed it or want to listen again, here is a link to the recorded podcast.  While you are there you can browse the other past shows.

There are many links on the Gardening Today show notes that we talked about.  We also mentioned The Environmental Working Group's Dirty Dozen.  If you would like to get involved with the Ames Food Forest join the Central Iowa Foodscaping Facebook group.  If you want to build a seed starting rack, here's the how-to video.


I also got to attend a mushroom growing class at McFarland Park put on by Story County Conservation. 

Adam Wilke lead about thirty attendees through the ins and outs of mushroom cultivation, benefits and science.  We all got to drill our logs, insert the spawn and seal them.  We also got to take home the log we inoculated with shiitake spawn.

For more information and registration for other classes put on by Story County Conservation go to their calendar.







I also got a few pictures of things popping in the back yard.

But show prep continues...

 

I can't wait to see you there!