We've had a great response for our Growing Food in Small Spaces and How to Use Nutritional Wild Plants Free Webinar with over 150 people registered. We'll announce the date and time of the webinar on Wednesday 1st April and if you would like to join you still have time to register here.
So here's what we've been up to in the gardens this week.
Spring slammed on the brakes early in the week with a flurry of snow and sub-zero temperatures for a few days. It's stopped snowing but it's still plenty chilly out there.
So here's what we've been up to in the gardens this week.
Spring slammed on the brakes early in the week with a flurry of snow and sub-zero temperatures for a few days. It's stopped snowing but it's still plenty chilly out there.
Mahonia aquifolium - Oregon Grape in flower. These are great plants for shady areas and in the understory of a forest garden. They can spread quite fast via layering in some soils but can easily be controlled via pruning with the biomass used for mulch. Our plants seem to stay where they are in our garden.
I managed to photograph four species of pollinators feeding on the flowers within a few minutes. Mahonia aquifolium - Oregon Grape is a great plant for attracting pollinators early in the season and features in our early pollenizer polyculture that you can find out more about here.
Here you can see how we use Mahonia aquifolium - Oregon Grape along with a selection of other plants in our Early Polleniser Polyculture. We're offering all of the plants in this polyculture from our online store that you can find here.
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| Early Polleniser Polyculture |
Wild Hyacinth - Hyacynthus sp. blooming in the gardens. Exquisite volatile organic compounds :)
the bees agree...
A range of fruit and nut trees and shrubs from the nursery potted up for our Spring Plant Sale/Open Day that is unlikely to take place this year. Maybe we'll do a drive-by plant sale.
Phlox subulata - Moss Phlox a sun-loving ground cover with cheerful pink blossom on display in early spring. The plant can spread to form an evergreen cover in hot and dry spots around the garden. Plant out young plants approx 40cm apart and they should form a decent cover in a few years.
Hippophae rhamnoides - Sea Buckthorn is one of the first deciduous plants to leaf out in the spring in our gardens. A hardy shrub/tree native to Europe, provides an abundance of highly nutritious orange berries in the autumn. A member of the Elaeagnaceae family, the plant associates with Frankia bacteria to fix nitrogen from the atmosphere. Hippophae rhamnoides - Sea Buckthorn can withstand strong winds, tolerates drought, thrives in nutritionally poor soil and its thorny branches makes this an ideal plant for a windbreak or hedging.
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!
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.
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| 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!
Pruning the Grapevines
I normally prune the grapevines in mid-Feb so we're running a bit late this year. Last year we had some disease on the vines so this year I pruned out a lot more of the new growth and second-year-old growth to leave fewer buds that should have more resources, less stress and therefore more resistant to attack. We'll see.
Here's a short video that Archie made last year on grape pruning and using the prunings for hardwood cuttings. It's easy peasy. Loads more on Grapevines if you are interested in a previous post The Very Fine Grapevine - The Essential Guide to Everything you Need to Know about Growing Grapes
Here's a short video that Archie made last year on grape pruning and using the prunings for hardwood cuttings. It's easy peasy. Loads more on Grapevines if you are interested in a previous post The Very Fine Grapevine - The Essential Guide to Everything you Need to Know about Growing Grapes
Formicidae - Wood Ants (Formica rufa - I think) busy as usual. We have 4 colonies in the market garden each one approx 1m wide and 50 cm tall. If our current belief system regarding the age of things is correct, these little creatures have been on the scene for at least 92 million years. The dinosaurs went extinct 65 million years ago and us hominids have only been strutting our stuff for 6 million years with the very latest edition Homo sapiens mere noobs at just 100,000 years old. Much to learn from these OG's
Allium ursinum - Wild Garlic growing through Vinca minor - Lesser Periwinkle at the base of Morus alba - White Mulberry
Kale and Rocket (background) microgreens in the sunroom. 100's of little plants growing in 25cm wide 45cm long and 15 cm deep trays.
Zanthoxylum piperitum - Japanese Pepper Tree trunk looking pretty sinister
New Daily Video Series from Dylan and Archie
Dylan and Archie have been posting daily videos on what they are up to in the gardens.
Here's a few from last week
Good luck everyone and wishing you well.
Welcome to our Online Store where you can find Forest Garden/ Permaculture Plants, Seeds, Cuttings, Bulbs, Rhizomes and Polyculture Multi-packs along with digital goods and services such as Online Courses, Webinars, eBooks, and Online Consultancy and finally we've added a Bulk Fruit and Nut Tree order form for Farms, Orchards, Nurseries, and Large Regenerative Landscape Projects. If there is anything in the store you would like to see but is not there, please let us know. We hope you enjoy the store and find something you like :) It's your purchases that keep our Project going. Thank you. Enter Our Store Here
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| Plants, Seeds, eBooks, Consultancy, Bulk Fruit and Nut Tree Orders for Permaculture, Polyculture, Forest Gardens and Regenerative Landscapes. |
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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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Support Our Project
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
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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