The first calendula (pot marigold) flower of the year has appeared in my garden.
I didn't plant it - it's self-seeded in my vegetable bed .
I let it grow among the vegetables. My garden is a mish-mash of things anyway, everything growing in a merry mix, which is good for the soil and for plant health. Besides, calendula petals are edible - I can add them to soups, stews and smoothies - so this makes it a vegetable anyway. 🤣
The #coffee is growing strong. It's been a struggle to keep these babies watered in this prolonged dry season, but there they are. 2024 is dedicated to getting them all in the ground across about six hectares.
They're growing fast, so getting the prep work done for their planting is the main focus.
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El #café está creciendo fuerte. Ha sido una lucha mantener a estos bebés regados en esta prolongada secia, pero ahí están. 2024 se dedica a plantarlos todos en unas seis hectáreas mas o menos.
Crecen rápido, así que lo más importante ahorita es preparar la tierra para recibirlas.
Get this: you can generate lignite (low-grade coal) in your garden?? Fast! IF you get the composting setup right.
The first half of the video is very detailed, nuts & bolts of soil and chemistry. The actual images of the site and how they did it starts at about 50min.
Soil science is the study of some of the most complex systems imaginable, and sadly still badly neglected-- especially considering how crucial it is to the foundations of our biosphere and survival. Much of this presentation is over my head, and it's tough for me to wade through all the "um, uh, uh"ing, but... wow!
I'll try to summarize:
There's a distinctive layer of black stuff under the soil of the Amazon, and people tend to assume it was built up from fires in years past (biochar is becoming a popular analogue), but researcher Scott Goode says it's created through much the same process that forms coal under peat bogs. That can take millions of years, but under the right conditions it can happen MUCH faster-- and all driven by biological action.
The idea here is you're trying to mimic the layers of soil activity under an old-growth forest, inside a trench 2' deep and 1.5' wide that's anaerobic at the bottom. Doing this in your own yard, Goode calls a "Climate Victory Garden". The trenches bracket your growbeds, and you don't stir or turn them-- you just have to keep filling them from the top, and once it gets going it's got quite an appetite.
Important note: while healthy soils can hold large amounts of carbon (80% of a forest's carbon is underground, only 20% is in the vegetation you can actually see), that carbon only stays put while the web of organisms using it stays healthy. Lignite on the other hand is a mineral that pretty much isn't going anywhere unless it catches on fire. This project demonstrates how to get BOTH the living system AND build long-term carbon storage at the same time.
One bit I really appreciate, about 1h16min in he is asked, "So what about the carbon market, what are they paying for?"
His reply starts with: "Really similar to the biofuels market, it's essentially a scam!"
If you are at all interested in #Permaculture I highly recommend you give this a read/listen. It is both a clear eyed treatise on why current/past agricultural practices that are based largely on annual plants is a losing battle and a detailed/practical guide to transitioning to perennial based agriculture as a means of healing the planet and our relationship with nature. It is aimed at everyone from commercial farmers to backyard #FoodForest enthusiasts. Get inspired!
Handy tip I learned from my friend Martin: if you only have a few trees to guard against rabbits, use a spiral of chicken wire held in place with a bit of bamboo. Stop using plastic!
Nov 15, 2023 "#Permaculture instructor #AndrewMillison journeys to #Senegal to see a movement of forest gardens which are contributing to Africa's Great Green Wall. Andrew accompanies the organization Planet Wild to visit the excellent work of #Trees for the Future. Planet Wild is funding the planting of 40,000 trees in this project so we are here to assess the system and report on the situation on the ground." #restoration#desert#Sahara #climate#ClimateChange https://youtu.be/1LCTVO_Y5Rs
Another rack of cuban red bananas. A few of them split, bc of the amount of rain we got after a "dry" spell, so started ripening a bit too fast. I cut them down before the rats found them. Look closely, you can see a couple split, but also a "conjoined twin" banana. Almost all of my Cavendish variety racks have one. They are all clones, so it makes sense they'd all have similar rack patterns. #foodforest#tropics#homestead#gardening
Remember when I posted months ago about putting together a #cacao nursery?
The plants have grown like mad & are slowly finding their way to permanent homes. And they are thriving. It's exciting to see the new growth they put on as soon as they're out of their nursery bags. Some of them are already over a meter tall!
🇩🇪 Wie labelt ihr eure Gehölze in eurem Waldgarten? Ich mache bisher laminierte Schilder. Aber nach 3-4a brechen die. Und von den Plasteschlaufen, die ich mit Edding beschriftet habe, geht die Beschriftung nach 1a ab.
🇬🇧 How do you label your plants in your food forest? I used to make laminated labels. But after 3-4a they start breaking. Then I have some plastic loops written on with Edding. But the writing has washed off after 1a.
Obviously it helps to have the resources to access land and work it-- but just have a look at what's possible in one yard.
The before/after shots are stunning. This was a bare trash dump 30 years ago.
Two acres, turned into a veritable jungle. Planted and maintained by two people. And if those two people disappeared and the land was left to itself, it wouldn't slow down. In another hundred years its trees will still tower over the neighborhood, and a person could still wade in there and find something to eat.
Today, the effects of this work already extend far beyond the property itself.
Apple Serviceberry (Amelanchier lamarckii). I wouldn't normally buy such a large specimen (because younger specimens establish better) but hard to get hold of round here. Which is weird, because these ornamental, edible, North American shrubs/trees are everywhere.
Not the best photo but you get the idea, amelanchiery and tall.