2020, two important events our move to Touraine and the reading of the book Le Potager du laesseux.
Arriving on a new land free of any crops for 10 years, I decided to set up a sloth vegetable garden without tillage and without input. But not knowing where to plant the vegetable garden in the land (6000 m2) I therefore created two test vegetable gardens
The top vegetable garden : The earth is composed of a mixture of tufa and sand, so it is particularly drained and limestone but it is easy to work. the vegetation that grows there naturally is rather thin
The lower vegetable garden : The earth remains constantly humid because it receives all the runoff water (especially this year) it consists of the same soil as the top vegetable garden but with a strip of clay. Clay + Sand + Moisture = the earth is therefore compact like concrete, heavy in clods and always damp. The natural vegetation that grows there is much more abundant (willow, fescue, thistles, hazelnuts)
After a first year of cultivation on and under hay, I obtained poor results in the two trial gardens.
In the top vegetable garden the vegetables are sickly and I haven't even managed to get beans that have sprouted but the plants have remained yellow and sluggish, the tomatoes are doing better, the zucchini are withered, the borage is yellow , chard are palichones and their stems are thin
In the lower vegetable garden, success for the potatoes, for the rest the disease (too wet soil), the slugs and thistles were determined to rot the beans, develop the tomato and zucchini plants without producing a single fruit, on the other hand a great success on bindweed which undoubtedly benefited from a supply of nitrogen to grow and multiply.
I just tried transplanting leeks and cabbage. In the top vegetable garden, the operation is possible but I do not believe in the result because the soil is not suitable (too poor). in the lower vegetable garden I twisted a dibble and managed to introduce the leek and cabbage plants with great difficulty between the clods of earth, I doubt that the plants can take properly.
What's your opinion / Should I try to improve the upper vegetable garden by adding manure and compost or do I have to persist on the lower vegetable garden which has more fertile soil but so compact ???? What would you do in my place ?
The intermediate solution is not possible the middle ground is built and too much in the shade of trees and houses.
Thank you, thank you for your advice, I'm about to start all over again, but how?
Need advice to start a Lazy Vegetable Garden?
Re: Need advice to start a Sloth's Vegetable Garden
Hi, complicated to answer you. First of all, I think that in the first year it is normal for the results to be mixed. You say it yourself, that in the upper vegetable garden the natural vegetation is poor, so a year of hay is not going to fundamentally change the situation. I don't know, what are your availability and plans for your land, but why not keep the two vegetable gardens, and gradually discover the crops that are popular in one or the other? Supply of manure or compost for the top vegetable garden: here in sandy soil I bring everything I can, apart from green waste I have rabbit manure and chicken droppings. I put all this directly on my soil, no compost for me. I'm starting to get some really cool results, but it's only been two and a half years, so there's still a long way to go. Good luck to you
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Re: Need advice to start a Sloth's Vegetable Garden
I "more so" to Doris' comment: a year is too short to have an exact idea of the situation!
moreover I allow myself to think that having 2 different situations from the point of view of textures / structure, RFU, exposure, etc ... must be an asset ... if it is possible to keep the 2 sites!
moreover I allow myself to think that having 2 different situations from the point of view of textures / structure, RFU, exposure, etc ... must be an asset ... if it is possible to keep the 2 sites!
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Re: Need advice to start a Sloth's Vegetable Garden
I allow myself to share my weak "beginner" experience.
I too am in my second season of hay cultivation. And I think the key word is "patience". We have to wait for the whole system to balance itself out.
Also, we weren't very lucky with the weather: very dry last year and very wet and cool this year. Not easy, to start, to navigate.
For the moment, I see my vegetable garden as an experimentation area: do I manage to cultivate this or that vegetable or this or that variety or spread the seedlings to see how it behaves, etc ... we just plant and harvest, that leaves more time to experiment and observe what happens.
Courage!
I too am in my second season of hay cultivation. And I think the key word is "patience". We have to wait for the whole system to balance itself out.
Also, we weren't very lucky with the weather: very dry last year and very wet and cool this year. Not easy, to start, to navigate.
For the moment, I see my vegetable garden as an experimentation area: do I manage to cultivate this or that vegetable or this or that variety or spread the seedlings to see how it behaves, etc ... we just plant and harvest, that leaves more time to experiment and observe what happens.
Courage!
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Re: Need advice to start a Sloth's Vegetable Garden
what more can I add, I am in my real 3rd year it seems to me, the whole vegetable garden is progressing, I have forced on certain areas and I see fertility playing its role
So, make contributions of what you find, hay on top to avoid weeds, if you don't like the jungle too much like me
do not draw too hasty conclusions, as said above a year that is too dry, the hay does not mineralize it does not grow, a year that is too wet it mineralizes but it is too cold it does not grow, so the only common point "that do not push "
except that last year the cabbage zero and this year it is the opposite, the tomatoes last year super and this year zero
so try, try, and try and take what comes
good luck
So, make contributions of what you find, hay on top to avoid weeds, if you don't like the jungle too much like me
do not draw too hasty conclusions, as said above a year that is too dry, the hay does not mineralize it does not grow, a year that is too wet it mineralizes but it is too cold it does not grow, so the only common point "that do not push "

so try, try, and try and take what comes

good luck
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Re: Need advice to start a Sloth's Vegetable Garden
It would be pretentious to tell you do this or do that!
Nevertheless, I can only advise you in particular for the "top" vegetable garden, of which you say that it is mainly composed of tufa, to take a pH measurement (small kits in garden centers at qq euros) or even a soil analysis if you want to put more into it and see it more clearly.
Because if you have a very high pH due to a large amount of lime, there is not much you can do except grow plants that support it. So adapting crops to the soil rather than wanting to adapt the soil to crops.
It is easier in the other direction, when the pH is low, it can be raised with a few contributions.
Nevertheless, I can only advise you in particular for the "top" vegetable garden, of which you say that it is mainly composed of tufa, to take a pH measurement (small kits in garden centers at qq euros) or even a soil analysis if you want to put more into it and see it more clearly.
Because if you have a very high pH due to a large amount of lime, there is not much you can do except grow plants that support it. So adapting crops to the soil rather than wanting to adapt the soil to crops.
It is easier in the other direction, when the pH is low, it can be raised with a few contributions.
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