Vegetable garden of the lazy in Haute-Saône

[ilguimat]

Hello to everyone,

I decide to publish a first report on my garden, located near Besançon, and passed in "phenoculture" for a year now. I had been practicing mulching for several years with tests of different materials, but the discovery of permaculture last year was a real revelation on the mechanisms of the soil; then thanks to Didier I threw myself not into the water but into the hay!
While everything is growing pretty well, I can make a first assessment. First situation and nature of the land = located in a wetland a few hundred meters from the Ognon, our river, and near the catchment areas of the town. The ground is clay / limestone (marl) with relative predominances depending on the situation I think. Among the spontaneous bioindicators = the horsetail arrives in a good position, so no doubt about the residual humidity and the presence of water tables. Besides, 2016 was catastrophic, with total anoxia.
One of the main risks = tendency to hydromorphism if the water is not well managed, and that therefore requires in my opinion, and confirmed by my observations, an adaptation of the permaculture practice in general and of the "pheno-practices" in particular.
But this rule is valid for everyone I think.
Otherwise I also had purple cutthorn in the very beginning of spring, and after a lot of creeping buttercup - also a sign of compaction, it seems.

Some loose reports:
- despite a cover of hay and dead leaves all winter, the soil has compacted all the same. I call it "hydraulic compaction" linked not to the beat of the rains I think, but to the aggregation of the earth by water ("the pottery"). A little bit of grelinette, so without upsetting the ground and it is in order;

- various earthworms and beetles, arrived en masse under cover

- but also the voles, successfully trapped last year, but systematically refusing any capture this year = all the traps are stuffed with soil. However I was more novice last year (the luck of the beginners?); results: some damage to potatoes, carnations, lettuces ... even the rhubarb was attacked. Quite oddly garlic and onion, not at all. comfrey manure seems to rule them out, to be checked. Otherwise I think of using castor cake which would have the advantage of being both a bottom fertilizer (slow release) and a powerful repellant.

- This spring my plantings had a little trouble budding, but I made almost all my sowing in the bottle. And in fact, the commercial plants seemed to me more vigorous. Especially the squash was hardly.

Next year I plan to remove the cover in the spring to warm the soil and work it at least for decompaction, and break the voles galleries in the process. I will put it back then.

Here I think that in a soil with hydromorphic tendency, a light work of the soil is essential while respecting the horizons, having in mind protection and nourishment of the soil.
I will also think about another method which would be = green manure for the winter which will bring nitrogen and pump moisture while working the soil and letting it "evaporate" (Chinese radish, vetch, phacelia ...), and covered with hay for the hot season which will keep the soil cool and moist providing soil humus and nourishment with a good C / N.

Obviously the overall balance is more than positive, more bare earth, networks of fungi and earthworms in droves under the hay. Living soil full of insects (I love to watch them), and I had no problem with slugs, except maybe the small snails in early spring.

The vegetable that seems to have benefited the most is the salad: I have never had such feet, in addition very tender texture even at the start of the climb and, whatever the variety, they are very sweet, more than habit. So I wonder if the complicity with the mushrooms is not for something, like: OK I'm going to make a little more sugar to pass it on to you and you, in exchange for bringing me water and salts minerals gathered in the distance.

Take all the advice, especially if, like me, your biotope is prone to humidity!

[Did67]

One of the main risks = tendency to hydromorphism if the water is not well managed, and that therefore requires in my opinion, and confirmed by my observations, an adaptation of the permaculture practice in general and of the "pheno-practices" in particular.
But this rule is valid for everyone I think.

This is undoubtedly one of the situations where one should consider "bending" the ground. Without necessarily "digging" the board. Simply by bringing the soil back from the paths to the middle of the flower beds ...

However, that aside, I would give myself a year or two to see how this evolves. It is obvious that to aggravate a soil of this nature is a "big job" ... I do not have the answer, not having this ground ... I just know that in more difficult conditions, the aggradation may take several years.

For voles, the phenomenon you describe is generally linked to the fact that:

a) the gallery collapses when the trap is placed; therefore, by "cleaning" in front of them, voles cause false triggering; we find a trap full of earth

b) ditto if the slightest trickle of light is allowed to penetrate along the trap; allergic to it, voles "plug" the hole; in doing so, they push the earth ahead of them ...

Now, your remark is far from trivial: I am very careful, and yet it often happens. I am wondering if some voles have not understood the trap system !!!!

So I perfect again: I slide a branch of fennel or celery, along the trap before cocking it. They are addicts, and "rush" a little more! What not to do.

I also have huge damage again this year.

I am not sure (but your experience will serve me well) that the shivering is so effective: at home, many galleries are "level with the ground", under the hay. They are more traces than galleries ... I fear they will be back very soon! To be continued.

[ilguimat]

One of the main risks = tendency to hydromorphism if the water is not well managed, and that therefore requires in my opinion, and confirmed by my observations, an adaptation of the permaculture practice in general and of the "pheno-practices" in particular.
But this rule is valid for everyone I think.

This is undoubtedly one of the situations where one should consider "bending" the ground. Without necessarily "digging" the board. Simply by bringing the soil back from the paths to the middle of the flower beds ...

However, that aside, I would give myself a year or two to see how this evolves. It is obvious that to aggravate a soil of this nature is a "big job" ... I do not have the answer, not having this ground ... I just know that in more difficult conditions, the aggradation may take several years.

For voles, the phenomenon you describe is generally linked to the fact that:

a) the gallery collapses when the trap is placed; therefore, by "cleaning" in front of them, voles cause false triggering; we find a trap full of earth

b) ditto if the slightest trickle of light is allowed to penetrate along the trap; allergic to it, voles "plug" the hole; in doing so, they push the earth ahead of them ...

Now, your remark is far from trivial: I am very careful, and yet it often happens. I am wondering if some voles have not understood the trap system !!!!

So I perfect again: I slide a branch of fennel or celery, along the trap before cocking it. They are addicts, and "rush" a little more! What not to do.

I also have huge damage again this year.

I am not sure (but your experience will serve me well) that the shivering is so effective: at home, many galleries are "level with the ground", under the hay. They are more traces than galleries ... I fear they will be back very soon! To be continued.

Thank you Didier for your response, and especially all the work you do in your garden and online, it is a real pleasure each time to discover a new video on Youtube.
For my land I think it will be better when there is a bigger layer of humus, in the meantime I will have to deal (and compost) with the situation. I will think about bulging the ground, if not a drainage maybe carry ... in any case I must "wither"? "phener"? with tact and caution.
the voles: I confirm that a simple plant cover is enough for their roof, they visited a mound that I made with hay dead leaves and miscanthus (remnants of my winter cover), and in places on the boards, they traced between the earth and the hay.
I do however super / hyper blunder by setting the traps, not to leave the slightest gap, because of the foreseeable failure, and yet: nada. I also bait them in situ with apple wedges which they apparently love. I only put three feet of celery this year, all three in wire cages ...
The shivering can effectively only break the winter galleries. I caught them almost instantly last year (if I put a photo, it will be too "gory"?) And once twice at once = apparently they always walk as a couple, with the NEUDORF horizontal trap, it doesn't is not the tube "TOPCAT". I even saw one, once, under my nose, come out of its hole to nibble a squash stalk that passed above, I observed its merry-go-round for 5 minutes, both curious and amazed by the nerve of this little scum. One thing is certain, they take a walk outside from time to time.

I admit betting on castor seeds, we will see next year, if they have decamped.
But if I get any success in my fight in the meantime, I'll be sure to share it! The only thing I do at the moment in the event of an attack noticed (recently a peppermint plant whose roots were in the void) is a homemade triple therapy = a few castor granules in the affected area around the foot + buried brambles around the attacked foot + a sprinkling with comfrey manure (which makes fertilizer at the same time). They didn't come back to tickle my "armed" mint and rhubarb like that.

[Did67]

1) I don't think composting is a good tactic! This amounts to wasting energy (it heats up). So much energy that your soil organisms will not have. So much work they won't do! So much "glue" that they will not produce ...

The only interest of the compost, but at the cost of this waste of energy, is to make available to the soil a semi-decomposed matter, therefore more nutrients earlier, in spring, when the soil is cold and nitrification do not work...

2) I ordered castor cake, to try.

3) I lost celery, but I still have some ... Must say that I transplant maybe 50 ... or more!

This is part of my tactic: lazy gardening (no tillage, no hoeing, etc.) allows areas to be extended effortlessly. Unlike the "mound makers", who need slaves ...

The most attractive plants seem to me to be ... the artichoke. Next year, I am preparing 50 artichoke plants, which I will distribute everywhere in groups of 2 or 3. And as soon as the attack on No. 1, I put the trap in front of No. 2 ... It will be a new martyr plant.

[ilguimat]

1) I don't think composting is a good tactic! This amounts to wasting energy (it heats up). So much energy that your soil organisms will not have. So much work they won't do! So much "glue" that they will not produce ...

The only interest of the compost, but at the cost of this waste of energy, is to make available to the soil a semi-decomposed matter, therefore more nutrients earlier, in spring, when the soil is cold and nitrification do not work...

2) I ordered castor cake, to try.

3) I lost celery, but I still have some ... Must say that I transplant maybe 50 ... or more!

This is part of my tactic: lazy gardening (no tillage, no hoeing, etc.) allows areas to be extended effortlessly. Unlike the "mound makers", who need slaves ...

The most attractive plants seem to me to be ... the artichoke. Next year, I am preparing 50 artichoke plants, which I will distribute everywhere in groups of 2 or 3. And as soon as the attack on No. 1, I put the trap in front of No. 2 ... It will be a new martyr plant.

"Compost", in fact it was more for the pun with "compose"! I agree with you 300%, composting is a stopgap. Pollution results not only from wasted thermal energy, but also from the escape of gases - including methane - into the atmosphere. Compost 1 T is to recover only 300 kg. Somehow I think that compost can be used, like leaven for bread, to "seed" a soil with prolific bacterial flora. But compost taken in isolation is actually not a terrible material ... v ("composting is polluting" Konrad Schreiber, on youtube)
From a collective point of view, it is nevertheless progress, compared to the incineration of wet green waste ... hence the development of composting stations and other compost bins at the foot of the building. For my part, it is positive. But from an agronomic point of view, it is not a panacea.

At my level, I continue to compost my kitchen waste for a very pragmatic reason: I have a lot of neighboring gardeners, including one who had chickens at one time, who attracted lots of rats, who came in whole flocks in my garden. A horror. Yes, before the war of the voles, there was that of the rats, and not the little rats, the big rats. So I had to completely screen my compost bin where I store the "palatable" organic matter, ditto for the floor of my cabin, perforated with eurotunnel-like galleries.
No more rat problems, but they made a deal with the voles ... sometimes I would be bored.

But otherwise I try as much as possible to compost directly on the ground.

I didn't know about the artichoke, but it can be a tactic. I tried personally with the Jerusalem artichoke which I could see that they were also fond of; in addition to the other advantages = the topi makes large plants, providing shade and also a lot of organic matter to return to the soil when it dies. However I do not eat masses, because of the side effects.
So I put it all over the place, it may have "diluted" the attacks of other vegetables - because the potato plants are visited. I will see at the harvest.
It's interesting, if you also test the castor, we will see if the results are comparable.

[Did67]

The Jerusalem artichoke, I avoid, because it is a bit invasive ... And we never separate from it!

It seems to me that they are patients of a particular sugar, which in certain plants, replace starch. It is inulin. Jerusalem artichoke, artichokes are rich in it (sugars that we digest less well, hence gas sometimes ...)

With surface spreading, I don't think you fear much: in a few days (at least in summer), all of this is dried up; a banana peel reduced to 3 times nothing, the invisible peelings on the hay with which they mix ... Except of course, non-vegetable leftovers from meals!

[olivier75]

Didier,
To contain or remove Jerusalem artichoke and helianthie, tear off in May, the tuber and exhausted and often come with the stem, the new ones are not yet ready.
Olivier.

[chatelot16]

"Compost", in fact it was more for the pun with "compose"! I agree 300% with you, composting is a last resort. Pollution results not only from the waste of thermal energy, but also from the escape of gases - including methane - into the atmosphere. Composting 1 T means recovering only 300 kg.

don't worry about methane ... composting doesn't make methane ... to make methane you need a complete lack of air which is never the case with composting ... just want to make methane to see the difficulty: the slightest defect in waterproofing that lets a little air through cancels the production of methane: it only makes co2!

Finally it is like the story of the one who wants to light his beard and who does not succeed ... and when he leaves it is the whole forest that burns

[ilguimat]

"Compost", in fact it was more for the pun with "compose"! I agree 300% with you, composting is a last resort. Pollution results not only from the waste of thermal energy, but also from the escape of gases - including methane - into the atmosphere. Composting 1 T means recovering only 300 kg.

don't worry about methane ... composting doesn't make methane ... to make methane you need a complete lack of air which is never the case with composting ... just want to make methane to see the difficulty: the slightest defect in waterproofing that lets a little air through cancels the production of methane: it only makes co2!

Finally it is like the story of the one who wants to light his beard and who does not succeed ... and when he leaves it is the whole forest that burns

A thousand times true! How hard it is to light my barbeuk, while others manage to devastate hundreds of hectares with a cigarette butt! There is no justice.
This thing is called Murphy's Law, right?
On the other hand you have just given me a fantastic idea: I am going to start in the breeding of voles with SARL, Kbis and company ... for sure I will screw up the thing therefore. BUT: I will no longer have voles !!

No methane therefore, I think there is already a good deal of moisture evaporating. But hey, I remain convinced that compost is a compromise, with + and - There is one point that interests me, however, it is the side "inoculating" bacteria and organisms, like a small bite of EPO in a a little lazy ground. There are even techniques - a little sophisticated - for making "compost juice" based precisely on the exponential multiplication of organisms present in a composted substrate.

Good considering that apparently there are no more rats around (my neighbor having also waged a tug of war), I will follow Didier's advice, and start to compost directly on the spot, we'll see.

[ilguimat]

The Jerusalem artichoke, I avoid, because it is a bit invasive ... And we never separate from it!

It seems to me that they are patients of a particular sugar, which in certain plants, replace starch. It is inulin. Jerusalem artichoke, artichokes are rich in it (sugars that we digest less well, hence gas sometimes ...)

With surface spreading, I don't think you fear much: in a few days (at least in summer), all of this is dried up; a banana peel reduced to 3 times nothing, the invisible peelings on the hay with which they mix ... Except of course, non-vegetable leftovers from meals!

Yes yes, that's inulin. Well, I didn't know the artichoke had it. Yet never noted digestion problems with the artichoke. It seems that cooked with sodium bicarbonate or potatoes (whose sugars are digested), it poses less worries, but I never tried.
I confirm that the topi is invasive. But hey, it's a bit like mint and nettles, I get some benefit from it. so no border control yet.
It is also one of the advantages of maintaining a compost bin, because the reliefs of meat-type meals (leftover meat, bones, shellfish ...) I bury them in the heart of the bin: no problem of odors at the house or flies and maggots, because normally this waste is intended for the "classic" trash which in our country, selective sorting requires, is no longer collected once every two weeks which is a real problem in summer ! In addition, this waste provides phosphorus in the compost (well I would not put forward any quantitative certainties on this point).