The full team is now here and what a great group of people to work with! We're looking forward to productive seasons.
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| The Brilliant 2016 Polyculture Market Garden Study Team - (left to right) Marika - Ute - Alex - Charlotte - Kata |
Biodiversity Study
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| Photos from our first biodiversity survey - Photos by Ute Villavicencio and Peter Alfrey |
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| Bio-blitzing one of our new plots that we'll be planting out as part of the upcoming Perennial Polyculture study. |
Garden Bed Preparation
We've been busy getting the beds prepared for over 2,500 plants going in over the next few weeks. Some will be transplanted from seedling trays and cloches others will be sown directly.
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| The Market Garden, Westerly view |
Here's a breakdown of what bed preparation entails.
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| Beds with perimeter vegetation mown and weeds chopped and dropped |
Adding Ash - 100-120 g of ash (that's approx a hand trowel full) is sprinkled evenly over each meter length of bed. The ash helps to moderate pH and provides a range of essential plant nutrients. For more on using ash in the garden see here.
Adding Compost - 20 L of compost per m length is applied evenly to surface of the beds.
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| We're using composted farmyard manure in the garden. |
Mulching - Straw is applied to the surface of the beds at a rate of 1 bale every 1.5 m of bed length. It's best to wait until the soil has warmed and rain has saturated the soil before applying the mulch.
We collect spoiled straw from local farmers. The bales being wet are of no use to the farmers for animal bedding and we collect them free of charge. Wet bales can sometimes harbour slugs, in which case it's not a great idea to use them for mulch in the vegetable garden. Setting chickens onto infested bales will soon clear the slugs.
Straw bale stacks at least 2 bales high provide excellent habitat for a range of organisms and we leave a bale stack around often finding Aesculapian snake - Zamenis longissimus and Slow Worms - Anguis fragilis sheltering in the bales. Toads - Bufo bufo also use the bales for overwintering and summer shelter as do Balkan Lizard - Lacerta spp.
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| Common inhabitants of the straw bale stacks. |
Soil Health Tests
As well as the lab analysis of our soils at the beginning of each season we also take visual tests using a soil health test developed by farmers for farmers to track the development of soil health. More on soil testing and the results from the tests here.
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| 8 tests looking at water infiltration, ground cover, soil organisms, soil structure and more are tested using simple equipment. |
Work in the Forest Garden
We spent sometime in the forest garden tending to the newly planted fruit trees, weeding and adding a fresh layer of mulch. We also planted some support plants around the base of the young trees. Listed below are the species planted and their functions.
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| Tree pit planting in the forest garden |
Caragana arborescens - Nitrogen fixing shrub that will be cut annually to provide biomass both from the roots and shoots of the plant.
Allium tuberosum or Allium cepa proliferum - Perennial vegetables for the market garden that also attract beneficial pest predators and pollinators.
Narcissus poeticus - Early pollenizers attracting bees and other pollinating insects to the garden and providing a nutrient capture when little else is growing during the cold months.
Corydalis spp. - Early pollenizers attracting bees and other pollinating insects to the garden and providing a nutrient capture when little else is growing during the cold months.
Galanthus spp. - Early pollenizers attracting bees and other pollinating insects to the garden and providing a nutrient capture when little else is growing during the cold months.
We'll eventually place boulders around the edges of the tree pits which provide excellent habitat for a range of beneficial organisms. See here for more on rock borders.
We'll eventually place boulders around the edges of the tree pits which provide excellent habitat for a range of beneficial organisms. See here for more on rock borders.
Other work in the forest garden included mowing some access paths, the trimmings of which are fed to the comfrey patch, and cutting back vegetation from the edible hedgerow that overhangs the pathways.
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| Pathways are cut into the vegetation using a 50 cm wide lawnmower. This directs foot traffic through the garden and reduces the likelihood of treading on snakes that are active this time of year |
Sending Produce to Market
Produce available this time of year includes fresh garlic, perennial onions, herbs, perennial salad greens and potted herbs & perennial vegetables from our bio-nursery. We're growing a wider variety of crops this year, such as parsnips, beetroot, aubergine and carrots, and are trying out several tasty and unusual varieties of old favourites, such as kale, chard, courgettes, tomatoes and beans.
You can try some of these delicious goodies and directly support the Polyculture Market Garden Study by signing up for our Vegetable Box Scheme (BG language here, ENG language here). We offer three different sized boxes for singles, couples or families and include seasonal fruits in the boxes if desired.
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| Contents of our late Summer Vegetable Box |
See here for the results of our polyculture studies from 2014 - 2016
If you appreciate the work we are doing you can show your support in several ways.
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Live Webinar Coming up this Autumn
It's that time of year to start planning your garden plantings for this coming autumn or the spring. If you would like some guidance and advice on how to choose your plants we'll be running a live webinar this November. How to Select Fruit and Nut Trees for your Forest Garden/Polyculture Orchard - Webinar - 2nd November 2019 - 18.00 -20.00 UTC. (starting time suitable for US participation).
The session will overview what you need to know when selecting fruit and nut trees for your Forest Garden/Polyculture Orchard and how to plan the layout of the garden. It will be around 2 hours long and will include:
Selecting trees that suit your climate and location
Choosing the right root stock and cultivar
Selecting trees with pollination compatibility
Choosing the right location and spacing for your trees
Buying Fruit and Nut Trees
Planting out and aftercare
Software for Planning Garden layout
Closing Questions and Answers
Access to design spreadsheets including a Selection Check List and Pollination Requirements for Common Fruit and Nut Trees
You can register here . The fee is €30 or €40 if you register as a group of three or €100 as a group of 10. If you would like to register as a group please send an email to balkanecologyproject@gmail.com and we'll take it from there.
Upcoming Courses
If you would like to create a forest garden and gain some practical hands on experience come and join us this autumn. We'll be covering site surveying, landscape design software, installing access, beds, irrigation channels, planting tree, shrub, herb and ground layers and wildlife ponds. All in 3 days! And plenty of follow up material to take away with you to digest slowly.
Design and Build - Forest Garden Course - Regenerative Landscape Design Course
Registration for our April 2020 course is now open with 15% discount on accommodation and food fees when you register as a group (2 or more).
If you appreciate the work we are doing you can show your support in several ways.
- Make a purchase of plants or seeds from our Bionursery
- Consider joining us on for one our Regenerative landscape design training course
- Donate directly to our Polyculture Project crowdfunding campaign.
- Comment, like and share our content on social media.
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| Design and Build - Forest Garden Course - Regenerative Landscape Design Course |
If you appreciate the work we are doing you can show your support in several ways.
- Make a purchase of plants or seeds from our Bionursery
- Consider joining us on for one our Regenerative landscape design training course
- Donate directly to our Polyculture Project crowdfunding campaign.
- Comment, like and share our content on social media.
Polyculture/Regenerative Landscape Design Webinars
This season we are running live interactive sessions hosted on Zoom on a range of topics. You can register for a webinar here.
Would you like to be involved in the project? We are currently offering 1 - 6 month positions on our polyculture study.
Permaculture and Regenerative Design Internships
We offer a diversity of plants and seeds for permaculture and forest gardens including a range of fruit and nut cultivars. We Deliver all over Europe from Nov - March.
We also offer a range of products all year round from our Online Store
Give a happy plant a happy home :)
We also offer a range of products all year round from our Online Store
Give a happy plant a happy home :)
