Vegetable garden of the (super) lazy in the 04 (800m)

[Did67]

In the damn resistant passage the weed

Don't worry: those cheeks there too!

[paysan.bio]

The soil study of the house says text that they are marls and sandstone of the barremian ... do not ask me more ...

So it's not gley. And so much the better. Marls also often have this gray-blue color. It is thus a base with limestone tendencies (the marls are a mixture of limestone and clays).

The Barremian is one of the lower Cretaceous stages (about 120 million years ago). I do not know if this is silica-based (sands), concreted by limestone (which can be a cement). It would be interesting then.

You are in a formation that if it was not sloping could make you miseries in terms of permeability.

"The lower Cretaceous terrain is remarkable for its impermeability, and when it forms the surface of the soil, it is covered with puddles and muddy to the highest degree."

There, the clay side should allow you to store water. As you grow, your soil should evolve to a very high water supply (UK).

I think you remember it, but not too long ago we were talking about the hardness of clay soils.
we were talking about augers for planting.
and today you are putting forward that a phenocultured clay soil is very advantageous.
not bad, evolution, right?

[Adrien (ex-nico239)]

Yeah ... good go courage it is still -4 but you have to put hay at the feet of the raspberries

[Did67]

The cold preserves! We said ...

[Adrien (ex-nico239)]

Like almost everywhere in France but much less than in the Var .... which shows that the altitude is not always a guarantee of snow ... 5cm in the morning ... it will always be a little water.

[Did67]

Nothing like this white coat, to protect against "winter salads" (lamb's lettuce, winter lettuce, etc ...). There, you're quiet!

[Adrien (ex-nico239)]

So much the better because they announce a drop in temperatures that will exceed -10 ... to be checked, however.

For info in the greenhouse despite peaks at -5 all "traditional" salads are fine: we just doubled the P30 .... (anyway)

So we're going to fill it up ... because there are too many empty surfaces

[Adrien (ex-nico239)]

I wouldn't want to sound like a pheno fan (being a fan is not my type at all) .... but today we started to plant some Leyland and I admit that I was quite surprised by the quality from the BASEMENT to the places where it had been covered with hay.

With the big 20cm auger it is not easy to dig in our kind of very stony and compact soil.

On 5 holes 2m apart from each other in the same area, the basement up to 40cm is identical.

Except that...

In the places which had been left bare ground it was impossible to carry out the "drilling" in one go.
The compactness of the earth was such that the "large" pebbles / pebbles (5 to 8cm) blocked the rotation and it was necessary to go there by hand with other instruments to free them from the grip of their respective earth gangues and to chase.

Whereas in the 3 other places which had been covered with hay during the last 8 months, if I found myself confronted with the same obstacles and the same pebbles, the density of the whole earth-pebbles-clay-marl was revealed. much more flexible which allowed me to drill everything and release everything with the auger without any blockage: the rollers are easily detached from their gangues which was not at all the case previously.

However, be careful ..... I remain wary of this deep deterioration up to 40cm, it seems a little too good to be true.

So I am going to test this over a year with two test squares side by side (one with and the other without hay) in an ungrateful place to be determined, probably where the layer of soil is thin, and go to the fall 2018 or spring 2019 to see if this deep deterioration is real or just happenstance.

Tomorrow or in the days that will follow we will continue this work unfortunately in hay-free areas ... if it's a hassle as initially it will give us a first indication

................................................

This text was written yesterday ... but I didn't dare to put it online

Indeed today we have finished planting the Leylands and indeed the hayless areas have turned out to be more difficult to drill than the others.

Which does not prevent me from doubting this observation .... reason why I publish this with the tip of my "lips" ...

And give you an appointment in 1 years for a drilling in my 2 test squares.

[Did67]

It is good to doubt ... to "lay the framework for a test conducted under more rigorous conditions ...

But that does not appear to me to be impossible at all: humidity maintained / activity of organisms maintained / surface food that others entail / production of glus at all levels, etc. not reduce the degradation to obtaining a "couscous" as I sometimes show it to "shock" the spirits) ...

[Adrien (ex-nico239)]

It is good to doubt ... to "lay the framework for a test conducted under more rigorous conditions ...

But that does not appear to me to be impossible at all: humidity maintained / activity of organisms maintained / surface food that others entail / production of glus at all levels, etc. not reduce the degradation to obtaining a "couscous" as I sometimes show it to "shock" the spirits) ...

It would seem that this could have an impact in depth ... (well let's say about 30cm) so to be continued ....