Make a garden before you build a house: Difference between revisions

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 (Reading the soil)
-Before I did anything in the garden, I observed what was growing there in January 2021. I observed that the plot had been used for remnant of art projects, especially sand and limestone where to find a lot places. Someone also told me that the metal workshop had “leaked” metal waste in the ground whenever people would work outside.
+Before I did anything in the garden, I observed what was growing there in January 2021. I observed that the plot had been used for remnant of art projects, especially sand and limestone were omnipresent. Someone also told me that the metal workshop had “leaked” metal waste in the ground whenever people would work outside.
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+== Establishment ==
-== Establishment ==
+[[ File:Disturbance.png|200px|thumb|left|alt text]]
+I decided to use a system of ‘raised beds’, a soil layout designated to cultivate a dense population of plants and accumulate organic matter. The system is e.g used in urban farms in Cuba known as Organopónicos.
+One simply digs out pathways in-between growing beds, and naturally the soil bed will ‘rise’ as more soil is added. The bed has a fixed width of 75 cm – a good working width for a farming. The benefits of the raised bed infrastructure is that it enables a better drainage and a fixed indication for where the cultivation is happening, which means that the soil on the beds will not be compacted as persons will use the pathways for walking, so there will be a good build-up of topsoil year after year. I like the functionality of the raised beds, but I also find their composition really nice because they make the garden more accessible and open up the layout of the garden.
+I had intended not to use machines ones the soil had been aerated and tilled once before establishment. The idea behind the method adapted from no-till farming methods and permaculture is that you leave the soil as undisturbed as possible but keep adding compost year after year in spring time. The important thing is to ensure that the soil is covered with plants which will retain the nutrient from leeking off.
+The compost I used from Bio-kultura  (https://www.bio-kultura.nl/) was very good, but also fairly expensive. I reckon cheaper options can be found near-by. I wanted the first batch to be really good quality weed-free compost. I used the compost bins in the garden momentarily but they had not been maintained properly and there wasn’t enough for the whole garden.
+Seeds:
+I learned from working with Wim that due to the ….. he cannot grow certain kinds of heirloom seeds and with the farmers protest happening across India early 2021 and the struggles for seed sovereignty across Africa and so many other places, made me think that caretakers of heirloom seeds are entangled with real acts of resistance, and that even tiny gardens hold a potential for safeguarding our seed cultures and knowledges of sovereignty that is carried from palm to soil to mouth.
+List of heirloom seed companies:
+*https://www.magicgardenseeds.com/
+*https://kokopelli-semences.fr/fr/
+*https://detuinenvanweldadigheid.nl/
+Nurseries near-by Limburg:
+*Wim Storken – is selling plants late spring and over the summer, you can ask for his special heirloom tomato varieties.
+*Yvonne Velthuis – Wilde Planten Kwekerij has a lot of special heirloom varieties specific and regional for Limburg
-[[ File:Disturbance.png.jpeg|200px|thumb|left|alt text]]
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-== Procedures for maintenance ==
+== maintenance and succession (future) ==
 These are actions that would be good to do before the winter:
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 Thai Basil: You can uproot some of the Thai basil plants and plant them indoors, and maybe cut the rest down until the plant gets woody. It might survive the winter.
-all the woody herbs like rosemary, sage etc. like to be pruned before the winter. It is a good idea to also add a bit of hay around them.
+all the woody herbs like rosemary, sage etc. like to be pruned before the winter. It is also a good idea to add a bit of hay around them.
 Trimming:
 New Zealand Spinach: is perennial, and it is a good idea to trim the beds a little aka remove the weeds and cut them down a bit. They will come back next spring.