Thank you all for your comments.
After a good job on the field this weekend and an evening to play the tick-tick (8 or 9 for less than 24h on the spot) I am at the following observation:
1 / Ticks: I start there because it is a sensitive subject especially at home where Madam suffers from Lyme disease. If I can not lower the "pressure" of the ticks, my wife will never come, and will not allow our children to come and play on the spot, and I have moderate fun going alone and even less making myself. delousing at each visit.
To reduce the presence - at least on my body - of ticks, I have 1 / limit tall grass 2 / limit the natural hosts of ticks, voles seem to swarm on the ground. Firstly. So I will have to mow / mow to circulate easily.
2 / observation of the "field":
This first year (which is not finished, but we are already preparing for the fall) has been devoted to the renovation of the house (almost livable!) But the lack of mowing has allowed na vegetation to take over in the meadow.
I didn't take the time to observe the terrain, but now that I have glimpsed it over a short year I "see" some things, in parts related to orientation and exposure to the sun.
Small aerial photo of set
In the middle of the clearing, a car wreck that is now gone.
- aerial view.JPG (89.83 KIO) Viewed 3749 times
the same with a computer-troweled zoning and a big red arrow pointing to the North.
- aerial-zoning.JPG (96.28 KIO) Viewed 3749 times
legend:
blue sky: activity zone in front of the shed (red frame filled with orange color).
yellow / orange-yellow: current cultivation zone, at the bottom the yellow zone is the main cultivation zone: the potato band and the squash band
in purple: two areas currently squatted by ferns and / or brambles (so blackberries: full full full full!)
in red: probably the future vegetable garden.
the northern limit of the land, along the road, is mainly chestnut, but also oak, ash).
The blue zone is the area in front of the shed with the barbecue, where we obviously have more circulated, tinkered and trampled, the regrowth is weak.
The yellow and purple areas are "protected" in the south by a high hedge (of thuja, I hate these things and in addition they are so high that I am dizzy ...) rather in the shade and benefiting well brambles and also ferns. Note, the thuja trees are at home, so one day I will be able to spell them out (by agreeing with the neighbor) ... but anyway it's for "later"!
In the red zone, the pressure of ferns and brambles and much lower, while apart from some human passages (that can be counted on the fingers of the hand) nothing has been done.
I think that the red zone will be the next growing area for next year: I still have a roll of hay strategically (the fruit of pure chance) positioned at the crossroads of 4 zones (in short it is placed in the middle of the field
) so it will be easy to go out there. This area is better sunny all afternoon.
3 / Mowing and ground cover.
The current "gardening" equipment is extremely rudimentary: an old mower that stalls at the sight of the tall grass, a brand new scythe, a hay fork as well as, in the appendix: a transplanter, a secateurs, a branch saw, a branch cutter and finally an unfortunately limited reserve of elbow grease.
By this fall, we have planned to cut a good part of the clearing area and invest in a lawn mower to control the vegetation that does not wait for our episodic passages to push back.
This weekend, I started to want to make small piles of "hay" with my mowers but time and fatigue got the better of this idea. I tell myself that anyway, the right place to feed the soil is where I just cut.
4 / assessment of current crops:
everything was done in two dates:
April 20 hay peeling, potato sowing, transplanting of cucurbits (only 1 zucchini survived), Brussels sprouts (alive) and tomatoes (too early => disappeared)
20 may transplanting tomatoes (3 feet whose 2 protect well, cucurbits (all OK), artichokes (very very young, but disappeared) + watering.
The potatoes are on a strip of hay which is too close to the hedge: lack of light + ferns = re-lack of light: the stems spin out like salad seedlings at the bottom of a damp cellar. I took a stalk out of the hay: apart from 2 or 3 stalks and the "mother" tuber, no pdt in formation. We leave it like that and we'll see at the end of August.
on the photo below we see the 2 main bands: in the foreground the with squash and zucchini, separated from the band of potatoes by a band "lying ferns" (the fork is planted in) and at the bottom on the right the hedge in front of ferns, at the bottom in the middle the continuation of the "ground" (do not trust anything it is well over 2 meters).
zoom on the band of potatoes (photo taken a little before the previous one: the ferns occupy the space, with a little bramble and also ... bindweed climbing everywhere). The stems are about 70 cm, but very little foliage.
pictures of 2 tomato feet
The squash are beautiful!
In terms of maintenance, if we disregard the jungle which grows too much due to our absence on site, the hay strips have well protected my plants and the "cleaning" is quite easy: a few brambles have crossed but tear up super easily, the ferns that cross the hay are few and no grasses. My only worry is the bindweed that I suspect of photosynthesizing quietly while taking advantage of my work of thinning ferns.
About water: no watering! I do not do any non-watering contest, but it leaves me dreamy.
5 / the local fauna.
I have already mentioned voles, but no formal traces of attacks (but little production yet).
there is a "track" traced in tall grass where an animal must pass to cross the ground: cat? fox? other? I do not know.
I found beside a branch of potimarron a poop ... too big for a cat, little dog? fox? I do not know
(If you have an idea, I'm interested!)
6 / the fruit trees
The two cherry trees are much too high, it will be for birds, I will let grow a few shoots (there is everywhere!) For our consumption.
The pear trees seem to have given nothing at all
apricots are not super fat, and in any case not ripe, I do not know if we can enjoy it
the apple trees and the walnut are well loaded, but that's for later
the brambles are full of blackberries, I have a stomach ache in advance
Well that's enough, I have to get to work