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- Output 4 Small and slow solutions>
- Our current living space; Alex`s house and garden>
- Pete`s house; turning a monster into an ally!
- Integrating Permaculture design into my work place
- Forest gardening at Margam Park
- Raising Seth; Supporting our son`s journey.
- Getting to grips with technology!
- Extracts from learning Journal
- Process reflection
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Now that Spring is here, I have been turning my attention to the garden.
Growing potatoes using the "No Dig" method.
Early potato variety growing in a no dig mulch bed
Regular digging isn`t good for my back, or anyone else`s to be honest. Conventional gardening techniques rely upon a lot of digging, far too much of it in my opinion. An underlying ethic of Permaculture is "care of the people", which regular arduous digging certainly isn`t.
We currently eat a lot of potatoes, and although our intention is to substantially diversify our diet into the future it would be unrealistic to expect to be successful in suddenly completely changing our diet. Small and slow solutions, the least amount of change for the greatest amount of benefit is the robust way forward and so it makes sense for me to grow a good amount of potatoes right now. I am not going to do any digging however.
Regular digging also damages soil structure and in so doing disconnects mycorrizal fungal networks that are beneficial to a large percentage of plants. Another underlying ethic of Permaculture is "care of the earth". Caring for the earth in this instance can take the positive form of actively rebuilding soil with living, multi functional organic matter, and beginning a productive cycle increasing the soils fertility and integrity all the while.
We currently eat a lot of potatoes, and although our intention is to substantially diversify our diet into the future it would be unrealistic to expect to be successful in suddenly completely changing our diet. Small and slow solutions, the least amount of change for the greatest amount of benefit is the robust way forward and so it makes sense for me to grow a good amount of potatoes right now. I am not going to do any digging however.
Regular digging also damages soil structure and in so doing disconnects mycorrizal fungal networks that are beneficial to a large percentage of plants. Another underlying ethic of Permaculture is "care of the earth". Caring for the earth in this instance can take the positive form of actively rebuilding soil with living, multi functional organic matter, and beginning a productive cycle increasing the soils fertility and integrity all the while.
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Laying down well soaked cardboard on top of the sterile lawn was the first step, then placing out the potatoes directly on to the wet cardboard and covering them with a good amount of lovely compost left my new potato beds looking a bit like speed bumps! I then surfaced mulched all the beds with straw. There is an explanatory link to a similar project on Youtube here.
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Lush pond edge habitat close to the "no dig" potato beds provides refuge for predators
Potatoes utilise a lot of nitrogen, so I have also planted a few lupins which are nitrogen fixing ground cover plants (that also produce beautiful flowers which attract beneficial insects) among them. I gathered a multitude of seeds from the few lupins that I brought here with me last year when they had finished flowering, and am currently growing on a large amount of lupins in pots to plant throughout the whole garden. I sourced the pots from a local nursery that has literally thousands of small pots to recycle. As well as adding a few young lupin plants to the potato beds, I have added a few marigolds which attract predators of aphids. I have also put in cane wigwams with the intention of adding climbing beans (which also fix nitrogen) that are also growing on in small pots.
Mulching the bed with straw protects the compost below from drying out and erosion. It also guards against compaction from rain, retains vital moisture, suppresses potential weed competition and contributes to the process of building soil over time. Mulch creates ideal soil conditions for plants to grow in, but can of course also provide sanctuary for slugs. One option if you live close to the sea is; following stormy weather plenty of weed gets ripped up from the sea bed and deposited on the beach, collect the deposited weed and add it to the straw mix to deter slugs. Although I live close to the sea, I haven`t had the time as yet to go collecting, and there hasn`t been any stormy weather either! I have situated my first potato bed alongside the beginning of the lush edge habitat of the wildlife pond that I created last year. Frogs and palmate newts have colonised the pond, and the lush, cool pond edge habitat is a day time hang out for frogs. During the cool of the night, frogs can venture into the surrounding habitat (my potato and bean beds) where they are likely to encounter any marauding slugs and restore balance.
Mulching the bed with straw protects the compost below from drying out and erosion. It also guards against compaction from rain, retains vital moisture, suppresses potential weed competition and contributes to the process of building soil over time. Mulch creates ideal soil conditions for plants to grow in, but can of course also provide sanctuary for slugs. One option if you live close to the sea is; following stormy weather plenty of weed gets ripped up from the sea bed and deposited on the beach, collect the deposited weed and add it to the straw mix to deter slugs. Although I live close to the sea, I haven`t had the time as yet to go collecting, and there hasn`t been any stormy weather either! I have situated my first potato bed alongside the beginning of the lush edge habitat of the wildlife pond that I created last year. Frogs and palmate newts have colonised the pond, and the lush, cool pond edge habitat is a day time hang out for frogs. During the cool of the night, frogs can venture into the surrounding habitat (my potato and bean beds) where they are likely to encounter any marauding slugs and restore balance.
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Dried bramble slug barrier surrounding potatoes
At the far side of the bed furthest from the pond edge, I have utilised a natural slug barrier. Having cut back a bramble hedge on the other side of the garden, I was left with a considerable pile of bramble. I roughly broke it up into manageable lengths and left it to dry. Once dry, I made a form of nest from the dry prickly bramble and surrounded the potato bed.