LOADING...

Posts Tagged "colorado"

Food Forests

News, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Food Forests

In response to the unsustainable practices and negative externalities of the modern industrial monocrop agriculture complex, there has been growing interest in permaculture and food forests as a sustainable way to produce food. Permaculture is a philosophy and set of practices that aims to create regenerative ecosystems that are self-sufficient and promote biodiversity. Food forests, also known as forest gardens, are an example of a permaculture design that mimics the structure and function of a natural forest ecosystem.

So, what exactly is a food forest? Essentially, it is a type of agroforestry system that combines fruit and nut trees, shrubs, herbs, and perennial vegetables to create a diverse, low-maintenance food production system. The idea is to mimic the layers of a natural forest, with a canopy layer of tall trees, an understory layer of shorter trees and shrubs, a herbaceous layer of groundcovers and herbaceous plants, and a root layer of bulbs, tubers, and other perennial vegetables.

The goal of a food forest is not just to produce food, but to create a self-sustaining ecosystem that benefits both humans and the environment. By using permaculture principles like companion planting, nutrient cycling, and species symbiosis, a food forest can increase productivity and resilience while reducing the need for external inputs like pesticides and fertilizers.

One key aspect of food forests is the use of species symbiosis, or the interdependent relationships between different species in an ecosystem. In a food forest, each plant plays a specific role in the ecosystem, whether it is fixing nitrogen, providing shade, attracting pollinators, or repelling pests. By selecting plants that complement each other and create mutually beneficial relationships, a food forest can become a thriving, diverse ecosystem that supports a wide range of species.

Another key principle of permaculture and food forests is the idea of “stacking functions.” In other words, each element in the ecosystem should serve multiple functions to maximize productivity and efficiency. For example, a fruit tree can provide shade for an understory crop like berries, while also producing food and providing habitat for birds and insects. These species may act as predators to crop destroying pests.

Here are a few examples different species relationships that can be used in a permaculture food forest:

  • Nitrogen-Fixing Plants and Fruit Trees: Nitrogen-fixing plants like legumes capture nitrogen from the air and convert it into a form that other plants can use. By planting nitrogen-fixing plants in and around fruit trees, the trees can benefit from this natural source of fertilizer. In return, the trees can provide shade and support for the legumes, creating a mutually beneficial relationship.

 

  • Pollinator Plants and Fruit Trees: Most fruit trees require pollinators to produce fruit. By planting a diverse mix of pollinator-friendly plants like clover, borage, and comfrey around fruit trees, the food forest can attract bees and other beneficial insects that will help pollinate the trees. At the same time, these plants can provide habitat and food for a wide range of other beneficial insects and birds.

 

  • Pest-Repelling Plants and Companion Plants: Some plants have natural pest-repelling properties that can help protect other plants in the food forest. For example, marigolds are known to repel pests like nematodes, while garlic and onions can help repel pests like aphids and spider mites. By planting these plants in and around other plants that are susceptible to pests, the food forest can reduce the need for synthetic pesticides.

 

  • Groundcover Plants and Trees: Groundcover Plants: Strawberries, clover, and mint can help prevent soil erosion and retain moisture in the soil. By planting these plants around fruit trees and other tall plants, the food forest can create a natural mulch layer that will help retain water and nutrients in the soil. At the same time, the groundcover plants can provide food and habitat for a range of beneficial insects.

Food forests are also designed to be low-maintenance and require minimal inputs once established. By using perennial plants that come back year after year, a food forest can reduce the need for tillage and other soil-disturbing practices that can damage the ecosystem. And by mimicking the structure of a natural forest, a food forest can take advantage of natural processes like nutrient cycling and water retention.

Food forests are a promising example of how permaculture principles can be applied to agriculture to create sustainable, diverse ecosystems that benefit both humans and the environment. By using species symbiosis, stacking functions, and other permaculture techniques, food forests can increase productivity and resilience while reducing the need for external inputs and minimizing negative impacts on the environment. As we continue to face growing challenges in food production, food forests offer a promising alternative that can help us build a more sustainable future.

If you are interested in developing a food forest on your property, call Tannenbaum Design Group today and let’s start planning your garden and dinner table today!

References:

Jacke, D., & Toensmeier, E. (2008). Edible forest gardens. Chelsea Green.

 

 

Tannenbaum Design Group | Landscape Architecture and Outdoor Design | Food Forests

 


Date: Feb 15, 2023
AUTHOR: tbaumdesign

Placing a Value on Design

News, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Placing a Value on Design

Design fundamentally has two elements – Form and Function. Function is the tangible aspects. What is it? What can I do with it? It’s easy to compare apples to oranges, see what is demanded across a population, and then ultimately put a price tag on what people are willing to pay for it. A deck for a deck, a shade structure for a shade structure, etc… Form, however, is much more intangible. It’s a subjective feeling about the creation. Is it beautiful? How do I feel in it? When a Landscape Designer puts a price on their work, they are putting a valuation on their own time and projecting that out as a fixed bid estimate of their total expected time expenditure. But how do we account for the value of the form, not just the function? For that, we look to secondhand sales to find out.

In 1999, a study conducted by Clemson University looked to quantify the effect of different quality landscaping improvements on the ultimate home sale price. They studied the effect that different properties in a wide variety of locations and conditions sold for using landscape quality as the variable. Consequently, what they found was that with all other variables accounted for, an excellently landscaped property could fetch up to 14 to 17% more at sale then one with landscaping rated as poor. In Denver today, that’s equivalent to $70,000 more for the average home!

Turn those drive-bys into walk-throughs, get more bids, and sell for more.

There is a cost to the investment of labor and materials to make the jump from poor to excellent, but the benefits will still far outweigh the costs. Rarely do our residential landscaping projects in Denver cost even 10% of the value of the home. Numbers crunched, that’s up to a $29,000 instant profit with the sale of your average Denver home.

When looking at your outdoor spaces don’t be afraid of the price tag. The money is being invested as equity into the home with a buffer of profit to dream big and create a space you will love. Regardless, he best way to maximize the value of landscape designing is to plan ahead. Significantly, moving into a new place is the perfect time to start planning your outdoor spaces. Undoubtedly, a more established landscape is worth more to the property and you get to thoroughly enjoy it while you live there.

Outdoor lighting, good yard maintenance, and well-placed trees will always pay for themselves in the end. Designing for varietal leisure spaces, noise reduction, visual barriers, creating a cohesive aesthetic with the architecture, crafting a clean outdoor look that makes the house feel cared for – these are some of the more subtle design challenges that people will subconsciously pay top dollar for.

Sustainable Design

None of this, however, accounts for the added benefit energy and water savings that a sustainably designed plan provides for the home. Not only do you create a curb appeal that makes you proud of where you live and an outdoor space that makes your home feel bigger and more versatile, but everyday utility and maintenance costs can be drastically reduced ultimately paying for the improvements themselves.

Tannenbaum Design Group, for these reasons, is proud to announce a new collaboration with GreenSpot Real Estate. As a landscape designer, we are now offering FREE customized designs with any Buyers or Sellers Agency Listing agreement with the purchase or sale of any home. We want to reinvent the way the home sale industry works by adding more value back into your homes than is paid in the commission. As a seller you profit! As a buyer you get to buy a house you like and turn it into a home you love, for free! What is your sister’s college roommate’s broker friend giving you for the cost of that commission? If you do the math, it makes no sense to go anywhere else.

Tannenbaum Design Group | Landscape Architecture and Outdoor Design | Placing a Value on Design


Date: Jul 23, 2018
AUTHOR: tbaumdesign
Comments: 1

Scandinavia Study – Cold Hardy Vegetation and Contemporary Minimalism

News, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Invasives and Natives

We as landscape designers look to enhance the local outdoor setting through the use of natural materials. Often times there are many native species and materials that can accomplish the aesthetic we are searching for. When designing for the quintessential Colorado architectural styles of American Bungalow or Mountain Rustic, the use of natives to match can be ideal. Local stones and local species can round off the great Colorado archetypes that we are chasing. Many times in the era we live in though, architectural styles are imported. In these circumstances, the landscape pallet of locals might not be the complete pallet desired. In such circumstances it is important to consider import choices carefully.

Historically, very little attention was paid to invasive species. To date, across the western world, we are battling the mistakes of the past. Because of the lack of attention when importing horticulture, we now have pests such as the nightmarish fire ants, the emerald ash borer that devastates out forests, and the Asian tiger mosquito that many of us know well. Many times however, it is the plants themselves and the weeds hitchhiking in the soil that can be the most destructive to the ecosystem. One of the best examples of this is the Kudzu vine. A vine introduced in the late 1800s, Kudzu was hailed as a great planting solution for erosion control. Now having made its way into the wild, the vine can grow up to a foot a day, completely overtaking even entire trees and shading them to death. Now kudzu, like many other species, are a constant battle wreaking havoc across the continent.

With that said, there is nothing inherently evil about the use of foreign vegetation in the landscape. It is only when the species used have the capacity to spread into the wild, and out-compete the native vegetation, that it becomes an issue. So, how do we as landscape architects in a challenging horticulture climate like Colorado, with limited off season color in the native pallet, responsibly preserve the ecosystem while creating beautiful outdoor spaces? For that, we have a number of considerations.

  • One option is to simply use foreign species that will not survive our winters as highlights within the landscape for seasonal “pop”. In this circumstance we preserve the ecosystem by using annuals that don’t have the capacity to become invasive.
  • A second option is the use of sterile cultivated hybrids and single gendered plants so that the species do not have the capacity to reproduce and spread into the wild. In this way we can scour foreign locations for incredible plant species and use them without ill effects.
  • Another consideration is the use of regional plants from close climates cultivated locally. Over time these species from nearby can acclimate and begin to withstand our winters. In this way we are simply expanding the range of semi native species and pushing the envelope of their domain slightly. An acceleration of a natural evolution if you will.
  • Lastly, we can consider the use of species that can survive in the urban environment, where we enhance the native soils and irrigate, but would be unable to survive outside of that micro-ecosystem. With the use of sustainable systems such as rain water collection and home composting, there can be no real environmentally damaging effects.

With all this in mind, in the end, it is important to remember our role as environmental stewards. When the opportunity to propagate endangered local species back into the environment presents itself, we should take it. Natives aren’t to be forgotten or ignored as they often have become in recent years, but that doesn’t mean that a landscape that that uses foreign species as highlights is necessarily failing in our role in creating a sustainable future.

 

 

Scandinavia

In design, we don’t always have to reinvent the wheel. There is a big world of ideas out there to learn and develop off of. Colorado may not have a great history of landscape architecture but there are areas of the world with similar environments that do, and we can learn from them. One of those, for us here, is Scandinavia. (i.e. Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark.) Humanity has been practicing landscape design for many centuries in these countries. The way they design for the harshness of winter, to avoid bare bleak landscapes is inspiring. They design for it, instead of suffering through it.

As contemporary architecture progressively takes its foothold here too, we can again look to our Scandinavian friends for inspiration. As major arbiters of this post modern era of architecture, they push the envelope of landscape design as well. How do you extend the contemporary aesthetic from the structures themselves into the spaces between? There are few cultures more progressive than the Scandinavians in this regard.

At the end of the day though, the best teacher of landscape design is nature itself. To go into the natural environment and recreate the juxtapositions and symbiosis there, produces some of the best results. Few places on earth will take your breath away like the fjords and archipelagos of sparsely inhabited and untainted far northern Europe. A reminder of how nature looked before people and what we can do to bring it back.


Date: Aug 12, 2016
AUTHOR: tbaumdesign

Thumbtack Best of 2016!

News, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

What a year! So many new projects. Looking forward to what’s to come!


Date: Jan 27, 2016
AUTHOR: tbaumdesign