We started the week continuing on our mission to get the biomass cut in Aponia before the dry season begins and the grasses start to compete with the cultivated plants and trees for water. In the below photo you can see Fanny, standing by the Biomass Belt which is a support polyculture designed to be cut and applied to neighboring Comfrey beds, that in turn provide fertility to nearby large cultivated beds. From 2015 - 2019 inclusive these beds housed annual vegetables grown as part of our Market Garden Study. Nowadays they are largely empty, although some of our nursery stock currently resides there. In the future, these beds will become an extension of the forest garden.
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| Fanny standing by the Biomass belt. The predominant species is Miscanthus x giganteus |
Markus was scything an area near to the Biomass Belt when he discovered a bee's nest, probably a ground-nesting bee, combined with an ant's nest on the ground. Thankfully the bees didn't seem too upset by the disturbance and we left the area alone, scything around it. It's great to see beneficial organisms like this in the garden and shows the value in leaving large areas of a landscape untouched. Afterward I realized it would have been better to have left the area alone completely, but as we need to bring the water into the garden soon, we wanted to clearly identify and clear the water channels in the garden. The grasses were almost as tall as some of our volunteers in places!
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| A Bee and Ant nest combined |
A large limb snapped out of our 8 year old Paulownia tree this week, due to the high winds experienced during a thunderstorm. The branches from the fallen limb were used in a stick pile in the garden, providing a different habitat type for beneficial organisms to visit and possibly breed in. Having a variety of habitat types in the garden encourages a wide range of creatures to take up residence.
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| The Paulownia tree with a limb snapped out |
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| Our beloved 3 -legged cat Scutch on a log pile in the home garden |
In woodlands, dead and decaying wood is a natural occurrence and provides essential
habitat for lots of wildlife within this ecosystem. Log piles mimic fallen trees and provide shelter for
hibernating small mammals and insects, worms and grubs. You will also see a succession of interesting
fungi emerge over the years and within four or five years (depending on the wood and the size of the log)
you will have a pile of rich soil. Toads are particularly fond of log piles as they retain moisture and often
attract slugs that toads dine upon. Piles of deadwood, logs, leaf litter, and dead vegetation are also very
popular with hibernating and breeding insects, beetles, woodlice and ladybirds in particular.
You can find out all about the course here and use the registration form to sign up for the whole course or individual weeks or modules.
Shaking the Mulberries off the tree and watching them rain down into the net is always a pleasure. This year the White Mulberry - Morus alba fruit was particularly sweet and abundant. One of our ESC volunteers Rushar is trying out making fruit leathers with them. You can find out more about how the ESC project is going on the volunteers' personal blog. and more on this incredible tree in our Essential Guide to Growing Mulberry
The Dewberry - Rubus caesius is forming a very dense mat underneath the cherry tree. Dewberry is a low growing shrub native to Europe and found in the under-story of woodland. The plant, once established, spreads readily via rhizomes making it an ideal ground cover choice as can be seen in the below photo.
Welcome to our Online Store where you can find Forest Garden/ Permaculture plants, seeds, bulbs and Polyculture multi-packs along with digital goods and services such as Online Courses, Webinars, eBooks, and Online Consultancy. We hope you enjoy the store and find something you like :) It's your purchases that keep our Project going. Yuu can also find our full list of trees. shrubs and herbs for forest gardens on our website here
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Another little shady spot in the garden with Ivy and Ajuga reptans growing in the ground and herb layers. Little nooks and crannies like this in the garden fill me with joy :)
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!---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------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
You can also register for our online training, services, and products directly here. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- .
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