The making of a tufa garden

[RickR]

I am equally impressed, too! 

And you have all that extra tufa without the shipping charge...
Maybe you should sell to the UK... 

[Lori S.]

Thank you for the comments!  
Boy, are my arms tired... and they look like I've been taming wildcats - all scratched and scraped!  With the extra tufa purchase (glad we did it), there was enough to do paths through the new beds, and enough for another smaller tufa bed somewhere... somewhen...  (Whew, that was enough for now!)  

Not to say this is what should be done  , but this is what we did, in summary...
The bigger, structural pieces were put in place (with much standing back to look at it, to see if the angles and shapes were pleasing) and then some of the mounded topsoil was packed in around their bases to stabilize them.  With the big pieces put in place, the gyra rock-sand-little bit of peat mix was then packed into all the crevices, using pieces of wooden board (1"x 2", 2"x 2") and a dandelion weeder for smaller crevices.  (The goal is for all pieces to be completely firm, so that I can crawl all over it for planting and weeding without dislodging any pieces.)  The pathways were done the same way... the tufa pieces fitted against the structural pieces to help hold them in place, and the mix packed in to make them all stable and firm.  Then, building upwards, there was more filling-in with the gyra/sand planting mix and chinking-in of spaces to keep the planting mix from spilling out (more of this needs to be done).  We then set the water sprinkler on it to wet things down and help it all settle... then I'll go over it again and look for places that need more packing tomorrow night.  Then, eventually, the top dressing of 1/2" tufa gravel can be added.  
And then, the trays of seedlings left over from spring can finally find homes!

Strangely, the pile of gyra rock in the alley seemed not to diminish no matter how much we took from it; there is an ample quantity put away for "sanding" the walks during the winter, we used it as a border all around, etc.... either my estimate of what we'd need was off, or we got rather more than the 2 yards ordered (Stuart claims the latter)... We wanted to get it out of the alley, so hauling the remainder into the yard was the day's last chore.

[IMYoung]

Well done, Lori.... and Stuart!
What a great job you've been making of these tufa gardens. Now, of course, if anyone wonders why there is such a shortage oftufa around, we now know its all at Lori's place!

I won't be offering to arm-wrestle you anytime soon after all that hauling rock  (Not sure why I would  be wanting to.... but you get my drift.... get exercise that rock hauling!)

[deesen]

Lori, what is "gyra" rock please?

[Lori S.]

Thanks, Maggi!  It's fortunate that tufa and other stone is available around here at (relatively) low cost.
Well, I'm sure it goes without saying that normally I'd be delighted to arm-wrestle you (  ), but I feel that perhaps I should save my strength for more gravel-packing on the weekend!    

I have no idea why it's called "gyra rock" - and can't find any references to explain it so perhaps it's just a local term? - but anyway, it's fine gravel/pebbles, in this case sieved to a nominal size of 7mm (though actually the size varies quite a bit; perhaps 7mm is an average/median?)  The individual particles are naturally rounded (so probably from a fluvial deposit of glacial age) and usually rather oval-shaped with a longer and a shorter axis.  

(NB. The more consistent the grain size and the better the rounding, the better the permeability, by the way... as opposed to the common misconception that "sharp" particles, i.e. angular ones, yield the best permeability.)

[Tim Ingram]

I really must get going after all this from Lori! But now I'm torn after listening to Peter Korn describe his garden in Sweden (at Lamberton, Ron McBeath's nursery, last Saturday). He uses sand and gravel on an epic scale and should be able to give Lori a good run for his money! Seriously the description of his garden was truly remarkable and inspirational but I suspect tufa wins out at the end of the day for the choicest of plants.

[Tim Ingram]

Peter Korn's website by the way is http://www.peterkornstradgard.se/english/eindex.htm

He grows an extraordinarily wide range of plants with great sensitivity to their ecological requirements. I only wish I was 25 years younger!

[RickR]

It always goes back to the combination of environmental factors working together.  I agree that tufa would win out in the end over sand, but is not necessarily true all the time.  I remember reading multiple times in Jānis Rukšāns's book Buried Treasure how many bulbous plants he found in situ in Central Asia grew in clay, when the accepted garden culture is "perfectly draining soil".

[Hoy]

You have to look both at the growing medium and the climate. You can't separate the two. What works in one place doesn't necessarily work another place with a different climate.
The summer temperature is also very important - not only the winter mean and low spells.

[Will Youngman Comrie Perthshire]

Stunning!! what a project. Cant wait to see it developing as its planted up. keep the photos coming.

[Lori S.]

I acquired some more tufa on the weekend and put in tufa bed #5... it's not done yet, but the structure is completed.  So I guess I certainly will have room for all the new plants!    The new bed is the differently-coloured one... it's been wet down to pack the planting mix.

 

[Hoy]

Looks terrific!
A question, do you get invading moss or lichens in your tufa beds? Such porous rock would be to the liking of moss here.

[Spiegel]

And here too, Trond.  I haven't found it to cause a problem although I pick it out when it gets close to some thing that wants dry conditions as well as lime.

[RickR]

Very inspiring, Lori! 

[Spiegel]

Wonderful work, Lori.  Keep us posted on the planting, please.

Trond, I agree with what you said about climate.  In the American west, you can find many plants growing in heavy clay.  But this soil exists along with 10% humidity and very, very dry little rainfall and intense sun.  That clay dries rock hard.  If you grew the same plants in the same condiitons in the northeast with our average rain fall of 30-40 inches, they plants would not survive, because the clay would be muck all the time.  Ditto the use of pumice in mixes.  Here it would keep the mix much too wet.  Everything has to betailored to your conditions which calls for experimenting with a lot of plants.  (And a large plant cemetary for the failures)