Start the "phenoculture"

[Régine]

Hello,

I want to start this cultivation technique. We are in April, can I start by putting hay on my vegetable garden and planting seedlings and plants in May? or should I wait until next year?

[Doris]

Hello, you do not give a lot of details (geographical location, existing vegetable garden or starting from scratch, etc.). Three years ago I started my vegetable garden under hay and something else, starting from an existing plot, and I put the hay in March, I believe. You can start now, without expecting anything extraordinary this year, but you have to start someday. This year then you will be able especially to make plantings, concerning the sowing, it is necessary to forget the small seeds, but beans and company work. But now, it is difficult to give you a detailed answer without knowing what situation you are from, what cultures you want to install, I am just telling you what I experienced personally.

[Régine]

Hello, you do not give a lot of details (geographical location, existing vegetable garden or starting from scratch, etc.). Three years ago I started my vegetable garden under hay and something else, starting from an existing plot, and I put the hay in March, I believe. You can start now, without expecting anything extraordinary this year, but you have to start someday. This year then you will be able especially to make plantings, concerning the sowing, it is necessary to forget the small seeds, but beans and company work. But now, it is difficult to give you a detailed answer without knowing what situation you are from, what cultures you want to install, I am just telling you what I experienced personally.

Hello Doris,
I thank you for your answer. Indeed, I rushed a little during my question. I just discovered the "sloth's vegetable garden" at least I ordered the book and have already watched a few videos. I am very interested in this process.
I live in Belgium and at the moment we had snow showers and frost. I still wait a bit to work in the garden but having not protected my vegetable garden in winter, I wondered if I could nevertheless prepare it in spring by covering it with hay.
I have a large plot where I plant a lot of potatoes, a few rows of onions and a lot of other vegetables (sowing, planting and transplanting) as well as tomatoes. Unfortunately, I don't have a greenhouse. Last year I covered a large part of this plot with straw to prevent weeds. But I realized that indeed, the soil contained few earthworms (every year I went to the tiller) and my soil was poor in nutrients so my harvest was not very satisfactory. I also tested lasagna cultivation on a small plot, it was a fairly good success but impossible to do the same on the large plot. And after watching these videos, I understood the interest of hay. So I want to start this year, my garden is quite "dirty". Can I therefore go to the tiller for the first time, deposit this hay and in May, proceed with my sowing, transplanting and planting? and obviously, end of the year, I don't touch it anymore except for adding hay. What do you think?

[Biobomb]

You start from an existing vegetable garden but which has "weaknesses".
You can put a good layer of hay everywhere, having previously cleaned, reducing at least in height the size of the weeds, your soil.
If you have a mower you can walk it over without picking up anything.
But don't wait for miracles this year.

Where you plan to put the pdt you can put the hay after their planting and possibly after the 1st hilling.

[Moindreffor]

Hello, you do not give a lot of details (geographical location, existing vegetable garden or starting from scratch, etc.). Three years ago I started my vegetable garden under hay and something else, starting from an existing plot, and I put the hay in March, I believe. You can start now, without expecting anything extraordinary this year, but you have to start someday. This year then you will be able especially to make plantings, concerning the sowing, it is necessary to forget the small seeds, but beans and company work. But now, it is difficult to give you a detailed answer without knowing what situation you are from, what cultures you want to install, I am just telling you what I experienced personally.

Hello Doris,
I thank you for your answer. Indeed, I rushed a little during my question. I just discovered the "sloth's vegetable garden" at least I ordered the book and have already watched a few videos. I am very interested in this process.
I live in Belgium and at the moment we had snow showers and frost. I still wait a bit to work in the garden but having not protected my vegetable garden in winter, I wondered if I could nevertheless prepare it in spring by covering it with hay.
I have a large plot where I plant a lot of potatoes, a few rows of onions and a lot of other vegetables (sowing, planting and transplanting) as well as tomatoes. Unfortunately, I don't have a greenhouse. Last year I covered a large part of this plot with straw to prevent weeds. But I realized that indeed, the soil contained few earthworms (every year I went to the tiller) and my soil was poor in nutrients so my harvest was not very satisfactory. I also tested lasagna cultivation on a small plot, it was a fairly good success but impossible to do the same on the large plot. And after watching these videos, I understood the interest of hay. So I want to start this year, my garden is quite "dirty". Can I therefore go to the tiller for the first time, deposit this hay and in May, proceed with my sowing, transplanting and planting? and obviously, end of the year, I don't touch it anymore except for adding hay. What do you think?

the tiller you can forget, the hay you put it when you want, I started the first year in July to put hay around tomato plants already transplanted for a month, so you see

the only thing before you put the hay is not to have grasses that are too well developing, at worst a mower or brushcutter, and you install the hay, especially what matters is to put on a good diaper, I unpack it and I let it recompact with the rain

I am in the north of France so almost neighbors

I also have the "clean" land so I pull out what the hay does not kill and year after year, it is done by itself, after that it is not too complicated with the hay, it's like without, except for sowing, but in our cold regions until June, I opted for everything in a bucket, no more direct sowing, except at the end of the season, or by removing the hay

[Régine]

Thank you for your answers

In fact, my vegetable garden is not very very dirty, there are a few tufts of herbs which I think come from reseeded straw seeds. So I'll just take them out with a spade and lay a good big layer of hay. I hope that by mid-May I can plant my pdts and maybe plant the rest. For seedlings, I would wait until next year

Good evening:)

[pi-r]

just a small clarification: if you have little or no access to hay, do not forget the "substitutes" to obtain sufficient coverage!
there is plenty of organic matter that can help ...
good luck

[Doris]

Can I therefore go to the tiller for the first time, deposit this hay and in May, proceed with my sowing, transplanting and planting? and obviously, end of the year, I don't touch it anymore except for adding hay. What do you think?

Store the tiller as far as possible , well I'm joking, but if there are tufts of grass or other weeds, you just have to cut it all down, cutting very short, I did it with a brush cutter, and you leave everything in place, it already gives you a little organic matter. You will still have regrowth, but that controls well, if your cover is thick enough.
You mention potatoes, it's a good plan for a first year, it's a real ripper of the soil. And above all, take the time to let your new system set up, and indulge yourself.

[stephgouv]

Hello Régine,

I am also from Belgium (East) and I started my "change of course" last year with a thick layer of hay at the end of February.
I have grown potatoes, onions, shallots, lettuce, tomatoes, beets, peas, beans, zucchini, pumpkins, spinach, Bxl sprouts, cauliflower, red cabbage and broccoli in my small vegetable garden of about 35m2 with success mixed.
The sowing of carrots failed, broccoli only made leaves and the crop of peas, beans, red cauliflower and cauliflower was not huge.
Regarding the most beneficial failure, it is when I let bloom the radishes which had been mounted in the greenhouse. I have never seen so many foragers in the greenhouse.
On the other hand, what impressed me the most (and my friends too) was the harvest of potatoes and onions.
So I start my 2nd year of culture with hay cover keeping in mind that I have to change some "parameters" at the risk of reproducing (not my mistakes of the first year, because the first year is the year of the discoveries) the same situation.
For example, this year, I sow peas in pots instead of sowing them in place (3 times) like last year.
I learned a lot in a year and so now I know where and how to make adjustments to improve yields on the same area. I grow with my vegetable garden.
Then there is the weather parameter which sometimes plays tricks (I am at an altitude of 480m and this morning there was still around 10 to 15cm of snow in the garden).
Patience, observation and touch are now part of my life in the vegetable garden and taste is the result.
Regarding pot seeds, I am thinking of putting them under hay at the end of April - beginning of May. The hay will protect them from possible frosts in May.

[Régine]

Hello Steph,

I am glad to hear that you are also a bit of a novice and I will be able to follow your experience
I guess the soil is pretty hard the first year but surprised to see you were able to harvest so many vegetables. Congratulations !!! It comforts me and I think I have all my chances this year. But I understand that most of your plantings go through transplanting.
For carrot seedlings, my soil being very heavy, I always made a furrow and filled with a mixture of terror and sand. I will try the same for this year.
I dream of setting up a greenhouse but I am struggling to find a workforce , do you do the same in your greenhouse?
Over the past year, have you already seen a change in the quality of the soil? So you do not add anything apart from the hay?

I can't wait to go back to the garden

thank you for your experience sharing ... I will keep you posted on my progress