Now that I have my polytunnel installed I had to get it ready for planting.
I don't follow one single methodology I like to mix and match and take what I like from several gardening gurus and maybe add my own twist.
I started with the organic standard and got myself qualified but I was unhappy with some of their methods and found it not strict enough for my standards plus it was very tied to animal manures and monocropping.
I also looked at veganic methods which reject all use of animal products for ethical reasons but also organic practises don't seem to take into account how the manure was acquired and what was fed to those animals so for me, again, not strict enough.
Then there is Charles Dowding and his no-dig methods which means less digging (yeh hate digging) but he ships in his soil which I can't afford and don't trust. I want to build my own soil which I've been learning from the 'Bio-cyclic' method from Greece. I have a few piles of composting material which I started 2 years ago which should be ready to start adding when I plant.
But then there's also Fukuoka a Japanese grower who throws random seed bombs and lets them grow where they like which gave me a lot of food for thought too. I love his philosophy of letting the plants decide where they're happiest.
So how do I incorporate all this knowledge into my own polytunnel. It's going to be an adventure, like my own discovery channel in a plastic domed mini world of my own creating.
As I didn't want to buy in topsoil or compost and my land is so rocky (I've been told by the sniggering 'farmers' surrounding me with their sheep and cows) - "Ya can't grow stuff on this laand, it's all rubble". Well watch me.
The mound of hopefully composted down cuttings and what not turned out to be another pile of dry-stone walling rubble but I knew there would be soil in there too so I set about digging it out. So much for the no-dig method. This is like chain-gang work and some of them rocks are big enough to do some damage but I'm rolling them into some sort of pile.
I'd love to repurpose them and build a stone raised bed but I can barely move them so will see when I get to the bottom of the pile.
Turns out it was a kind of mini rubbish dump too, some of the stuff I found in there, I'm half expecting to unearth some old burial ground like the Tuam babies or missing children from what I hear about local 'goings-on' but no let's not go there.......
I have managed to get enough soilage out of that hillock now to build up me raised beds. With what the diggerman put in there it's got to be almost a foot of soil now. I used cardboard boxes from the local shops to mark out the paths with tiles from my kitchen floor job on top. I have loads of those tiles left so will probably lay them out end to end, make it look nicer. Glad I bought a new wheelbarrow.
Of course I put my baby seedlings in there as soon as it was up, this was part of the plan as two years running the 'Wild Atlantic Way' spring hurricane season has blown my plastic 'greenhouse' away across the field with my precious seedling in it. This will be the third attempt at growing and I did not want my babies being blown away again.
They are very happy in here.
next job will be to work out where everything is going to get maximum light coverage. I don't reckon on getting it right first time as always but hopefully my organic horticulture course will have been worth it in helping me make the best of it.
@ajerkoff even ur little naughty seed is happy here. It just popped up today -
This year I'm going to really do it, oh yes I am. I'm becoming a farmer.
Great! 2 years to compost? I know, here is hot and humid - when I tried it, it had rotted down in 2 or 3 months. The local morons still slash and burn every year.
Funnily, here these tunnels are used to keep plants COOL. lmao. Obviously needs some aircon, but here is to grow temperate veggies that wither in this heat.
I'm not sure what your "strict organic" means - I'm guessing the chain of toxicity going back to primary source. As you've seen, organics is also a business, and they can lie too. Not a surprise that the rich eat organic and let the plebs rot with pseudo-food-stuffs.
Yeh I started the compost heaps 2 years ago but I have been harvesting from the bottom of the heap and piling new stuff on top. I also built a Hügel bed last year which is just a glorified pile of cuttings and weedings plus which magically turns into a bed this spring. I like recycling.
Yes 'strict organic' means thinking about the chain. Like your manure that came from a dairy farm from cows fed on gmo'd feed and medicated to the hilt I would not want within 100yrds downwind of my place. You are what you eat and all that.
Yeh re the temp, even when overcast it is pleasantly warm in there, a bit humid but it has vents. I've no idea how hot it will get in there mid summer, it's a learning curve.
Take a look at the price of stones, you are onto a small fortune, no kidding.
Someone told me that 5 years ago but I couldn't hardly give away the last lot. Eventually got someone to take it and pay me 200 but yeh I was probs stitched up but I just wanted rid by then. I had them on donedeal for 2 years.
Stones cost money here, says more about how shite money is than stones.
Yeh here too but hard to sell as big equipment needed to collect em. 2 quarry businesses right near me too.
P.S. nice grow patch and the (seed) will have a bit of a smell as it matures, just saying, beware enemies or nosy neighbors.
what neighbours? hahaha I'm gonna plant it where no-one can see it when it's big enough to go out and play.
I have none now, they all got jabbed and are dead now.
When it is hot, hydrate it, when the water rises, save time and shake it to get droplets to drop. Not saying anything else, you will get there, the knowledge is in all of us.
LOL I've already learned about that, had a downpour on my head when I knocked the top with me rake. Warm rain, lovely.
Superb, remember.
Holy cow you are not messing around are you? Watching with interest.
Cool, will keep you posted. Hopefully pics will get more interesting and colourful over the season eh.
Looks like it's all coming together nicely.
Your greenhouse has turned out very well, it's good that you have all the tools to do it, at the end of all that is what humanity will need, to have its own crops to be able to live.
I'm seriously lacking in tools to be honest. I bought the wheelbarrow for this job (and future jobs) and the spade is borrowed. The fork is mine.
over time you will have all your tools to work comfortably
yeh am building bit by bit, slowly but surely.
Wow! This is excellent stuff. We are a farming family and are shifting to traditional and organic farming in near future!
That's fantastic news. If you need any tips.......
Awesome - great to see it coming together for you. We're currently in the process of planting out. Can't wait - nothing better than sitting down to a homegrown dinner. :)
Oh yes you are!!! It looks fabulous.
Bless you, was worried about posting pictures of piles of mud but you saw the beauty in it. LOL
Oh my goodness no it looks really good, I am jealous. I'm working on getting my tiny back yard producing at least some food. It's a mess at the moment. No way I'll have enough soil on this postage stamp to fill up even one flower pot, let alone my three raised beds, so I'm trying to get some cow manure to augment that is supposed to be good, and is used regularly by a farmer I trust. Good for you persisting on finding what you need on your own property. My back hurts just thinking about it though.
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