Welcome to the Eco-Garden Gallery.
We've selected a smattering of pictures from the development of the Eco-Garden over the last few years so that you can see how far we've come, and what kinds of site alterations the installation of an ecological garden involves.
We broke ground on the TreeUtah Eco-Garden in 2006, in a field next to the Day-Riverside Library in Rose Park. The library had been designated the city's "environmental branch," and with open space next to the Jordan River, it seemed like a great fit for the Eco-Garden.
Before we put anything in, it looked like this:
Starting off in April of 2006, a team of TreeUtah staff and volunteers laid out a long swale (a shallow ditch on contour to harvest runoff):
and planted our first young fruit trees (the ones in cages):
That year, dozens of volunteers joined staff to put hundreds of plants into the Eco-Garden:
Our October 7th workday was rainy, but successful:
And by November the fruit tree guilds (mini agro-ecosystems) were taking shape:
Spring 2007 brought workgroups (like this one from University of Kansas) that helped establish terraces and paths in the garden, much of it out of scavenged urbanite (broken concrete) from around town:
That year the garden really bloomed in spring:
Volunteers also built a cob (clay, straw and sand) bench over an urbanite skeleton:
In 2008, youth from the Jewish Community Center, with the help of local artist Paul Heath, painted a mural on our new toolshed:
We also had some volunteer pack goats do some mid-summer weeding for us:
The plants formed strong guilds as they began to form and fill ecological niches with each other:
After some winter damage, we re-plastered the Dragon cob bench with lime:
And then volunteers helped us paint on some natural pigment:
This year (2009), we are continuing to establish guilds and we will be building a shade structure for class and volunteer groups. We will continue our workshop and film series as well as hosting a workshop with renowned author Toby Hemenway, who wrote Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture. Join us for these and for our open work sessions every Friday from 4-7 PM.
-Tristan Call, Eco-Garden Steward
Before we put anything in, it looked like this:
Starting off in April of 2006, a team of TreeUtah staff and volunteers laid out a long swale (a shallow ditch on contour to harvest runoff):
and planted our first young fruit trees (the ones in cages):
That year, dozens of volunteers joined staff to put hundreds of plants into the Eco-Garden:
Our October 7th workday was rainy, but successful:
And by November the fruit tree guilds (mini agro-ecosystems) were taking shape:
Spring 2007 brought workgroups (like this one from University of Kansas) that helped establish terraces and paths in the garden, much of it out of scavenged urbanite (broken concrete) from around town:
That year the garden really bloomed in spring:
Volunteers also built a cob (clay, straw and sand) bench over an urbanite skeleton:
In 2008, youth from the Jewish Community Center, with the help of local artist Paul Heath, painted a mural on our new toolshed:
We also had some volunteer pack goats do some mid-summer weeding for us:
The plants formed strong guilds as they began to form and fill ecological niches with each other:
After some winter damage, we re-plastered the Dragon cob bench with lime:
And then volunteers helped us paint on some natural pigment:
This year (2009), we are continuing to establish guilds and we will be building a shade structure for class and volunteer groups. We will continue our workshop and film series as well as hosting a workshop with renowned author Toby Hemenway, who wrote Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture. Join us for these and for our open work sessions every Friday from 4-7 PM.
-Tristan Call, Eco-Garden Steward