It's been a decade that I have a kitchen garden (since I built my house). It is ~ 160m² and we produce almost all the vegetables we consume on the year (we are 3). I also have a small greenhouse of ~ 20m².
We are located in the north of Haguenau in Alsace (yes yes Alsace is not the big one)
), with an ultra clay soil. There is almost non-stop sun on the kitchen garden, so as much as saying that in summer it hits severe and when there is wind it decorates the oxen. To make things easier I can hardly plant trees because I have a horizontal geothermal system that would take dear with the roots. The rest of my land (~ 17 ares) and an old-fashioned orchard (a row of tree and grass).
My way of thinking is quite simple: the results obtained must be worthy of the efforts made.
My beginnings:
I was in traditional mode (bio of course), so a little Bordeaux mixture, nettle and other ... I took advice from neighbors (old people) who luckily for me, do not use no phyto products. I deleted the baby after reading an article about his "misdeeds" in certain types of crops and purines, in view of the results, because it made me feel good to do (see above) .
I spent all my free time (really everything!) To hoe, to weed, to water ... to say that the reproaches of my half were raining ... but you will tell me, when we love we do not count.
In short, nothing great, I did, it bothered me too much at the time, but the results were not at the top (okay no longer seen the time).
Revelation
:Following a worry, I was forced to mow hay in rainy weather
. It was therefore impossible for me to give it to an agri for his animals because it was rotting on the ground. I also had to get rid of it and did not know what to do with it. I was there lamenting in my chair when I said to myself, "Shit I'm going to throw it on the garden waiting to find better as an idea", so I took a board where there was nothing and spread it on it (a good ten cm). Later in the season, I had to recover this board and there by removing my waste (for now it was only waste), I found a land a little more loose than next, not desiccated and with a little more life in it.
That's where everything started. I started to inquire and I quickly came across forums, videos (especially those of Damien Dekarz who I think are well done), etc. on permaculture. I liked it a lot as a culture method and corresponded a lot to my vision of things in general.
In practice :
So, the following year I recovered an old roundball of rotting straw from the forest and spread it out on the vegetable patch. The result was blah -> I could manage the hay more easily than the straw so I had to find hay.
The farmer who was cutting down my orchard decided to retire, it was fine. Unfortunately it did not cover my hay needs over the year.
At first I managed to recover old hay left and right, it covered me the need for the year (I will explain later why this is not the case). Subsequently, the hay being more rare, I found another source: the fields by us are old fields cut in full of parcel so not entirely flat. With the big machines, agris mow them entirely, but the presses do not manage to pick up what is in the hollows. This is where I get into action, with my old wooden rake and my little trailer: once the roundballs are removed I pass and "cleans" the field.
The look of the others :
In a small village everything is known quickly.
Suffice to say that at first, I was looked awkward (in the same place my grandfather had a kitchen garden always dressed to the nines that was a reference in the village).
Having a strong enough character, the critics were often hidden in the form of pseudo-advice (do not break them too much
): "You will have lots of weeds" -> without light no germination, "it is not too beautiful" -> beauty is in the eye of the beholder, "you are going to have lots of slugs ”-> uh, that's not wrong 
(there were some who had intelligent critics), etc ... Since the last few years now that I have been doing this, the ardor of some people has turned into curiosity, to see in interest for some of them, result they have tapped into my hay suppliers (I would have done better to be less convincing).
How did I get here?
I used to tell my neighbor that my garden was a lazy garden but that it worked. This year, for some reason, I looked for lazy, lazy, etc. garden on the net and came across the videos at did67, which talked about forum.
Cultures :
I have a little of everything that is usually found in a kitchen garden in Alsace (I cultivate the mystery).
I try my best to make my own seeds: tomatoes are varieties from which I collect seeds (I've been given a really good tip for that) from year to year: they have a few mutations but are still as good and "rustic".
I also get the seeds of salads, radishes, beans, turnips, etc. my goal is to be as autonomous as possible in seeds.
For all that is cabbage, cucurbitaceae, etc., with the risk of hybridization that I do not have time to control, I buy plants at a horticulturist next door (very good quality for a reasonable price).
To be continued...
. They ravaged whole cultures. So I tried the night pickup (flashlight) for two years; it worked very well (and the neighbor's hens were happy 
. 
.
, I replaced the side by structures in nylons. This allows me to modulate the openings in summer and to lower the temperature inside (so I use it all year round). Over time the earth has become dust (it does not rain in it), so in winter the snow that I clear (that will be the case this afternoon) will be deposited in it. In the spring the land was a little "restructured" and it gives me good results on crops
.
