It's been a lovely week here in Shipka - although quite windy, and the plants and soils dry out very quickly, so this week we've been irrigating the gardens as much as possible. We've also continued with invertebrate surveys and soil tests and processing some of the harvests from the gardens.
So here's what we've been up to in the gardens this week.
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Hazel - Corylus spp. Yields
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| 'Ata Baba' |
The below image shows the planting locations of various Hazel cultivars in Aponia, namely ;
- 'Tonda Gentile Romana'
- 'Ata Baba'
- 'Barcelona'
- 'Badeovidim'
There were only nuts on the Ata Baba and Badeovidim cultivars this year. The nuts of these cultivars look very similar to each other both being Filberts (Corylus maxima) although the Ata Baba nuts are slightly larger and the Badeovidim are more frequently clustered in 4 or 5 husks as opposed to the Ata Baba that cluster in 2s and 3s shown below.
I harvested nuts from 2 trees of Ata Baba and 2 trees of Badeovidim, weighed and photographed the nuts.
Here are the records for this year
There were signs of the Nut Weevil - Balaninus nucum on 3 or 4 of the Badeovidim nuts as shown below but none on the Ata Baba nuts .
We're offering a range of cultivars including the above mentioned 'Ata baba' from the nursery this year . You can find out more about the plants we have on offer here
Wild Flowers in the Gardens
Saponaria officinalis - Soapwort grows wild in the meadows and woodland edges in and around the gardens. It's an attractive plant with a long blooming period throughout the summer. As its common name implies, it can be used as a very gentle soap and has historically been used to clean delicate textiles. We encourage it in the gardens and I have found it makes an excellent ground cover in dry sunny spots.
Another wild growing beauty that makes a great ground cover is Salvia verticillata - Lilac sage. This herbaceous perennial forms expansive clumps and flowers from spring through to late summer and is much visited by pollinators. Although in the Salvia genus I am not aware of any culinary uses for this plant
Phronensis -
The garden design, species list and planting scheme.
The primary purpose of the garden is to produce round wood for fence posts, light construction wood, and stakes and pole wood for the market garden with secondary purposes to provide fruits and nuts in the under story and a range of habitat to support wildlife.
Since we established the garden in the spring I've mowed the pathways 4 times (approx once every 2 or 3 weeks taking approx. 20 minutes per cut), we've pulled weeds growing through the mulch around the newly planted trees twice (that's 48 mulched plants that takes 3 or 4 people about 45 - 60 minutes per weeding session) and this week we have watered the plants for the first time this season following the initial plant out. Here you can see the third row of Paulownia tomentosa - Foxglove Tree and Alnus cordata - Italian Alder trees planted on contour. establishing well.
We've also added the pond and finished off the raised beds in the south end of the garden. If you don't include the raised beds, this seems to be quite a low maintenance garden.
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Forest Garden Plants
It's been a great year for plums, perhaps a bit too good as quite a few plum trees around the area have been snapping out limbs from the weight of the fruit. The photo below is of a Prunus insititia - Damson on the southern border of the garden. Two limbs snapped out making it easy pickings for Eva and Simon that collected about 10 kg of the plums for pies and jams.
Prunus insititia - Damson fruits from our fallen branches
Here is Misha picking green beans in the market garden. These beans are a local cultivar from a friend of Misha's in a neighbouring village. The plants seem to like it the garden and have been very productive so far and are great tasting both raw and cooked.
It's that time of year when the wild Rubus fruticosus cv. - Blackberry generously present themselves to the animals. What with all the rain we had this season the wild berries are plump and juicy. Personally I prefer the taste of the wild blackberries to the cultivated ones, although a new cultivar 'Reuben' that I've been growing for a few years is pretty close. Here are some black berries growing up a small apple tree we have in Aponia. Next week the apples should be ripe and you can pick and eat the blackberries and apples right from the same spot. An excellent combination fresh as well as baked in a crumble :)
Regenerative Landscape Design - Online Interactive Course
Want to learn how to design, build and manage regenerative landscapes? Join us for our Regenerative Landscape Design - Online Interactive Course from May 1st to Sep 13th, 2023.
We're super excited about running the course and look forward to providing you with the confidence, inspiration, and opportunity to design, build and manage regenerative landscapes, gardens, and farms that produce food and other resources for humans while enhancing biodiversity.
Regenerative Landscape Design Online Course
You can find out all about the course here and right now we have a 20% discount on the full enrollment fees. Just use the promo code RLD2023 in the section of the registration form to receive your discount.
We are looking forward to providing you with this unique online learning experience - as far as we know, the very first of its kind. If you are thinking of reasons why you should do this course and whether this course is suitable for you, take a look here where we lay it all out. Looking forward to it!
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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 or Online Store
- Consider joining us for one of our Courses or Online Courses
- Comment, like, and share our content on social media.
- Donate directly via PayPal to balkanecologyproject@gmail.com or via FTX Pay
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| You can also register for our online training, services, and products directly here. |
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