Author Topic: [project] transforming a small ecosystem  (Read 19946 times)

Frank Fremerey

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Re: [project] transforming a small ecosystem
« Reply #15 on: May 28, 2018, 17:29:18 »
Japanese Saws!

Wonderful tools: they cut on the pull-stroke while western saws cut on the push which is far less efficient.
It only seems to have taken the West about three millennia to have discovered the secret.

We had a client who imported fine woodworking tools from both Europe and Japan (and for whom I photographed and produced his catalogues) which is why I have some of these Japanese saws.

great tools can help with the work, yes. A lot so. I wait for the direct sunlight to disappear behin the neighbours house in the west, then my saw will show the big bush home...
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Bruno Schroder

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Re: [project] transforming a small ecosystem
« Reply #16 on: May 28, 2018, 17:36:50 »
Before cutting it, are you sure it could not be part of your next set up?
Bruno Schröder

Frank Fremerey

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Re: [project] transforming a small ecosystem
« Reply #17 on: May 28, 2018, 17:46:51 »
Bruno!!!!

Wow.That is a lot of advice and questions.

My current plan is to eradicate the bush and plant raspberries, medlar and gooseberry there. To work the ground into nutrient rich deeply crumbly soil, I plan to cut down the existing biology, chop down the woody parts and distribute them.

Then throw in potatoes and radish seeds plus a thick bed of hey to help rot the stuff. The idea stems from the P A Yeoman book: "Water for every farm" and the main concept is to keep existing nutrients on site and then use the root system of radishes and others to do the groundwork and suppress the weeds.

Next step would be to eat the potatoes, cut the radish green just before flowering amd let the rest of the radish rot underground to encourage a deep airification and microorganisms that foster soil fertility.

This is a book. I believe the authorn knows what he is talking about. but it is my first practical test

that process of biologicak soil preparation needs one year, in the meantime I want to decide what to plant. Only the fruiting bushes are set for me, I will buy them now and plant them.
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Frank Fremerey

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Re: [project] transforming a small ecosystem
« Reply #18 on: May 28, 2018, 17:52:05 »
Before cutting it, are you sure it could not be part of your next set up?

I will leave half of the bush to the neighbours
You are out there. You and your camera. You can shoot or not shoot as you please. Discover the world, Your world. Show it to us. Or we might never see it.

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Akira

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Re: [project] transforming a small ecosystem
« Reply #19 on: May 28, 2018, 18:28:19 »
Japanese Saws!

Wonderful tools: they cut on the pull-stroke while western saws cut on the push which is far less efficient.
It only seems to have taken the West about three millennia to have discovered the secret.

Japanese planes works the same way.  :)  I was surprised when I had realized for the first time that the western saws and planes works the other way around!   :o
"The eye is blind if the mind is absent." - Confucius

"Limitation is inspiration." - Akira

Bruno Schroder

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Re: [project] transforming a small ecosystem
« Reply #20 on: May 28, 2018, 21:53:31 »
I started in 94 to adapt my garden to increase and support wildlife. First for butterfly, then birds, solitary bees, insects in general and some plants that have been wiped out by herbicides. Then, I naturally started macro …

A very different approach than yours.

Let me know how it works with Aegopodium, I know many people who would be very interested in an efficient way of getting rid of it.
Bruno Schröder

Frank Fremerey

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Re: [project] transforming a small ecosystem
« Reply #21 on: May 29, 2018, 16:37:02 »
I started in 94 to adapt my garden to increase and support wildlife. First for butterfly, then birds, solitary bees, insects in general and some plants that have been wiped out by herbicides. Then, I naturally started macro …

A very different approach than yours.

Let me know how it works with Aegopodium, I know many people who would be very interested in an efficient way of getting rid of it.

no. The idea is to support wildlife. Bumblebees, Bees, Buttelflies, Birds, Neighbour's kids. But first I want to use this method I described for soil fertility and restortation. The old bush does not flower, does not fruit and no birds build their nest in it. Same with the grasses, although some of them are quite decorative.

In some years we see temperatures below -20°C here, a regular winter barely sees -10°C. We have snow about every trird year, most of the time only Rain.

The trails are children trails probably and could be cat trails. There are some cats reducing the singbird population, although there are still a lot of them. I can hear at least five different species sing at this very moment plus the swifts
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Frank Fremerey

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Re: [project] transforming a small ecosystem
« Reply #22 on: May 29, 2018, 16:43:01 »
Question: What would be a good mixture of flowering plants to begin with? I would like a high biodiversity to check for soil characteristics. After one year I should see which of the plants thrive and which suffer. So I'd like some water loving, some drought resistant, some John Doe in that respect.

sure all have to bear some wind from time to time and a fierce bite of direct and reflected sun in the summer +30°C in the shadows yesterday plus light frost every year and hard frost every five or ten years
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Bruno Schroder

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Re: [project] transforming a small ecosystem
« Reply #23 on: May 29, 2018, 19:03:16 »
These plants are typical wet meadows and like moist soil: Valeriana officinalis, Symphytum, Filipendula ulmaria, Lythrum salicaria, Alium ursinum . They are fairly robust and with a little care should survive Aegopodium. It should be fairly easy to collect seeds in nature end of the summer, a bit earlier for Alium ursinum, or look for a plant shop specialized in indigeneous species. You can also try Ficaria verna by spreading some tubers collected in nature, Alliaria petiolata, whose seeds should be mature soon,  but it flowers the second year only.

You can try Dipsacus fullonum and Oenothera biennis for dry land but honestly, looking at your Aegopodium, I would definitely bet on a wet soil.

Check also which birds you do have around. Some feed on seeds, others on insects which should influence your planting.

Do not discard the grasses too fast: they are host plants for the caterpillars of a bunch of butterflies, mostly brown, you will start seeing in early summer
Bruno Schröder

Frank Fremerey

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Re: [project] transforming a small ecosystem
« Reply #24 on: May 29, 2018, 21:01:19 »
Bruno: thank you for the buying & collecting list. I will try my best, online or offline.

The concept I have in mind might be flawed, so please point me to mistakes it contains: I want to keep soil layering and all nutrients local to the site plus give the flowering and fruiting plants a head start with my mulching and raddish effort. In the second year I will see wich of the weeds have survived the treatment and if they behave, I will leave some but cut them down before they set seeds.

PS a few days of quiet, my virus infect got worse, I will check into a hospital for further examination tomorrow morning.
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Frank Fremerey

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Re: [project] transforming a small ecosystem
« Reply #25 on: September 16, 2018, 11:01:54 »
obsolete
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Frank Fremerey

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Re: [project] transforming a small ecosystem
« Reply #26 on: October 03, 2018, 19:02:57 »
Can someone please tell me what I see growing here?

Thank you!
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Fons Baerken

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Re: [project] transforming a small ecosystem
« Reply #27 on: October 03, 2018, 19:35:11 »
rocket, lupinus, serradele, phacelia?

Frank Fremerey

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Re: [project] transforming a small ecosystem
« Reply #28 on: October 03, 2018, 19:47:24 »
phacelia and lupinus I did plant. Rucola, ah, interesting. Sandklee? Auch gut. Danke. I was hoping for the raddish to appear, but I do not see any
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Fons Baerken

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Re: [project] transforming a small ecosystem
« Reply #29 on: October 03, 2018, 19:49:09 »
phacelia and lupinus I did plant. Rucola, ah, interesting. Sandklee? Auch gut. Danke. I was hoping for the raddish to appear, but I do not see any

the first looks like radish?