La Potager du Sloth, video presentation by Didier Helmstetter (alias Did67): its origin, its objectives and its principles ...
Caption of the introductory photo: "The owner of the Potager du Laesseux surprised at work ... explanation! "
The "Potager du Paresseux" is a way of producing vegetables "more than organic", in abundance, without any tillage (no spade, no pick, no hoe, not even "grelinette"), without any fertilizers (neither biological nor chemical) and, of course, without synthetic pesticides (in particular without fungicides)!
The method relies on a permanent soil cover with hay or BRF. This video introduces this way.
Didier is looking for a name for this new revolutionary cultivation method, do not hesitate to answer the question "According to you, what is the best name (2 possible choices) for the technique of cultivation under hay of the" Potager du Laesseux " of Didier? "In the column to the right of the site or to discuss it on the about Didier about forums
Didier did not invent anything, we call it permaculture (the techniques are starting to date), didier above all needs fame and pull the blanket for himself.
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To my knowledge, conventional permaculture is done with straw and not with hay ... but Didier will certainly answer you in more detail with his knowledge of agricultural engineer ...
Too bad for the personal invective 🙁
1) Permaculture is not, from a technical point of view, very well defined: there are different ways of doing permaculture. The "Bec Hellouin" does not do like Sepp Holzer in Austria, who does not do like Richard Wallner who does not do like Christophe Köppel.
2) Therefore, I do not pretend to permaculture.
3) I put much more emphasis on reducing work. So no hillocks. No composting. Anything I don't find relevant.
4) After reflection, I came to consider that a permanent cover of the ground primarily with hay was the best possible compromise, in our climates. While a lot of “methods” are ground cover based, I don't know of any that emphasizes, or priority, hay. If I'm wrong, you have to cite books or writings that do that. It is not in itself, a big "invention", indeed. But it still changes a lot of things when it comes to feeding the living things of the cycle. It's a bit of a change of "fuel". Diesel was an engine. We can say that it was an engine, like the others ...
5) Now, no religious war! It doesn't bother me that you think it's nothing. It doesn't bother me either that you think I'm doing this just for the fame… I don't understand why it bothers you so much? A complex ?
6) I continue because more and more people, especially among the "classic" gardeners who until then worked "bare soil", so dig, dig, hoe, grin ... find it interesting. And that this prompted them to revise their way of doing things. And they thank me. We wouldn't be in France if there wasn't someone to find it bad.
Did67
Set the video to fast sound speed to 1.25… That makes a voice at normal speed.
Is this an ironic form to tell me I talk too slowly? or too long, period?
When I watch, it's normal.
I am breathless, indeed. View PS
[PS: when I shot this video, I was in severe heart failure, awaiting two surgeries in May and June; with the stifling heat that day, I was "short of breath"; I do not find it very charitable, if it is mockery… I have since my infarction in 2007, a left ventricle at 45% of normal capacity… I do not bother anyone. Not even my enemies - or scoffers!]
Did67
I join magma13, I have been practicing this technique for years… where is the novelty? Personally, I have never had to hoe, dig ... my leeks, tomatoes ...
If Didier wants to bring something “revolutionary” to this affair, I would like him to tell me how he proceeds with carrots… and especially how simple mulching could get rid of Colorado beetles or even mildew?…
Again, the “novelty” is to cover with hay instead of other materials. I'm not saying nobody did it before. But the vast majority of books, sites, videos talk about using straw, BRF, compost, dead leaves… I am not aware of any mention of hay. If there is, I am interested.
I think composting is a mistake in a vegetable patch. Here again: some are already doing “cold surface decomposition”, but the majority of the media continue to promote compost as “the ultimate” in “organic” gardening.
Let's be clear: there are surely a certain number of people to whom I bring absolutely nothing. Good for them. They have evolved in the right direction on their own.
But it also happens that another "number of people" are discovering ... and are very interested. It is for them that I write the articles, the posts, the videos… There is still, in our campaigns, a majority of fans of the tiller. It is for them that I am working out ...
Finally, let us be even clearer: seeing as we are finishing the vast majority of "revolutionaries", I would be ashamed to be! So I will do everything not to be. God forbid!
For the carrots, I do as for my other vegetables: permanent cover of hay / opening of furrows in the Sillon'net / harvesting with a fork-spade (so there, I have to stir the earth a little, in fact). There are pictures on the forum, on page 40: https://www.econologie.com/forums/agriculture/jardiner-plus-que-bio-en-semis-direct-sans-fatigue-t13846-390.html
Let's be honest: this year the ground was so muddy the whole time that I did poorly with my seedlings (all; including carrots). I did it again yesterday, now that it wears off.
I don't do pdt. I have 3 or 4 plants that have grown “naturally” (peelings), which I didn't have the heart to tear out… No mildew (well, not significantly). 3 Colorado beetles in 3 weeks, caught by hand, and which a priori had not laid eggs: no larvae!
I don't have any late blight on tomatoes either. There are also photos on the forum. But undoubtedly should we develop everything that happens in a soil when we feed living organisms well and how the plants are then, no doubt, stronger ??? Undoubtedly we should talk about all the efforts to have an intense fungal life in the soil… I can only say one thing: I do not treat with copper sulphate (Bordeaux mixture - a poison for soils and living beings soil) and have had no major late blight problems for 4 years - by that I mean that there can be one or the other stain, but without affecting production.
But nothing is ever perfect: this year, on tomatoes, a leaf spot attack on one of the plots, which was under the shade of the raspberries and did not see the sun before 11 am ... Another plot, in full sun, is nickel ...
Did67
And yes, there are people who know everything, who always have something to say but who do not do much.
Thank you very much Didier for your videos, thank you for taking the time to share a method. It was Philippe, my neighbor in the garden, who cultivates this way and who advised me to go see the videos. Well, I start the experiment, I like the idea a lot so I just have to practice
Luc
Thank you Didier for sharing your experiences. I would like to take this opportunity to mention the Market Gardening network on Sol Vivant which works on these issues of non-tillage by the contribution of carbonaceous materials (including hay): maraichagesolvivant.org
cordially
Bonjour.
“Bio” I see what it is… an appellation for urban eco-friendly bobos! More organic than organic, I would have to explain!
Our elders, for many, natural gardened, period!
Now let the reinventors reinvent, this is all just an eternal restart, nothing new.
Christophe replied. This "name" is deliberately nothing, but gently, provocative. It is in relation to “organic AB” as certified in stores or in circuits. In short, what almost everyone calls “organic”.
And indeed, the specifications (which few people know about) authorize different “substances”, provided they are natural. So (natural) fertilizers. So as Christophe said, copper sulphate, yet a poison for the life of the soil. But "natural" (in the sense "that exists in nature"). Certain natural insecticides are authorized (rotenone has been for a long time; pyrethrum still is) but although natural, have important effects, with a very broad spectrum (they kill almost everything that is called an insect). and often amphibians). In wine, "organic", sulphites are allowed.
I therefore free myself from the dogma "if it's natural, it's good" and do not use most of the products authorized in "organic certified AB".
I called it an "image"; “More than organic”.
Did67
It's more organic than organic because organic farming still uses inputs (less chemical than conventional farming such as Bordeaux Bouillie but it's still chemistry)… Didier uses nothing at all, absolutely nothing! Hence the name ...
Yes he could also have called the technique "The return of the vegetable garden to nature"
Hello everyone,
I am discovering and as I had no land before I find all your experiences interesting. What is unfortunate are the reviews on such a site. Not all calm even in a garden!
Criticism is normal! We are not in a dictatorship.
Afterwards, any movement of thought has its thurifers, who cannot think outside their beliefs (eg: if it's organic, it's perfect!).
Sometimes it's just ignorance. I invite everyone to do research on "rotenone", a natural insecticide long used by "bios", banned for a few years by the EU (oh bad guys!), Since a study revealed that it could promote Parkinson disease…
Sometimes, it is the failure to reason in “binary”: black or white… On earth, I only believe in shades of gray… “Organic” (labeled AB) is not all white. It is only "light gray". And I think I make it even lighter gray, without looking “white” ...
And the expression “natural garden” would be even more misleading: in my corner, the only natural ecosystem would be a more or less anarchic deciduous forest… My garden is not at all “natural”, it is a “seriously” system. anthropized ”because of what I impose on it: tomatoes, beans, melons, etc… All online, what's more! But I use nature's “springs”, through the stimulation of soil life!
Did67
Hello Didier,
I am discovering your presentation which I find extremely interesting, because it really brings something new and simplification compared to the techniques of permaculture, which I have recently tried. My biggest problem is that my vegetables and fruits are almost all eaten by insects and other predators (gnawed potatoes: I don't know which animal, it operates at night, yet I surrounded my garden with fine wire mesh). In the wet season, slugs abound in the environment which is very favorable to them ...
Too bad you are at the other end of France (I am in the Bordeaux region) because I would have liked to come and receive your lessons.
thanks again
Thank you for your experience sharing with the intention of improving the well-being of all.
Hello, did67
I thank you for your videos and your advice.
My lice is passionate for a few years by our garden and it is the first year or we harvest so much (not a vegetable bought since June) but the work was heavy and tiring.
Like you (although much younger in his thirties) he underwent a heart operation last year which today no longer allows him to stay in the sun or to exert too much physical effort. We therefore want to switch to LAZY but effective mode. We are in the south with a very clayey soil with few earthworms to date (but more and more each year) which needs to be supplied with green manure or hay by your method.
We do not know where to start. and we would like some small advice.
In your videos told you to put the hay in November, does that mean that you do not do any winter planting ??? Do you lay hay each year ??
We have a 100m2 vegetable garden, I would say currently full, an area of 30m2 wasteland with lots of “weeds”. We would like to cover the 30 m2 with hay for the next spring harvest.
But for the current vegetable garden, we wanted to make plantations for this autonomous.
We advise you not to foresee anything to favor rather the contribution of the hay until the spring. where hay can be planted and hay planted at the same time as the first year.
THANK YOU