This group is a place to share matters relating to geography, climate, ecology, exploration and anything to do with the love of planet Earth. This can include eco action, travel, appreciation of nature and all similar matters.
Some ideas on using less packaging materials such as plastic, bric, etc.
Vegans, in stead of using pre-fabricated burgers, you yourself can make your own burgers : I make hemphu-burgers : I buy a few kilos of hemp seeds, cook the seeds, squeeze out the water with a nettle cloth and make burgers which I keep in the freezer for consumption. We buy rice and millet in a big bag of 5 kilo in stead of buying different kind of grains in little bags. Another idea is to make your cereal milk yourself : cook grains like rice in much water, mixing it, add rice syrup and more…
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Happy time to harvest!!! Here camomille, follows : tarragon, basil, chervil, parsley, mint, lemon balm, lemon verbena, red currant, raspberry, cassis, linden blossom, elderflower .... Nature is overwhelming with all his fruits of all kinds ..... Namo Amida Bu, indeed much happy returns!!!
The first years after beginning to cultivate our garden, we did indeed have much slugs. But als there comes more and more green and good soil, this year nearby no slugs anymore. I think it is because of the birds which are now very many and eat the slugs. Maybe other animals too multiplied and so nature makes herself a new balance and now we have the 'problem' of the blackbirds that make our mulch into their playground and we have to protect the garden with nets, which works very good for the vegetable-garden. Another problem is the increase of mouse under the ground.... they reallly like the mulch and make tunnels under it. But our vegetables grwo miraculous good and we only have to give once a week a good portion of water and all grows as caulyflower we say here in Dutch.
We also planted courgette and pumpkin on our compost pile and both are doing well, wating for the first fruits.....
We did already harvest the first raspberries, they are overflowing in quantity this year and it seems that we are going to have also much blueberries, pears and apples. Have to check the black berries (cassis).
Today rain!!!! All are happy!!!!
Namo Amida Bu
Yes, there is some truth in the slug problem. It depends what you want to grow. Slugs are not much of a problem for tomato plants, pumpkins or courgettes which are the main things I grow on my mounds.
Water shortage will clearly become a bigger issue under climate change. I was taught the gospel of mulch when I studied permaculture, but in my newly established garden (previously paved, now new, bagged topsoil in raised beds) I suspect that mulch would allow slugs to shelter, whereas the bare, dry earth has discouraged them from invading.
Yes, I do a lot of mulching here. When I clear blackthorn, the smaller branches get shredded to make mulch and the thinker ones go for firewood. I have made several Hügelkultur mound beds which also work well. There can be long periods of drought here in central France and the Hügelkultur system helps to combat it by giving the plants a kind of underground reservoir. The buried wood becomes a kind of sponge. With buried wood beneath and mulch on top the soil canstay moist when otherwise it would dry out totally.
Today's work in the garden included mulching the vegetable garden. As the sun shines harder and harder and there is such a great lack of water and also a lot of wind drying out the soil, it is important to cover the land to keep the water in the ground. If not, the little bit of rain that falls shall vanish very quick.
We do this by using all kinds of natural materials we get from the whole neighbourhood: thin layers of grass when the neighbours have ridden off their pelouse, chopped branches with leaves, pruned wood.
An additional advantage is that we hardly need to weed where there is good mulching.
Once the vegetables are big enough, we lay thick layers in between.
We can see how their suffering comes to an end when their roots are covered.
Very nice to see !
We're also saving water because we don't have to spray so much more.
Namo Amida Bu
Great idea to start this group, thank you. Not much that's more important to me (accept faith, maybe).