BTE, hugelkulture, hydroponics and other unconventional gardening

[Lazy Gardener]

Hi all. I found my way back to this forum. I'm gardening in the snow country of central Maine. 4+ acres, flock of chickens. 3 year old mini orchard. Embrace no till gardening. Working with deep permanent mulch or BTE in garden and orchard, sheet composting, small hugelkulture mound which produces 20# buttercup! DLM in chicken run and modified DLM in chicken coop. Birds eat fermented feed.

Are there any members from Maine?

Any of you folks playing with hydroponics? This is my latest venture, and I am just getting started with Kratky method. I'd love some input from any one else working with hydro or aquaponics.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

It's a yucky, snowy day, so doing a bit of net surfing. Found this awesome idea: hybrid hay bale/HK/raised bed/lasagna design. Perfect for the person with poor soil or drainage, or who does not want to bend over.

https://www.permaculture.co.uk/articles/many-benefits-hugelkultur

Straw bale gardens require less soil, less water and hold heat. As the straw breaks down nutrients feed the plants. Combining a straw surround with a hugel interior, topped by lasagne layering is an excellent idea for an area with poor quality soil.

Then, there is this one. It holds the pile into a nearly vertical column. I don't know how this would look 5 years down the road, but it's worthy of consideration:

Hugel bed in Ontario, Canada (June 28) by Tim Burrows. Tim surrounded his very tall hugel bed in pallets!

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And yet more ideas on this site. Proof that HK can work in almost any setting, even a urban back yard in a HOA.

https://insteading.com/blog/hugelkultur/

10) Branch-Lined Hugelkultur

Small scale hugelkultur bed. As raised beds tend to be a bit drier than traditional beds, a hugelkultur bed is a good solution for a raised bed in a dry climate. This photo was found in an article about evaluating your soil on homesteadingdownsized.com.

 

[Chic Rustler]

Ive done pretty good with bte. We started an orchad last spring. Its doing awesome!

 

[Britesea]

Neem oil works on insects (and nematodes) by interfering with their hormone system- reducing their ability to feed, grow, and lay eggs. If you buy Neem Oil before you're going to use it, be sure to store it in a cool place. Apparently heat will neutralize its insecticidal properties.

 

[Beekissed]

Which brings me to yet an other thought regarding reliance on grocery store food products: If all these chemicals are on/in our food, and root crops are often used to clear toxins from the soil (thus the toxins end up in those lovely bags of carrots and spuds)... I'm aware that a lot of folks claim that they can't eat any veggies from the nightshade family. Then, there's the whole gluten issue. I'm wondering if rather than being intolerant of the particular vegetable family or gluten, perhaps our bodies are simply not tolerant of the chemical soup that we've been fed for the last 2 - 3 generations.

I agree with that 100%. We haven't developed intolerance to veggies, wheat and dairy, but an intolerance to the chemicals therein. Makes you wonder about the large sector of the populace that HAVEN'T developed an intolerance....is it because they have been eating store sourced foods for so long their bodies have built up a tolerance?

 

[Lazy Gardener]

I'm pushing the envelope a bit more this year: If they say "It can't be done." ... It's my intent to see if that's really the case.

They say, "Sawdust will rob your soil of nitrogen." I've heard such dire predictions that say that sawdust will render your soil unusable for at least a year. And, "they say" that sawdust should NEVER be mixed into the soil. I stumbled upon some spent sawdust bedding that was lightly sprinkled with horse nuggets and goat berries. I brought home several barrels full and laid it in a section of the garden about 8 weeks ago. Yet an other no-no! Not supposed to use raw manure in the garden. Though horse and goat manure are not considered to be hot, "they say" that there is risk of introducing pathogens into your garden.

This section was the last area to be renovated and planted. While that sawdust was doing it's supposed nitrogen robbing, the mint and garlic left from last year was going absolutely crazy in that area. It took a whole day to grub those roots out of that area. I might add that all the top growth was vibrant green... no signs of nitrogen depletion! The worms were also going crazy in that section. I might say... there was more worm activity here than in all other areas of the garden. IMO, a sign of good things happening with the soil life.

So... after grubbing the roots out, and digging out a huge crop of rocks, there was a fair amount of blending of soil and sawdust. Yet an other "Must never do" b/c it will ruin your soil.

First, I planted 6 more tomato seedlings (purchased plants) in the usual fashion: pull back the sawdust mulch, and plant the tomatoes in the loosened soil.

Today, I planted some potatoes: These plants were the result of my "What on earth were you thinking? That's not how you are supposed to grow potatoes!" experiment. (I had some nice spuds from the grocer. Set one on the windowsill this winter, and waited FOR EVER for it to sprout. No doubt it had been hit with an anti sprouting herbicide. Eventually, it did sprout. As each eye put out tiny little points that would become leaves and roots, I gouged them out with only enough flesh to prevent injury to the sprout tissue. They were potted, and grew into 6" single stem plants. That one potato produced 10 nice sprouts.

Half of them were planted in the usual fashion: loosen up the soil, plant the potatoes, then pull the mulch up around them (in this case, established potato sprouts) Interestingly enough, there were tiny little tubers in each of the 2" pots. Each tuber was about the size of my thumb nail.

There was room for one more row of plants. This area was already compromised with a fair amount of mixing of soil and sawdust from my battle with the mint and rocks. So... I decided to challenge the "they say" crowd a bit more. I loosened the soil a bit with the broad fork, and pulled the sawdust/soil into a nice loose mound, about 16" wide x 14' long. More sawdust than soil. Into this bed, I tucked 5 sweet potato plants, and the 5 remaining potato seedlings.

It is my intent to water as needed and fertilize this area if the plants appear to need it. I used some 5-10-5 initially. I will also add some epsom salt.

 

[Hinotori]

I don't trust the "must not do". Some plants like hot fertilizer just fine. I use lots of fresh chicken litter where I plant squash. It makes monster plants with lots of squash. Even works in containers. Mom was skeptical but tried it the next year and had extremely good results as well.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

In the BTE orchard: The potatoes are just now coming up. Strawberries are ripening. No signs of the corky virus that plagued them when they were growing in the garden.

Sweet potatoes planted in the fine wood chip/horse manure long hill are looking good. No signs of N depletion. About 50% of the tiny little asparagus roots that I planted have sprouted. Note to self: Next time I buy asparagus crowns, spend the extra bucks and buy the nice big beefy crowns from the feed store. False economy to buy the tiny little packages, even though variety choices are greater. Strawberries planted in the asparagus beds are growing well, and starting to send out runners.

Pole beans are starting to climb. Tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplant are blooming. First tiny little tomato set.

Hubby and I are finishing the HK mound. Much thanks to a friend who loaned his Kubota to us for a couple weeks. I'm hoping that the mound will be finished this weekend, so I can tuck the remaining squash plants in.

 

[milkmansdaughter]

I don't trust the "must not do". Some plants like hot fertilizer just fine. I use lots of fresh chicken litter where I plant squash. It makes monster plants with lots of squash. Even works in containers. Mom was skeptical but tried it the next year and had extremely good results as well.

That's probably the explanation of why my zucchini is doing so well this year. I made a 4x6' bed and dumped a wheelbarrow load of coop litter in it and one of garden dirt. The zucchini has been growing like crazy.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

What to give a 94 y.o. man for his birthday? My dad has been my mentor for 64 years now. He does not need any more shirts, socks, ties... or other "things". So, tonight, I dug some deep black soil from an area where hubby has moved a massive slash pile, added some potting soil to it. Then potted up a cucumber and tomato in a 5 G spackle bucket. Tomato cage was secured by 2 fiberglass posts that were zip tied to bucket. I filled a deep window box and planted a mixture of chard, mesclun, dill, basil, radish.