Yesterday, I gave a video tour of our current mulch / garden situation and uploaded it to the @solarpunkpresents YouTube. We lay down a bunch of cardboard to smother the unwanted plants in the places we wanted to make gardens, then re-used wood chips that have been sitting out all winter from the old tree in the backyard. If you're interested, check it out!
#Compost, around a cubic metre of it. All materials from last year (2023). Looks good and smells and feels nice. Would already do for a #mulch but I won't be using it until the autumn, so it has another eight or nine months to decompose more. Home to lots of #earthworms.
The communal compost plot keeps giving up its old buried treasures. It’s dried out a little so I broadforked it over which should further improve its drainage.
A dry, windy day today was ideal to turn the compost pile out into ton grab bags. I’ve just the bottom ton of the pile left to turn and then it can all go back in the one heap again.
The ton grab bags come in really handy for turning the compost into. They also replace the need for me to have more than the one permanent bay.
I’m taking on another half plot at the weekend. It’s like a marsh & one of the wettest plots on site.
The aim is to improve the plot’s resilience to adverse weather by building up the soil level & soil health.
Not everyone makes their own compost on the allotment site. I’ll use organic matter donated from across the site to build the plot level up & make compost.
Most of the compost made will be a communal resource for other plot holders to use.
When we think of #food, we often aren’t paying attention to soil, but it’s actually what sustains our global food system.
Unfortunately, #ClimateChange, unsustainable farming practices & more are degrading soil around the world.
I don’t get to see each episode of Serving Up Science until they are published, but I like this new video. And I’m so glad they let me talk about soil health. https://youtu.be/FnOHwq6iSpk?si=5umwoGQU7DFrdhCD
Die Elternzeit neigt sich langsam dem Ende zu. Ich bin im Hintergrund schon mit organisatorischen/technischen Dingen beschäftigt. Server und Client auf Debian Bookworm aktualisieren. Finanzamt Steuern. Buchhaltung. Fixes. Kostet leider alles Zeit und man sieht davon wenig bis nichts. Muss halt aber dennoch erledigt werden. 🤷♂️
@kuketzblog ich hoffe du konntest deine Elternzeit genießen, die Zeit mit den kleinen ist unglaublich Wertvoll.
Hast du schon von #cromite gehört und ist dazu ein Artikel o. Analyse angedacht? Bromite ist ja leider raus und die derzeit einzige Chromium alternative ist #mulch. https://github.com/uazo/cromite
I'm so in love with our clover cover crop this year. It fixes nitrogen, shades the soil, chokes out weeds, helps retain moisture, smells delicious, feeds the bees, and just looks right purdy. #MilkBarnFarm#Hemp
@fraying I've done paper #mulch on tomatoes, which works, but it's a lot of labor to install right. Install it wrong and the wind blows it away.
So did you just put clover seed on your field with a broadcast spreader, and then come back to plant after the clover's established? How long did it take?
I’ve mulched the beds with dried hay and put some wood chip down for paths. We’ve no rain in sight so this is an early measure to conserve moisture in the soil and the mulch will help to keep the soil temperature down. It should also help feed the soil life and reduce leaching of CO2, water or nutrients into the air.
I pulled up this mares-tail in the greenhouse where it had snuck in. I was ecstatic to see the dreadlocks on the roots. It means the soil biology in there is in good shape.
I’m not very patient but it feels a slow growing year. I’ve had sporadic germination of carrots in the beds so I’ve also sown more carrots in tubs elsewhere on the plot.
The animals are hoiking out beans between every visit. I think they are collateral damage of animals trying to get at the worms or bugs in the leaf mould.