The main challenge for our plot of land is that it belongs to our summerhouse abroad. We live in Belgium and the summerhouse is situated in Denmark. We will not be able to monitor our work and efforts regularly and will need to rely on a good amount of good luck. This is the hardest past for me: to sow all the seeds and then leave the place for the next two months hoping there will be something left when I return. Birds, slugs, drought, invasive weeds, and even cats are among those challenges that might threaten my project and I need to accept this. I will need a lot of courage and strength... to let go.
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| a lot of patience needed |
1. Instead of one type of fruit tree guild, I created different guilds for each fruit tree.
2. I used several techniques to suppress the grass in different places: either mulching and insert plants or seeds on top, or sowing onto removed sod (top layer of grass with roots), or just removing the moss in between the grass and sowing directly on the freed space.
3. I planted a great variety of species: e.g. three different species of pot marigold instead of one.
4. I experimented with different ways of protection from slugs: grounded coffee, slug trap plants, slug repellent plants, etc.
5. I tried to build in water harvesting techniques, like swales and hugel culture.
I hope to tell you more on each of these in my future posts.
For about 2 ½ weeks, I worked in the garden (with
some help of my family). Most of the layout of the new garden has been established
. Now we need to be very patient and wait to see the garden again in two months
from now. Time to share with you what we did so far and to reflect on possible
improvements and the next steps to take.
All feedback is welcome, through public comments
here on this blog, or by email: ibeesgarden @ gmail.com (the two spaces in this email address should not be used, just
hoping to avoid spam).
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