Le Potager du Sloth: Gardening without fatigue more than Bio

Agriculture and soil. Pollution control, soil remediation, humus and new agricultural techniques.
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Did67
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by Did67 » 24/05/14, 22:27

Here is celery, planted through the hay (which has been pushed aside a little):

Image

We are still in what was a meadow less than a year ago.

We see that some plantains have managed to break through [maybe I'm going to start making Ricola candies ???]

[Update 2015: although it is not a "weed", because the plantain has many uses, can be eaten in salads, we can make cough syrup, after 2 full seasons, it has almost "naturally" "disappeared from the garden, doing nothing, probably not having succeeded in replenishing its reserves because of the permanent cover of the ground

We also guess the underground work of voles.
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by Did67 » 24/05/14, 22:32

But, go tell me, I do not have a farmer who can bring me hay!

Well, why not try grass clippings?

Two conditions:

- to dry thin layer

- wait until it has finished "fermenting" and heating !

Here, a cabbage planted in a corner covered with lawn mowing (2 successive displays on what was still a corner of meadow this spring; it was a border in my "hay test" described above).

I'll let you know what happens next.

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What does it cost to try on 2 m² ???
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by Remundo » 25/05/14, 15:54

well thank you Did67 for all these down to earth experiences ...

A good budding gardener, whose work could make hay. We don't talk about salads on econology :D
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by Did67 » 25/05/14, 16:14

.... unless he leaves me on the straw ??????????????

It's just for the pun.

Considering what I put in it, I don't risk much!

1) Thank you for this little humor: a sign that someone has read!

[I'm not doing this to you again because of a misplaced ego; the econology counters are very curious; since yesterday it took me 2 or 3 hours to sort through the photos, to type the posts with my two fingers, to download the images ... I just want to know if it is worth continuing. Because I still have gear!]

2) I answer a question that no one asked me:

- why, although taking a natural gardening, my sowing and planting are in rows; sometimes well aligned, sometimes aligned with the eye, "roughly speaking"

- this should shock all the proponents of square gardening on one side, or those of permaculture on the other, etc ...

There are actually two reasons for my actions:

a) as said, it is an old dry meadow, with a little thick soil; I must therefore, despite the mulch, consider watering as long as it does not rain during the summer ...

And I opted for the drip, with lines of pipes with integrated drippers (not yet in place). I remind you that the objective is not to imitate nature in itself, but to produce with the least effort and the fewest inputs ... I am inspired by what I observe in nature to take cross roads in relation to the "dogmas" of gardening (and there are some !!!!!).

b) I need to organize 3 zones in my garden: that of the clover, that of the BRF and that of the hay ... It is easier by organizing rows that are shifted, by grouping it together: a few lines for the plants which will disappear at the end of summer [I could unroll my hay]; the plants that will pass through the winter [I will put BRF so as not to have to hoe], etc ...

So there again, the lines are just an ease compared to a patchwork of everything that would require more intensive manual "micro-management". But that would be more natural, of course.
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by Remundo » 25/05/14, 17:04

but yes, Did, I read and observed 8)

Now we have the broad outlines of your cultures : Idea:
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by Did67 » 25/05/14, 18:36

I'm still answering a question that I haven't been asked!

What is better to cover the seedling: commercial soil? or the "molehill land"?

I mentioned having used these two types of products to cover the seedlings in my open furrows in the hay.

So ????

Cleanliness question: without any possible discussion, the breeding ground for trade.

The photos of lamb's lettuce with chenopods, for example, seen above, were taken in the "molehill land" section.

but:

- it has a cost!

- be wary of "potting soil" for "planting", at low prices, which are a kind of compost of woody waste, bark, etc. ... more or less completely decomposed! If it is too fresh, this "compost" inhibits germination. They are, moreover, very poor: my wife had a bad emergence on tomatoes; those that emerged - about half the pockets - remained puny and pale until they were put in the ground ...

- one finds, in the garden centers, of "potting soil"; for those who want to do well, and succeed, I recommend

- in this case, I used a "banal" soil, on "promo" in the supermarket where I was doing my shopping ... which worked well anyway.

[MAJ 2015: I no longer use either ; it's useless! With regard to the soil purchased, it is an unnecessary expense; now, in the furrow that I opened with a knife, I pass my "3 teeth" tool to loosen very much on the surface; I sow in it; I iron the "3 teeth" to mix; if it is very dry, I tamp ... The large seeds - beans, peas, beets ... - are "pricked" one by one into the loosened soil, at the desired spacing, and of course, I do not do not iron the "3 teeth" so as not to disturb the lines. And that's all ! Of course, never cover with hay - or whatever!]

One of these four, I would answer the question: can we grow potatoes without working the soil, without burying the plants, and without butter ???? In short by not giving a damn ... ???
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by Gaston » 27/05/14, 10:01

Did67 wrote:One of these four, I would answer the question: can we grow potatoes without working the soil, without burying the plants, and without butter ???? In short by not giving a damn ... ???
Just by putting the potatoes on the ground?
The answer interests me : Cheesy:
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by Did67 » 27/05/14, 10:23

Just by laying the potatoes on the floor, indeed. After having mowed a meadow, mown during August, and left the tarpaulin until the end of winter ...

And therefore potato seeds (sprouts) placed on this soil.

And we cover with BRF! About 15 cm thick. That's all !

Ah no: we still had to harvest!

I think the fact that I had no Colorado potato beetles was related to the year, not to the method.

So I was able to eat potatoes "very more than organic": without any treatment, even natural, without any fertilizer, even natural on a land that has never known either treatment or fertilizer ... A rarity!

This leads us to think very hard about the need to "suffer in order to reap". There remains a Judeo-Christian connotation in our approach to gardening. A lack of ability to enjoy what nature can provide. [remember the exchanges that are at the origin of this thread]

Photos soon! [I make the pleasure last a little longer]
Last edited by Did67 the 11 / 11 / 14, 12: 06, 1 edited once.
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by Janic » 27/05/14, 10:51

did67 hello
I think the fact that I had no Colorado potato beetles was related to the year, not to the method.

on the contrary! A distinction must be made between the final product, the initial product and agricultural methods.
Colorado beetles are useful "pests" because they attack delicate plants, but not healthy plants. Their absence is therefore a good indicator of quality (it suffices to plant fragile seeds a little further away or in a neighbor's to see the difference) which is what justifies organic farming compared to chemistry.
There remains a Judeo-Christian connotation
another image of Epinal, we are no longer in the middle ages!
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by Forhorse » 27/05/14, 13:13

I haven't (yet) read everything in detail, just hovered for now, but it seems very interesting to me.

Up to now, I have always turned my vegetable garden over with the help of a tiller without asking myself the question of why or how. Even if we try to practice mulching in summer, and tarpaulin in winter, invariably the tiller is out in spring ...
Hay here is not what is missing (we use it to mulch the PdT)

We will try to read this in more detail and push the concept a little in our garden.
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