The removal of the tomatoes from the greenhouse benches gives us room to get the first planting of sweetcorn (Flagler) started. We put 5 seeds to a pot and 32 pots make a row. Once those are big enough and the weather warm enough they will get set out in to a row and another planting will be started. We try to have 2 weeks between plantings to extend the season. Last year we brought ~ 230 ears of corn to the table. #gardening #allotment #zone6b #NewEngland #BeetBear #Today #sweetcorn
@levampyre
It's a #NoDig#garden made with compost from the local compost works of the council.
That had originally a pH of 5-5,5. After some time it came up to 7.0.
That's pretty constant now even with the annual application of 3-5cm (1-2") of fresh compost in winter.
We really need to bring more micro farms to the food chain.
If we put all of our eggs in the same basket of conventional agriculture, when a crisis like this one happens and we have no alternative solution that is a problem.
This is why we advocate all year long to encourage people to grow food if they can do that so that we can have as many alternatives as we can to sustain the food production.
@ScotHomestead@gardening. The garden vegetable starts are looking to get in the garden soil here too. We’ve had a stretch of wet weather and that is great for the planet. It’s been too wet for proper planting. The soil has been a sticky mess when compacted around the starts. #growyourown, #minnesota, #nodig.
Während die #FDP beim Kampf gegen den #Klimawandel vom Technologiemonster #CCS als alternativlos redet und von satten, langfristigen Gewinnen aus staatlichen Haushaltstöpfen träumt, gibt es wahrscheinlich eine sehr viel einfachere und billigere Option, die gleichzeitig auch noch großflächig Ackerböden verbessern würde: Gesteinsmehl. Aus Basalt.
Gestein verwittert. Dabei bindet es CO2 langfristig. Zur Zeit schätzt man, dass 5 Tonnen Basaltmehl 1 Tonne CO2 binnen 5 Jahren aufnehmen kann. Beim Verwittern gibt das Gestein außerdem Mineralien frei. Bringt man es zur CO2-Kompensation auf Äckern aus, verbessert man damit also gleichzeitig den Boden - kostenlos. Gärtner kennen das.
Nachteil: man müsste Basalt abbauen. Die 5 Mio Tonnen jährlich, die in deutschen Steinbrüchen als Abraum anfallen, reichen nicht weit.
Aber zumindest erforschen und durchrechnen sollte man diesen Weg ernsthaft, bevor wir anfangen, das Land mit riesigen Carbonabscheidern voll zu pflastern.
Genau. Es gibt ja dieses schöne Video von Geo Girl "What is and is not carbon sequestration", das zumindest mir sehr geholfen hat, die Prozesse besser zu verstehen: https://youtu.be/fVZRlleb5yA Aber danach frage ich mich halt, ob Gesteinsmehl auf dem Acker wirklich in dem Maße was beitragen kann - also in veritableren Maßen als organische Bodenverbesserung und #NoDig im allgemeinen.
Next no dig bed in preparation, just waiting for some rain to wet the card before adding compost and woodchip. It’s quite a damp bed as in a little hollow so eventually will be home to a willow #permaculture#NoDig#Veganic#ForestGarden#Gardening
The 15th of April here is the date when we can start directly sowing outside seeds for the summer garden.
If I like so much this way of gardening it is because all I have to do is gather my seeds, drop them on top of the soil, and add some compost on top of it.
Struggling at the moment between knee problems, neck problems and arm problems. BUT I’m getting work done. Not done the way I like but done nonetheless and maybe I can learn something. Or maybe this will convert me into a #NoDig person! 🤔
I’m cleaning my work path with a #WeedWacker, a device I highly dislike and normally use very sparingly. But without the ability to work on my knees, hand issues and some grasses going to seeds, something needs to be done.
Weed wacking can be dangerous to wildlife but so far I haven’t knowingly hurt anything, like lizards. I guess the noise scares them away. I’m trying to only clear what’s needed to leave wild growth as this is an area I recently decided would service wildlife. An area of about 400 sq. M. or 3600 sq ft.
I’ll admit this is tough on the morale but I try to keep going. Came in for charged batteries. Going to fuel myself up with 1/2-caff coffee too then go back out and continue cleaning the path so I can clean the fallen oranges 🍊 off the ground. It’s gross.
Beautiful day. 🌞 & 23°c (73°F). Trying to make the most of what I can do. Even using electric pruners (aka sécateurs)
Some lovely snow cover on March 24th and 25th. The ground was bare and dry most of the winter season. Southern Minnesota had the hottest winter on record. So many locations experienced the same problem. Climate change is busy. #minnesota, #ClimateDiary, #nodig, #garlic.
@msquebanh. I just stirred the 2023 garlic crop ferment. It needs more time. We are enthusiastic about blended and fermented garlic in cooking and other fermentations. Many garlic varieties blended together are complex. This is the rationale for growing about twenty varieties for about twenty years. And having charts of the garden to rotate the crop. #garlic, #growyourown, #nodig, #fermentation.
The #climatechange happening right now means that we are having spring-like days and nights and it is very tempting to plant seeds outside. But we are still at risk of frosty nights.
The compost piles are doing fantastic and some of the #NoDig beds we have done are ready to be used but it would be at risk to lose those seedlings.
The previous years were less frustrating. Climate change is a thing, A gardener works month by month and knows well the local climate.
So do not even try to come tell us all of this is just our imagination or you will get a free block and report.
It’s February 17th. The 2023 garlic crop is processed. We have about 4,600 grams of garlic in the crock with 92 grams of kosher salt. This will ferment on the countertop for several weeks. Fermented garlic is treasure for cooking and making other ferments. #growyouown, #garlic, #fermentation, #kimchi, #rempah, #sambal, #minnesota, #zone4b, #nodig.
I’ve managed to do some soil blocking and seed sowing. With today being a fruit day, broad beans, field beans and peas have been sown in the greenhouse. Chillipeppers, sweet peppers, aubergines and beefsteak tomatoes sown inside. #Gardening#NoDig#Allotment#SoilBlocks#BiodynamicGardening
#Compost, around a cubic metre of it. All materials from last year (2023). Looks good and smells and feels nice. Would already do for a #mulch but I won't be using it until the autumn, so it has another eight or nine months to decompose more. Home to lots of #earthworms.
I amalgamated the communal compost into the one pile and added some soil and some old jute bag material that had decomposed in another compost pile. That should add some more microbial life to the pile.
On the communal compost plot the first compost heap has been turned and moved. A second heap is being built next to it as and when compostables are donated.
More material will be added every week now as more people start to get their plots ready for spring.
It’s been interesting to see the depth of good soil before the clay layer starts too. Being no dig I only get to see the top soil depth when I do a project like this. This area has probably been undisturbed for nearly a decade. I wish I’d measured the top soil depth before I started down the no dig route.
I’ll add a lid and then worms and feed them some food scraps regularly. The worms should be safe from predation and be able to escape into the soil away from any extremes of heat and cold.
I’ll add a layer of sand or grit at the bottom to improve the water infiltration as the worm box it is now sitting directly on the clay layer.
The worms may just leave for somewhere better but I’m hoping they’ll stay and provide lots of worm poo for the plot.