quinta-feira, abril 30, 2009

Garden April


Lettuce and celery growing, in a raised bed, and a few broccoli behind


Squash growing in a large container, full of compost


The sunniest place of the vegetable garden, with a flower edge


Small stones for going into the garden


Together we have done a perfect work!

Indoors


Tomatoes, basil and cucumbers growing indoors


A southern-oriented window is perfect


Plenty of colorful beans: our next try!

quarta-feira, abril 08, 2009

OUR URBAN GARDEN mid April

Now we have planted diverse mini plants and also seeds.
We have now: rucula, lettuce, chicory radicchio, spinach, beet greens, beet roots, carrots, radish, turnips, kohl-rabi, leeks, celery, root parsley, potatoes, brocculi, peas, chickpeas, fava beans, tomatoes (still inside), peppers (still inside), courgettes, cucumber (still inside), coriander, strawberries, and of course, wild flowers for bees and butterflies, our beautiful wildlife.
Everything is still small and sprouting, since we had snow about two weeks ago.

And species less common such as tiger nuts, salsify, chinese artichokes, jerusalem artichokes, ginger root, black radish, lots of wild garlic (it grows as a weed), strawberry spinach and black potatoes.
Our approach includes no-dig beds (Permaculture inspired), some biodynamic experimenting, and also some seed mixes thrown at the soil to see what happens (Fukuoka and Sepp Hozler inspired). Everything occupies just about 20 square meters of the whole garden.


One part of the garden with no-dig raised beds for vegetables


Wild garlic, a delicious edible wild herb, grows all around the garden


Every day there are more and more spring flowers...


Raised bed containing lettuce and brocculi. We have created this by placing sheets of newspaper, followed by 5cm rotten leaves and then 10 cm compost.


Raised bed with lettuce and celery, companion planting is the best. Wild flowers were also sown in between.


To attract beneficial insects, bees and butterflies, flowers are planted between the vegetables rows. It also creates a beautiful abundance of colour!


Radich sprouting. This was done with no raised bed, just with compost. Of course, the weeds grow again. So we decide now to just plant in raised beds!


Fast-growing courgettes (zuchinni), which will later fall down the container, now full of compost! To avoid slugs we have today put a plastic barrier (made from a cut plastic bottle) and also some hair inside. It works perfectly. Mulching will go around this.


Peas already growing for a month. These were pre-grown in small containers before. Unfortunely, peas that were planted in soil, even after overnight soaking, failed to grown properly due to slugs. We have now decided that it is best to grown all these tender vegetables (like peas, courgettes or brocculi) first in containers.


Cucumbers seedlings growing inside house, in a very warm south-oriented window! They grow fantastically fast!

Yesterday it was also such a romantic moment
There was this piano playing in a nearby house, the apple tree leaving all its flower petals falling with a warm wind blowing while during a few times some thunder was heard.
What a beautiful spring day after one hour of veggies planting!

domingo, abril 05, 2009

Permacultura no jardim: dicas de plantação, vegetais perenes...

Agora que estão belos dias de Primavera aqui, já começamos a ver algumas plantas que entretanto germinaram.
Rúculas, nabos, alfaces, rabanetes e ervilhas.

Plantei também tomates e aqui vão uma dica:
- Semear tomates, pimentos e courgettes (plantas que adoram calor) numa caixa de plástico, de iogurte ou de outra comida, com metade composto, metade terra turfosa. Deixar numa janela ao sol, regando todas as manhãs, e meter uma tampa de plástica transparente por cima. Funciona como uma mini-estufa.
Gera-se tanto calor que as minhas sementes germinaram em dois dias!!!!
  • Semeámos acelgas, coriandro, espinafres, aipo, couve rábano, cenouras, grão, lentilhas, alguns cereais, beterrabas, batatas e chicória radicchio.
  • Semeei também uma série de flores silvestres que atraem borboletas e abelhas (comprei no horto)
E uma série de vegetais perenes ou exóticos, como:
  • "skirret" (Sium sisarium)
  • "jesuralem articrokes" (conhecidos como tupinampos)
  • "chinese articrokes"
  • batata negra (uma raridade que encontrámos aqui no mercado em Viena)
  • gengibre
  • "tiger nuts" (Cyperus esculentus) (deixar de noite em molho)
  • "salsify" (Tragopogon pratensis)
  • rabanetes negros
  • salsa tuberosa
Claro que a plantação foi feita com composto e misturando as espécies, flores e vegetais, para atrair biodiversidade e gerar um equílibro e harmonia natural.



Nota, o jardim tem apenas cerca de 1-3 horas de luz por dia, mas isso não é qualquer impedimento para crescer os vegetais. Na verdade, o sol ao bater nos prédios aquece muito o local, gerando um micro-clima de calor, semi-sombra e humidade, sem vento, que é ideal para crescer a horta. Usei até agora apenas uma pequena parte do jardim, cerca de 20 metros quadrados, mas parece mais que suficiente para crescer o que mencionei acima.


Apenas me lamentei não ter plantado ainda o sistema "no digging", que envolve usar sob o relvado uma camada de jornais seguida de um mulching de folhas ou palha, e seguida de uma terceira camada de composto. Mas irei experimentar hoje!

Por último, verifiquei de novo, que semear os vegetais após a lua nova é muito mais eficiente, do que após a lua cheia. A germinação é muito mais rápida.

sexta-feira, abril 03, 2009

BERRIES, BAGAS, BERREN

Blueberry, Mirtilos, Heidelbeeren, Vaccinium cyanococcus
Cranberry, Gesundheitsbeere, Vaccinium oxycoccos *

Raspberry, Framboesas, Himbeeren, Rubus idaeus *
Blackberry, Amoras, Brombeeren, Rubus fruticosus *

Blackcurrant, Groselha preta, Johannisbeeren, Ribes nigrum *
Redcurrant, Groselha vermelha, Ribisel, Ribes rubrum
Whitecurrant, Groselha branca, Ribes glandulosum
Gooseberry, Uva-Crispa (ou Uva do Diabo), Stachelbeeren, Ribes uva-crispa or grossularia* (black or white colour)
Jostaberry, Jostabeere, Ribes × nidigrolaria

Zante currant, Uva muscatel, Vitis vinifera

Elderberry (Elder), Sabugueiro, Sambucus nigra (also in red, red elderberries, but seeds in fruit are poisonous; the black elder is perfectly edible)

Huckleberry, Vaccinium sp., Gaylussacia sp. (North America berries)
(do not confuse with Garden Huckleberry, Solanum melanocerasum: poisonous)

Strawberries, Morangos, Fragaria sp.

English Hawthorn, Pilriteiro ou Carrepeteiro ou Espinheiro-alvar, Crataegus laevigata or Craetagus monogyna

Vitis sp.

Strawberry tree, Medronheiro, Arbutus unedo (edible)

True Myrtle, Murta-comum, Myrtus communis (edible)
Crowberry, Empetrum nigrum
Rockberry,
Empetrum eamesii
Portuguese Crowberry, Camarinhas (existe muito nos pinhais junto a Figueira da foz ; native from Portugal and it is edible), Corema album

THERE ARE TRUE AND FALSE BERRIES (accordingly to Botanics) see wiki