Over the past two months, I’ve been busy with a hundred different activities, including, of course, fieldwork. But I didn’t want to post here every week; progress (read: plant growth) is more visible over a month or two. Today I took the time (it’s raining outside) to write a summary of the past two months.
In my previous post, I mainly finished up with preparing the field; I first had to mow everything and loosen the soil with a rotary tiller, but now almost everything is planted and growing nicely.
As you can see in the picture, the field was almost empty :)
Everything that’s green is left over from last year.
My wife and I try something new every time, and this year is no exception. For half the field—well, a little less—we bought black, water-permeable mulch foil that prevents weeds from growing. It was quite an expensive investment; the total came to about €100 here. I checked out Temu, a Chinese online store, later on—it was more than half the price, and it even comes with pre-cut holes for planting :(
But what can you do - now it takes months for the order to arrive!
If I start a year back, last year we were working on permaculture; we partially set up the field - actually, we arranged two sections, each 2x4m, according to permaculture principles. I made an improvised frame from the stems of the bushes growing around there, then we added layers of fresh grass, organic waste, dry branches, and straw. Well, something did grow, but not as much as we expected.
On the other hand, since there was organic waste there, all sorts of small animals gathered—moles, frogs, snails, and who knows what else; in the end, I even saw snakes this year that eat that stuff. The worst, though, are the voles that eat the roots, causing the plants to wither, and now our field is full of their burrows. Now I have to deal with them too :(
At the end of April, we planted potatoes - I described this in my first post. I fertilized and loosened the soil well, and then, after a week of rain and once it had dried out, we laid foil on the ground.
And then planting took a little longer because you had to cut a hole in the foil for each plant. But later, once the plants are growing, they need less watering and less weeding.
In the sunniest spot, where the sun shines all day, practically until it sets, we planted two watermelons for the first time. Some people have even had success with them here. They aren’t as sweet as the ones that grow further south in the Mediterranean... well, we’ll see.
For the peas, I set up stakes and a net.
The beans have also sprouted; I hope the snails don’t eat them all since they’re not under foil. The potatoes, onions, and Swiss chard are doing fine, for now.
And finally, the first harvest we didn’t even expect. Strawberries, from a part of the field we didn’t cultivate this year. The plants survived the winter and bore a bountiful crop—for the first time in five years!
We ate half of them right away; the rest is for a jar of jam :)
That’s all for now. I’ll just go water the plants (though it’s not necessary right now, since it’s been raining for two days).
Thanks for reading!
I’ll check in when there’s something new.
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