The vegetable garden of the paresSundgau (lazy of the Sundgau)

Agriculture and soil. Pollution control, soil remediation, humus and new agricultural techniques.
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Mistletoe68
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The vegetable garden of the paresSundgau (lazy of the Sundgau)




by Mistletoe68 » 15/04/20, 15:39

After several heavy hesitations I decide to share with the people of this forum a beginning of experience in the south of Alsace, the tip of SUNDGAU… I hope that I will succeed in remaining concise, in reporting as faithfully as possible my experiences, my successes and my numerous "search for solutions".

I dare to start the little story with a tour of the owner, i.e. 64 ares bought from my grandparents in 2012 and which consisted of a barn from the beginning of the 19th century, and a sloping meadow (2.5%) never mistreated by chemical inputs bordered by a river and or peacefully enthroned an old small pond serving as a supply point for farm animals. Let's go back to the beginning of the 21st century, today the land consists of 14 acres of built area (barn restored and creation of housing and a greenhouse of 18m2), 9 acres supporting a natural pond, the rest having the sole function of being the support for the planting of around 40 fruit trees, young firs and 150m of hedge made up of so-called "small game" species, therefore made up of hazelnuts, elderberry, charcoal, etc.
Ouch, I look a little, but I think it will be necessary for the rest because it is important I think to take into consideration the context, and the ecosystem in which this small garden will exist, evolve…

For several years, more precisely for 5 years, I have read a large amount of various and varied books on gardening, small livestock, and I had the joy thanks to several invaluable advices to begin my "search for solutions "... in other words, welcome the problems!
BUT the most important of my problems has always been to apply legal advice without anyone being able to explain the foundations, causes and consequences, interactions, and to consider everything as a whole ...

and yes I buried wood, make successive layers of straw, shavings; of grass, yes I buried dried blood, horn…
Fortunately the madness of the digging never took me! And yes fenians like me are the ones who think maybe the most : Cheesy:
In August 2019, when a friend lent me the book from the "vegetable garden of the lazy" when I had never seen any video or read any post, I honestly said to myself that it was likely that I be done in a commercial book, bringing together a whole bunch of "peasant common sense" drawn from the right or the left without distinctions associable with the local specificities of each creation or vegetable reconversion and which as a whole sounded good to the ears of the majority of the neophytes whose I'm a member...
And what a positive shock, when I started reading this book. I did not steal it, I read slowly, patiently, chasing the kangaroo, trying to understand, to associate the explanations of Did67 with my own observations, my own local considerations.
-> Almost to make me forget in part the role of agricultural engineers in the industrialization of post-war agriculture : roll:
------------------------------------
In November 2019, I therefore covered a small part of a strip (1m / 5m) to try and check the deterioration of the soil promised by the structure.
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The photo presented is the state as of April 13
------------------------------------
In March 2020, analysis of the soil covered by hay on the sample mentioned above -> Damned, the author was right, despite a loamy clay soil (30% / 70%) said to be "heavy" on my land, the soil protect is active, different types of insects (woodlice, earthworm, ...), white filaments (Signs of the presence of active fungi and which continue to feast on the remains of wood chips from previous years)
: Arrow: I take this opportunity to thank Didier Helmstetter for his book!

Decision-making: application of the solution on half of the surface of the greenhouse, in order to compare with a traditional mulching (in the background on the photo) on the second half and to check / quantify the watering required over the year, because on this one cannot subcontract to nature ...
measure the differences in productivity and resistance to downy mildew in particular.
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April 2, 2020 (I do nothing on April 1, because it is controversial), acquisition of 2 round hay bales. I advise people wanting to buy hay to ask our farmer friends if they have "pasture refusals", in terms of poor quality hay for ruminants, with larger stems, often rumex, and significant amount of dust. I understood that the microcosm of the ground saw it rather with a greedy eye :P and the lazy gardener will pay for the food from the soil organisms at half the normal price (at least this is my case).
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We are preparing the ground that will support the creation of this vegetable garden (between a row of dwarf fruit trees) MAXMA graft support for pome fruit trees and a row of Nordmann + various less frequent fruit trees (serviceberry, nashi…), thank you to my son for the passage of the mower (when I told you that I am lazy)
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The configuration is reflected in the following way, finally I hope:
- this strip of land is sandwiched between two parks welcoming ducks (for whom the slugs are candy !!!)
- the hay band is oriented East - West (photo taken facing west), the fruit trees will have to create shade in summer on the vegetable patch 8)
- the width of the vegetable garden is 2m50, corresponding to the size of my board stock
- small shrubs were planted this winter between the trees to welcome and feed auxiliaries
- the tip of the vegetable patch is around 4 meters from the pond (if some frogs are tempted to come and feast on slugs and insects, it's open bar!)
- the pond and the river at the bottom also supports a beautiful colony of flying mallard ducks, very greedy of slugs (and worms), we will see how I can classify them… in all cases, little interested in plants.

I also give you an idea of ​​the thickness of hay, corresponding to two passes with the round bale in the same place!
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- the seedlings are carried out in a greenhouse to prepare the plants (I will also buy some from the "Jardin de Manspach", a market gardener, Fabrice Meyer, who works on living soil covered with hay (among others), I advise you to go visit the website….)
I think to start planting in early May, maybe just before in the greenhouse ...
so next message in a week : Wink:
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Re: the vegetable garden of the paresSundgau (lazy of the Sundgau)




by Moindreffor » 15/04/20, 15:49

Good luck for the future
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Re: the vegetable garden of the paresSundgau (lazy of the Sundgau)




by Mistletoe68 » 25/04/20, 13:33

This week has been rich in analysis of all types.
Yesterday, Friday I decided to take a worried tour of the orchard, more particularly the cherry trees; apple and peach trees grafted by me this spring. Worried because the dry and hot weather is not at all the best "companions" of the little guy who is looking to carry out this type of operation in the spring. Indeed, the risk of seeing the grafts dry out before the sap can feed them from the graftstocks is high via the vascular cambium (it fqut well imagine that the contact is made during the graft at best on a few square millimeters).
the cherry tree is doing quite well, the buds of the grafts swell and green (but too early to cry Youpi) : Idea:
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bérichon apricot grafts show no signs of recovery :?:
the apple trees grafted 5 days ago are still in the vegetative stage.

in short, during this walk, I realize that all the cherry trees are free from aphids, the elderberries too…
Yesterday evening, a little tour on the forums and bing! a video from Did67 which notes the same absence of aphids ... I scrutinize the video with my novice eyes and this morning decided to deepen the analysis on the different species of my hunting hedge, of which here is the result:
- elderberries without traces of aphids
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- charcoals, cinquefoils, wild apricot trees, hawthorn supporting small but visible colonies of green and black aphids raised by ants ...
- and even the willows welcome them against their will ...

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CONCLUSION:
it is important to increase the diversity of plant species near the vegetable garden to maximize the chances of boosting the presence of auxiliaries (no surprise, I will be told) ...
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Re: the vegetable garden of the paresSundgau (lazy of the Sundgau)




by Mistletoe68 » 26/04/20, 14:46

Saturday and continuation of operations: discovery of a snake in the filter under construction (make with willow sizes) which will eventually have to separate the crayfish pond and the pond and play a role of hatchery for the amphibians fish and crayfish and avoid (normally the passage of carp on the crayfish side, in order to avoid offering them the banquet of their lives.
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12:30 pm, geostationary helicopter noise coming from the course very recognizable by all beekeepers: a superb swarm has decided to take up residence in a beehive 10 "trap" frames (therefore empty) placed on the trailer. : Lol:
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In the evening a quick check will show that it fits on 10 frames, and that the bees have already started to store honey in the rise in place… thank you to the queen of this swarm for this beautiful gift that will pollinate the flowers of the neighborhood !
Finally, opening of several holes in the vegetable patch, the original meadow has already suffered from the lack of light.
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I am surprised by the freshness of the soil covered by the hay, I do not have a thermometer to make a measurement, but I would say more than 10 ° C difference! residual moisture is when it is present, especially when compared with the meadow showing early signs of clay soil shrinkage (crevices)
I plant the 4 cuttings of gooseberries to make last spring in the top of the vegetable patch, space 1m20 apart to be able to plant in the intervals of other plants…
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Re: the vegetable garden of the paresSundgau (lazy of the Sundgau)




by Did67 » 26/04/20, 18:41

Gui68 wrote:
In August 2019, when a friend lent me the book from the "vegetable garden of the lazy" when I had never seen any video or read any post, I honestly said to myself that it was likely that I be done in a commercial book, bringing together a whole bunch of "peasant common sense" drawn from the right or the left without distinctions associable with the local specificities of each creation or vegetable reconversion and which as a whole sounded good to the ears of the majority of the neophytes whose I'm a member...



I'm laughing !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! [As Coluche said!]
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Re: the vegetable garden of the paresSundgau (lazy of the Sundgau)




by Did67 » 26/04/20, 18:43

Gui68 wrote:------------------------------------
In March 2020, analysis of the soil covered by hay on the sample mentioned above -> Damned, the author was right, despite a loamy clay soil (30% / 70%) said to be "heavy" on my land, the soil protect is active, different types of insects (woodlice, earthworm, ...), white filaments (Signs of the presence of active fungi and which continue to feast on the remains of wood chips from previous years)
: Arrow: I take this opportunity to thank Didier Helmstetter for his book!



I'm getting fed up !!!! I have to pee, otherwise I'll pee on it!
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Re: the vegetable garden of the paresSundgau (lazy of the Sundgau)




by Did67 » 26/04/20, 18:49

Gui68 wrote:
And what a positive shock, when I started reading this book. I did not steal it, I read slowly, patiently, chasing the kangaroo, trying to understand, to associate the explanations of Did67 with my own observations, my own local considerations.

:


I'm more fed up: I expected to have the balance of the confrontation of the explanations with your own observations ...
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Re: the vegetable garden of the paresSundgau (lazy of the Sundgau)




by Mistletoe68 » 27/04/20, 09:17

The main observations (without answers then) dating before reading the book were as follows:
- Considerable improvement of the soil structure in the parts of the land dominated by nettles with loosening and a lumpy appearance of the soil and not only on the surface where the root networks are very present. Very strong aeration of the soil, very large quantity of worms, earthworms and other soil insects. Very large drainage capacity ...
- disappearance in one season of the "heap" that I made with the litter of my sheep composed of 95% by the remains of hay not consumed by the animals
- great improvement of the soil structure at this location
-seemed to energize the decomposition of birch logs in contact with the hay pile
- little life under the mulch (straw) made in previous years in the greenhouse, slow decomposition ...
- "clogged" aspect of the 9m2 area with ground cover in wood chips to a thickness of 15cm, very good residual humidity and enormous presence of a fungus system (omnipresent white color) but even the plant species were not so popular . This is an ornamental part ...
- little interest of my 6 linear meters of stoppers with strongly decomposed wood that I burst to move to cut and bury, very complicated to work once mulched, very subject to drying.
Hoping to keep making you laugh ...
In short all these observations combined showed the partial aspects of my experiences ... and especially without explanations of funds.
I hope you are having a good time ...
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Re: the vegetable garden of the paresSundgau (lazy of the Sundgau)




by Did67 » 27/04/20, 09:41

Yes sorry ! When I say "I'm laughing!", It's not making fun!

It is: "it was decided in advance, you just have to think about how the system works" ...

Like a motorist who understood that it was necessary to put windscreen washer and gasoline before driving, but would not have understood anything more and would put the windshield washer in the gasoline tank and gasoline in that of the windshield washer ... And then he struggles to make his "system" work (his car is a complex system to convert fuel into motion - and nothing more!). His system would react badly!

For a car, it's obvious.

For a vegetable patch, it's a little more complex.

And people who will tell you: "look for a hatch, you open, you unscrew the cap, you pour the gasoline and it works great", there are some! You open your hatch (the hood), you unscrew the cap (of the windshield washer reservoir), you pour the gasoline ... And nothing works! You did not understand or respect the "rules" of your system, the way it is designed!
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Re: The vegetable garden of the paresSundgau (lazy of the Sundgau)




by Doris » 27/04/20, 19:26

We don't understand, because we don't look enough, and, too caught up in dogmas about what to do or not to do, we don't think. Personally I know that before I missed a lot of things, without understanding. With your videos you opened my eyes, and when I look at my land today, I no longer see the same things. And in addition, with your explanations on the forum and in your book, you give us the tools to move forward and understand. Besides, for the anecdote, I discovered the vegetable garden of the lazy by typing in Google permaculture without bullshit. And yes, there was enough to watch Turlututu guys dig, make mounds, collect forest litter and plant antennas to collect I don't know which waves.
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