This week most of the ESC team went off to a training session in Sofia to meet other volunteers taking part in various projects around Bulgaria, and also to gain a deeper understanding of what their role involves. Meanwhile, back at HQ, Marco stayed to help in the gardens, and we got a lot done with a central focus on watering, or at least, preparing the garden to receive the water. With temps at around 30 degrees C every day and no promise of rain in the coming week, we have now officially started our dry season, during which it's possible to see up to 3 or 4 months with no rainfall. We are fortunate to be able to access water from a local mountain river that brings water into the gardens of many local food growers. You can see an image of the west side irrigation system below with the points in red marking the diversion points.
In order for the gardens to get maximum efficiency from this incredible resource, we have designed all of our garden layouts based on the use of flood irrigation, positioning access and earthworks to distribute water across the site and slowly sink into the soils. We've found using raised beds laid out on contour with sunken pathways between is very effective, with the pathways doubling up as irrigation channels. not only does the water sink into the soils but capillary action also draws water up into the raised beds.
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| The water coming into the home garden |
The channels in Aponia, the forest garden need clearing annually, and Marco has done an amazing job with that this year. From now on we should be able to bring the water in weekly.
Whilst clearing the channels in the late scrub area of the garden, I found this beautiful Leopard Slug - Limax maximus hiding under a plank of wood. I believe it's one of the largest species of slug in the family Limacidae, the keeled slugs.
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Over at Katelepsis, the volunteer house, the annual vegetables are really taking off this week. The crew have been carefully observing and maintaining the plants and for some of them it's their first experience with growing food. The tomato plants are flowering and some first fruits are forming. We've mixed and swapped plants with neighbours and friends, so there should be an interesting diversity of fruit coming from many different cultivars. It's also the first time that we've grown Leeks with any success, so we're really looking forward to them. The cultivar is 'Bulgarian Giant Leek' and they really live up to that name, as we'd never seen a leek as big before arriving here. The first beans are ready for harvesting, and this week should herald the arrival of the first courgette of the season ;) 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
  To read the ESC crew's personal blog see here. |
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!
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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
- 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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