Calli's Conundrums

[calliandra]

The cycle of living matter
Last week, seeing how the leaves were getting thinner and thinner, and that the garden guys for once had decided to let the grass grow longer-- ok the weather was impossible for tractor mowing -- but perfect for the scythe!

So I mowed myself some mulch and started a dandelion snowfest, but it's all organic material and was nicely mixed with the remaining leaves, and covered with some chicken wire I had lying around, to keep the mulch in place for now.

Later, I do need to let the blackbirds etc back in, as they are higher predators and part of the Soil food web, and that's what I want there, as complete as possible

Two rows of broad beans got planted, and in preparation for the single row of potatoes I have space for, I soilified some kitchen scraps mixed with seeds I culled from my collection as no longer viable and coffee grounds.

The protoplasma juice got watered into the broadbean furrows.

The soilified furrow got covered back up after I mixed the scraps with soil - with my hands, I have become very hesitant to use tools on account of the earthworms in there, and also, they are pretty cool tools, the ones we have right built into our bodies

Before I originally put the mulch on there, I took samples - of the soilified part as well as the part that didn't get treated (=the lighter strip of soil along two edges, first pic after the winter views: https://www.rollitup.org/t/callis-conundrums.936771/page-6#post-13481472)
Again, these got sat in a less lighted part of the counter I have my basil on for 6 days, and still!

I saw 4 nematodes in the sample.

Not sure I've ever had that many?
But then again, in the beginning I wasn't scanning the slide systematically.
Comparatively (vs. other samples from around this same garden, if not bed), more in terms of aggregates forming here, some nice fungal strands too, though there were also many views without any.

I also noticed the bacteria were more active here than in the alfalfa sample.

The side part sample had 1 nematode in it, was less fungal and less aggregated.
But still offering a view like this (in this case more the exception than the general state of the sample )


So I'm really excited to see how things will progress with continued feedings!

 

[dannyboy602]

The cycle of living matter
Last week, seeing how the leaves were getting thinner and thinner, and that the garden guys for once had decided to let the grass grow longer-- ok the weather was impossible for tractor mowing -- but perfect for the scythe!

So I mowed myself some mulch and started a dandelion snowfest, but it's all organic material and was nicely mixed with the remaining leaves, and covered with some chicken wire I had lying around, to keep the mulch in place for now.
View attachment 3935091
Later, I do need to let the blackbirds etc back in, as they are higher predators and part of the Soil food web, and that's what I want there, as complete as possible

Two rows of broad beans got planted, and in preparation for the single row of potatoes I have space for, I soilified some kitchen scraps mixed with seeds I culled from my collection as no longer viable and coffee grounds.
View attachment 3935092
The protoplasma juice got watered into the broadbean furrows.
View attachment 3935093
The soilified furrow got covered back up after I mixed the scraps with soil - with my hands, I have become very hesitant to use tools on account of the earthworms in there, and also, they are pretty cool tools, the ones we have right built into our bodies

Before I originally put the mulch on there, I took samples - of the soilified part as well as the part that didn't get treated (=the lighter strip of soil along two edges, first pic after the winter views: https://www.rollitup.org/t/callis-conundrums.936771/page-6#post-13481472)
Again, these got sat in a less lighted part of the counter I have my basil on for 6 days, and still!

I saw 4 nematodes in the sample.
View attachment 3935101
Not sure I've ever had that many?
But then again, in the beginning I wasn't scanning the slide systematically.
Comparatively (vs. other samples from around this same garden, if not bed), more in terms of aggregates forming here, some nice fungal strands too, though there were also many views without any.
View attachment 3935099
I also noticed the bacteria were more active here than in the alfalfa sample.

The side part sample had 1 nematode in it, was less fungal and less aggregated.
But still offering a view like this (in this case more the exception than the general state of the sample )
View attachment 3935108

So I'm really excited to see how things will progress with continued feedings!

Is that a pinworm I see in there?

 

[calliandra]

Is that a pinworm I see in there?

I had to check wikipedia, as I thought pinworm was a user name lol, but, nope
Pinworms, though also nematodes, are so much larger, almost visible to the eye.

These pix were taken at 200x and based on their morphology they're most likely bacterial feeders - ok on one I wasn't 100% sure, could've also been a fungal feeder. Sometimes hard to determine when there are microbes/aggregates covering, especially the front end. The shape and form of the mouth and upper digestive tracts are indicative, as well as the way they move (when they're feeding, which isn't always)

Here's a schematic (very general, from my observations I get the impression that there are many many variants)

Cheers!

 

[calliandra]

I may not be able to bring any of these conundrums to a conclusion.

Per a letter I got 2 weeks ago, I should have cleared the garden on May 1st.
After I had gotten the verbal permission to continue gardening there indefinitely (that is, until the buildings there get torn down, but there are a few people with indefinite contracts not moving out) just last November.

Per meeting with the guy from the housing company this past Friday, I am to clear the garden immediately - as soon as I return the keys to my former apartment.
So I refused to return the keys, and said, OK if you can't be reasonable, you'll have to take me to court on it, I'm destitute so you will have the hassle AND the costs, while I at least get the time to remove the perennials at a time when a NORMAL person would.
Or I'll make a scandal and take it to the political level, and force this actually State-ownedcompany to adopt a more forward-thinking attitude towards the ecologically sane use of their fallow lands...
He smiled and said, "we'll sit that out".
Oh and they would.
There's a monument put up about 10 years ago by the mayor back then, stating "these houses will never get torn down!" and planted an oak next to it.
It was onthe property of the houses that got torn down FIRST. They took the monument incl. oak and planted it into the inner yard of the block of houses that is also going to get torn down, but last. Disgustingly ironic.
I think Welfare State (which is no more no less than "we watch out for each other") is a great idea.
It gets ruined by corruption, $$ interest groups, and sheer stupidity.

Anyway, after some more back and forth, he's going to look into "finding some solution".
It won't be what I want, but I can still go for the gain in time via the legal action they're trying to scare me with.
No way am I transplanting bushes carrying fruit and all that NOW.
You'd think it's a total emergency, but there is NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO rush!!!
No one is goingto die or freeze for not having a roof over their heads (and if they do, it's the company's fault, after all, they have like 100 flats standing empty hereabouts rights now)

In fact, the very earliest they can get building on that plot is 2020 - their own official position just recently
Totally unnecessary action someone conjured up on the management floor, just because.

Whilst everyone else, the people living there, the people gardening, the people who include our garden in their route to get to work because it's so beautiful and soothes their souls....................

Gosh it makes me so angry to think about it!!

 

[calliandra]

So to live, as if the world could still be saved.
Making hay on a cloudy day
I scythed a spiral into the lawn.


Note my little companion, she always hangs around when I start working in the garden



Tread softly on this Earth
leaving joy, beauty and love in your wake.

 

[calliandra]

I said a gaggle, and then got distracted lol
so to continue the updates

This is where good part of the clover grass went
I've begun mixing the brownsy leftovers of the leaf mulch with the greensy fresh stuff, with a nod to C:N ratios, and am liking how it handles


The tomatoes will be going outside ASAP, they've quite outgrown the minicups they were started in and are starting to pull nutes out of the lower leaves Their space is ready, now for some nicer temps!

The alfalfa bed got some greens added too, just a light layer though to keep the soil covered, as there were a few bare spots. All snuggly again now

update @
compost tea vs. blackspot and rust

Well, with regards to the cherry tree, I lose
Though still beautiful

After the heavy snows and frosts (there were 2 rounds of them) ruined all her cherries, she started showing a few black spots a few days ago

With every wet and cool day, these spots have appeared in places all over the canopy.
I may make another compost tea to deter it, not sure I'll get round to it though.

The roses otoh are doing OK, minus a bit of frost damage, which nipped the first buds
And those light leaves the white roses have in the springtime, again and over.
Oh it was a bit windy that day.


The roses that were mycorrhized (and radically cut back) are doing well, as is the whole bed.
I'm impressed how mixing the halfdry grass clippings into the top 15cm or so of soil last year really kickstarted things here.
What I didn't think of when I planted that bed was that it's going to be hazardous to go near it for a few weeks - as soon as that carnation border starts to bloom - it'll be enough to make your nose fly off, these are a pink kind that have a very strong sweet smell haha


I loved finding this rose, surreptitiously starting to bloom (the first!), then visibly stopping and waiting for warmer weather

Those closed buds in the bottom of the picture are another favorite of mine, apparently called star of bethlehem in English, it's just a mere mortal "milk star" in German
And they open when the sun shines...

 

[calliandra]

So the garden guys finally came to mow the lawn


But I didn't start the thermal compost, as I'll be away over the weekend - and I already did that last fall, set up a compost pile then leave town for a few days - not something I need a repeat of

Instead, yesterday was pretty much day of the tomatoes.
Some got planted into the garden
And I will definitely be brewing an ACT when I get back from my weekend trip - almost forgot that's part of conundrum #1 - compost teas vs. rusts and similar plaguish usurpers
Though these tomatoes really have it good, that mulch, made with so much love, and a handful of fungal compost per planting hole, also, they got mycorrhized.
Oh and they're a San Marzano, an orange salad tomato and a beef tomato


Other tomatoes got planted into pots, after mixing another quick soil
(28:28:28L compost, potting soil, perlite + 3 cups kelp + 1 cup eggshells + 3 handsful freshly dried clover hay (in lieu of alfalfa meal)


And I got a pic of a wild bee collecting nectar in a star of bethlehem
So tiny! Smaller than an ant
And what a pollenfest there haha
I'm in the middle of making some wildbee housing
Hope I can hang mine up today!


Cheers!

 

[calliandra]

update @ Conundrum #4
Composting leaves

So the garden guys finally came yesterday and mowed the lawn. My bad, as I'll be out of town the next few days...
Been there, done that
That's how my pile collapsed last autumn!
I left town for 3 days and came back to a pile that was too hot and had gone way too dry too. Turning and re-wetting couldn't pull it round, as it didn't have much nitrogen imput to begin with, and especially as it got really cold right after, so the temps couldn't build back up
So to avoid a repeat of that, I've decided to wait till the next mowing to get started.

Instead, I set about clearing the pile I had laying open on a bed that is going to be for lentils and rye (taking microfarming to a new level on a bit over 1m² haha).
The pile was dry on top, but underneath, it was all yummy moisture and I saw another supersized McWorm in the leaves.
So I loosened the soil, mixed a good amount of those soggy leaves into the soil to fluff it up, added ~10L of compost on top, and covered it all with a nice layer of fresh mown grass.
I'm going to let thatz settle for a few days before sowing the lentils, the rye is getting sprouted indoors and will be planted out on June 21 - it's the traditional date hereabouts to plant winter rye.
Oh. I just realized that may not go as intended, as the winter rye gets harvested only next year, according to the method I was going to try out
Ah fuck it, I think I'll risk it anyway, just for the experience.

This is the way I love my soil


Cheers!

 

[DonBrennon]

WOW, great thread Calli, it's taken quite some reading to catch up, lol.

..........but, sorry to hear of your shit storms. I've had a similar situation with the 'Pen' I share for the past year or so, the plug could be pulled on it at any moment, which makes putting any time, effort or money into it really hard to justify.

Still........here's my new plot, with my name actually on the rental agreement, so I know I'm not gonna lose it. It's far from ideal, but definitely something I can work with.
I've been workin like a dog to get to this stage and it still needs a tonne of work doing to it. But 6 out of the 10 beds have been turned over, de-stoned, weeded and as much compost added as I could afford. The big bed at the back with the apple tree in it has been broadcast with alfalfa, clover and agricultural lupins as a green manure to crop and drop and I've got a bed with cabbage, onions and garlic, one with strawberries and borage and one with potatoes,carrots, lettuce and shallots planted out.

I really haven't got a clue what I'm doing, LOL, and I've had a late start to the season due to getting the plot so late and unexpectedly. I'm putting anything I do manage to harvest this year down as a bonus, with my main concentration being on improving the soil for next year. I will hopefully be totally 'no-till' after this first disturbance, but I'm pretty sure the last occupier of this plot was using 'growmore' despite having 4 compost bins???? The soil is very compact and poor draining, so I've added plenty of clay-breaker(gypsum) along with some seaweed meal and insect frass before covering with 2-3 inches of compost.

 

[DonBrennon]

Your idea for a waterfall method for making compost teas is something I've been pondering over myself. I've no power on the allotment and although local, it's too far to be transporting gallons of compost tea brewed at home. My idea was for 2 bins of water at different levels, with a solar powered fountain pump forcing water from the lower bin to the higher one and the overflow falling back to the lower one. As always the concern would be a lack of oxygenation or dead-spots within the system and the pump getting clogged up with compost or bio-slime.

................it's just an idea at the moment, but I do need a way of making compost teas without power to aerate.

 

[DonBrennon]

I'm using "Mycorrhiza soluble" from www.gluckspilze.com
just bought myself another kilo of it yesterday

Not lastly because their office/shop/lab is a 10min bike ride away from me, and I am hoping we can cooperate in some way
I'm not entirely happy with that mix, as it is a "one-size-fits-all" formulation and it bothers me that I'm spreading out millions of ectomycorrhizal spores onto soil that isn't designated to grow anything that needs them.
BUT I've compared it with others, e.g. the pure endo-mix from Mycorrhizal Applications, who are the guys with the best rep (actually, I was disappointed haha) over on your side of the ocean. The glückspilze mix is more diverse!
So I'll just take the ectos, no harm done, along with the endos I actually need for now.
Apparently, in like 6 months they're going to start a new system; where I'll be able to choose which mycos I want in my mix!!

Probably, all myco companies are going to revise their formulations soon too, as more and more people read Jeff Lowenfels' new book, Teaming with Fungi, (an ABSOLUTE recommend btw!!!) and start asking pesky half-educated questions about the Rhizophagus fasciculatus that is in none of the mixes I've looked at so far, but has been found to greatly support the effect of the endomycorrhizal workhorses, Rhizophagus intraradices (formerly known as Glomus intraradices) and Funneliformis Mosseae (formerly know as Glomus Mosseae).

My stance on this is:
we still don't know enough about mycorrhizae to be able to pinpoint "this one for these plants" or "that one for those plants".
Also, I think that's never really going to happen, as I suspect nature has set it all up to work best when there's a whole network of diverse fungi present. This actually comes through in quite a few of the studies Lowenfels mentions, where fungi together perform better than each alone.
Aw but we already knew that, didn't we, that the whole is always more than its parts. I love it when simple principles like that shine through!

Also, we need to be very careful not to jump to conclusions regarding the research.
Scientific research tends to offer fragmented views, since things in academia have gotten so specific and specialized.
So we can't tear the conclusion of one study, or even multiple ones, out of context and say, X is good for Y, and that's that, because in the total picture there will be so many other influences and factors we may not even be aware of, yet. Also, Lowenfels explicitly relativates the research even more by sharing how lab results and field results can be worlds apart, and what they find happening in the lab doesn't replicate in the wild and vie versa.
RIU is full of partial wisdom like that, someone who reads this or that piece of research and then propagates the results as THE final truth about life, the universe and everything
So let's not do that with the mycos, but stay aware of that we are on the cutting edge here and don't really know shit about anything ahaha

So, all that said, taking the frequency with which fungi are found to be helpful (just from what Lowenfels shares of the research to date), regarding the endomycorrhiza. (I haven't looked more specifically at the ecto's, as I hardly have any plants at the mo that would use them).

I'd look out for a mix containing (in order of "importance" by ubiquity):

• Rhizophagus intraradices (formerly Glomus intraradices)
  
• Funneliformis mosseae (formerly Glomus mosseae)
• Rhizophagus fasciculatus
  
• Glomus aggregatum
  
• Claroideoglomus etunicatum (formerly Glomus etunicatum)
  
• Rhizophagus clarus (formerly Glomus clarum)
  
• Gigaspora margarita (formerly Glomus margarita)
  
• Glomus deserticola
• Funneliformis monosporus (formerly Glomus monosporum)

And get a mix, don't go for single species.

If there are trichoderma in it (there are both harzianum and koningii in the glückpilze-mix) - all the better.
We were scratching our heads over this somewhere on the forums a while back. In Teaming with fungi, Lowenfels dedicates a side box to them and ends the discussion for now: seems the current bottom line is: they're great to have.

Here's the endo I've been getting - https://www.thenutrientcompany.com/product/tnc-mycorrendo/ - it's CFU count is kinda low, but if you look at the analysis it contains 7 out of the 9 species you listed, without any tricho's/lacto etc and at a reasonable price too.

 

[calliandra]

WOW, great thread Calli, it's taken quite some reading to catch up, lol.

..........but, sorry to hear of your shit storms. I've had a similar situation with the 'Pen' I share for the past year or so, the plug could be pulled on it at any moment, which makes putting any time, effort or money into it really hard to justify.

Still........here's my new plot, with my name actually on the rental agreement, so I know I'm not gonna lose it. It's far from ideal, but definitely something I can work with.View attachment 3942641
I've been workin like a dog to get to this stage and it still needs a tonne of work doing to it. But 6 out of the 10 beds have been turned over, de-stoned, weeded and as much compost added as I could afford. The big bed at the back with the apple tree in it has been broadcast with alfalfa, clover and agricultural lupins as a green manure to crop and drop and I've got a bed with cabbage, onions and garlic, one with strawberries and borage and one with potatoes,carrots, lettuce and shallots planted out.

I really haven't got a clue what I'm doing, LOL, and I've had a late start to the season due to getting the plot so late and unexpectedly. I'm putting anything I do manage to harvest this year down as a bonus, with my main concentration being on improving the soil for next year. I will hopefully be totally 'no-till' after this first disturbance, but I'm pretty sure the last occupier of this plot was using 'growmore' despite having 4 compost bins???? The soil is very compact and poor draining, so I've added plenty of clay-breaker(gypsum) along with some seaweed meal and insect frass before covering with 2-3 inches of compost.

Ahhh... the dauntless Don Brennon returns
What a lovely surprise and thank you!

A proper veggie garden you've got yourself there - and I bet your veggies will take right off with the start you've given them
Which side is north?
That apple tree is sooo cute! I imagine it will do very well with a permanent ground cover collecting nutrients for it too, though I can also imagine some small shrubs appearing in the sea of greenery, playing on the many-tiered structure of the forest garden... haha!
I just planted beans into my alfalfa patch - leguminous overkill?

What's the other espalier tree?! Love the rhubarb too!
And along the fence, is that berry shrubs?

Great to see you back!

 

[calliandra]

Your idea for a waterfall method for making compost teas is something I've been pondering over myself. I've no power on the allotment and although local, it's too far to be transporting gallons of compost tea brewed at home. My idea was for 2 bins of water at different levels, with a solar powered fountain pump forcing water from the lower bin to the higher one and the overflow falling back to the lower one. As always the concern would be a lack of oxygenation or dead-spots within the system and the pump getting clogged up with compost or bio-slime.

................it's just an idea at the moment, but I do need a way of making compost teas without power to aerate.

yeah... I've been thinking of mobile solar power stations haha
but more for powering a shredder, which would be a bigger challenge, so I've sort of boxed up the idea for now

Your waterfall idea sounds like it could be quite some eyecandy too
I haven't gotten round to acquainting myself with the waterfalls yet, so I don't know how one would figure out how much waterflow (?probably) there has to be to aerate to at least 6ppm of dissolved oxygen.
And yeah, making sure all the water gets circulated... pumping from the bottom of the one container and the waterfalling from above would take care of one container, but the second could be tricky... pump the water from below into the bottom of the top container?
lol maybe just pumping the water up a pipe and let it waterfall back down is the simpler way to go, and I'm all for simple these days

 

[calliandra]

aaand finally a quick update @ conundrum #3
mycorrhizing strawberries

This conundrum was cut short by user error.
After I had weeded the patch, it looked like it was going to start raining hard within the hour, so I didn't water in. And when the wind blew those rainclouds around for another few days before letting them rain out, I failed to supplement the water they would've needed...



C'est la vie, n'est-ce pas!
SO now they're rather skinny, by no fault of mycorrhizae or no, and the experiment has been aborted.
Instead, I've decided to experiment a bit more with what can grow above the strawberries, or the other way round, what crops do well with strawberries as ground cover.
Because they're a terrible waste of space!

I've had the bean poles there in the past, and I've tried radishes, both were stunted by extreme slug pressure, the which hasn't developed to now this year.
Possibly because the very cold temperatures killed those overwintering, and also may have damaged the eggs.
Possibly because last year I let them drown by the hundreds in beer.
But maybe, they're just waiting for me to think they're gone and THEN!
So I'm not getting excited about a slugless summer just yet

For now, there is borage sprouting of itself and I've interplanted some lettuce, and will add a row of chards there too.
And on the bed to the left, I'll be planting a hokkaido (if it sprouts, that is, I suck sooo badly at plant nursery haha) to see if the strawberries mind getting grown over like that.

 

[calliandra]

On the other hand, seeing I was dissing myself there....
a peek into the nursery
where the Pineapple Express runt got its second green smoothie today, made of a small handful of comfrey leaves and lovage sprouts - the latter, because the force is strong in that plant - extremely vital, growing those sprouts like crazy.
Who knows, maybe she'll get the urge to do that too haha


The temps in the veg cabinet (for which I still need to get a vent I can hook a small carbon filter to) are at 25°C, I need to find the fan for a bit of wind in there soon, and it's dry, 35%RH. But she's not suffering it seems, and I just saw from the pix that she's gotten bigger in all directions since yesterday.

Oh, and she's getting 18hrs of 50W 3500K in terms of light. I'm thinking of going to 20 if she decides to grow for real, as I don't think I can put more than 100Ws worth of COB in there (especially if I don't overcome my disgust of having to source something again lol)



Wingspan today of 16cm, I think she sprouted may 3rd, so she's on day 13 today.
hmm hmm, we'll see I say

 

[DonBrennon]

Ahhh... the dauntless Don Brennon returns
What a lovely surprise and thank you!

A proper veggie garden you've got yourself there - and I bet your veggies will take right off with the start you've given them
Which side is north?
That apple tree is sooo cute! I imagine it will do very well with a permanent ground cover collecting nutrients for it too, though I can also imagine some small shrubs appearing in the sea of greenery, playing on the many-tiered structure of the forest garden... haha!
I just planted beans into my alfalfa patch - leguminous overkill?

What's the other espalier tree?! Love the rhubarb too!
And along the fence, is that berry shrubs?

Great to see you back!

Good to be back!!!............but I don't feel so dauntless LOL

Can you have too many legumes????................been thinking about what you said in an earlier post about not finding many nodules on your alfalfa and how to inoculate my own. Did you try to do anything to introduce the N fixing bacteria to yours? I think I've seen some growing wild while walking Milo, I might try digging some up and harvesting some of the nodules(if there are any), not sure what to do with them from there though, I guess mixing with the soil before sowing would've been best, but it's too late for that now.

The fence with the blackberry brambles and the trees behind is the south side of the plot, so the beds to the right will get full sun all day during summer, while(I'm assuming) the beds on the left will get about 4-5hrs in the morning and around 3-4 late afternoon.

I've just been looking at the apple tree and it's mental, it really needs a heavy pruning cos it's out of control. It looks like every blossom has been pollinated and there are hundreds of them, there's gonna be a lot of apples, whether they're any good or not will remain to be seen. IME any apples grown around here are very tart and not to my taste.
I'm fairly sure that the other espalier is a pear tree, it's got the exact same fungal infection as the one I cut down in my front yard last year, so watching your compost tea experiments will be very interesting.

I'm afraid I'm not as keen on the rhubarb as you, neither of them are very healthy, they're taking up valuable high sun growing space and I've got more rhubarb than I can handle coming from a couple of really healthy plants, I've had growing on the pen for a few years now. I am gonna leave that bed alone this year though as it contains a good number of mature strawberry plants, the weeds in there are ridiculous though.

 

[DonBrennon]

aaand finally a quick update @ conundrum #3
mycorrhizing strawberries

This conundrum was cut short by user error.
After I had weeded the patch, it looked like it was going to start raining hard within the hour, so I didn't water in. And when the wind blew those rainclouds around for another few days before letting them rain out, I failed to supplement the water they would've needed...

View attachment 3943533

C'est la vie, n'est-ce pas!
SO now they're rather skinny, by no fault of mycorrhizae or no, and the experiment has been aborted.
Instead, I've decided to experiment a bit more with what can grow above the strawberries, or the other way round, what crops do well with strawberries as ground cover.
Because they're a terrible waste of space!

I've had the bean poles there in the past, and I've tried radishes, both were stunted by extreme slug pressure, the which hasn't developed to now this year.
Possibly because the very cold temperatures killed those overwintering, and also may have damaged the eggs.
Possibly because last year I let them drown by the hundreds in beer.
But maybe, they're just waiting for me to think they're gone and THEN!
So I'm not getting excited about a slugless summer just yet

For now, there is borage sprouting of itself and I've interplanted some lettuce, and will add a row of chards there too.
And on the bed to the left, I'll be planting a hokkaido (if it sprouts, that is, I suck sooo badly at plant nursery haha) to see if the strawberries mind getting grown over like that.

I read somewhere the other day that borage is the perfect companion plant for strawberries, couldn't find the one I read, but just found this http://strawberryplants.org/2010/06/strawberry-plants-borage/. I've sown some borage seed down the middle of the middle of the new strawberry bed I planted out last weekend, hope they're viable, they weren't exactly stored the best and must be at least a couple of years old.

Just been pulling baby slugs and some little orange bugs off my cabbage plants, they need netting really and I need to either make some beer trap or get some nematodes.

 

[calliandra]

Good to be back!!!............but I don't feel so dauntless LOL

Well you made it all the way through this thread, so there must be an inkling of dauntlessness in ya, even if you don't feel it at the mo

Can you have too many legumes????................been thinking about what you said in an earlier post about not finding many nodules on your alfalfa and how to inoculate my own. Did you try to do anything to introduce the N fixing bacteria to yours? I think I've seen some growing wild while walking Milo, I might try digging some up and harvesting some of the nodules(if there are any), not sure what to do with them from there though, I guess mixing with the soil before sowing would've been best, but it's too late for that now.

Actually, if I remember correctly, those bacteria were also in the mycomix I'm using... ah where did I put my notes?! lol
But actually, they're of the pretty ubiquitous kind, so I wasn't really worried about that.

<<<edit: that was wrong.!
No rhizobia in the mix.
I went and googled around to check on my assumption of ubiquity too, not sure about that either now.
I found an article where they did a bunch of experiments regarding different kinds of rhizobia (http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0103-90162009000400018), and it was interesting to see a correlation between successional stage of the landscape and flourishing of rhizobia or not. Also, they looked at the specificity with which different bacteria connect with different plants.
This all was in Brasil, and alfalfa wasn't amongst the plants they studied, so as so often, we can only extrapolate possibly valid concepts.

But those would confirm your idea of taking innoculants for the alfalfa from other alfalfas to be solid
edit>>>

But yes, that would work well, I'd take 2-3 handfuls of good nodulous roots, throw them in the blender, filling up to cover well with water, blend and then water out onto your alfalfa bed. Actually I think that will work even better than just adding to the soil, as now there will already be some living roots ready to welcome the guys from the wild wild world out there

I've just been looking at the apple tree and it's mental, it really needs a heavy pruning cos it's out of control. It looks like every blossom has been pollinated and there are hundreds of them, there's gonna be a lot of apples, whether they're any good or not will remain to be seen. IME any apples grown around here are very tart and not to my taste.
I'm fairly sure that the other espalier is a pear tree, it's got the exact same fungal infection as the one I cut down in my front yard last year, so watching your compost tea experiments will be very interesting.

Ah yes, if only I could identify what made the cherry lose it.
Was it my ACT brews?
Or the harsh weather, that would've required more applications? (it did snow heavily twice, and we had quite a few frosts that decimated expected fruit yields in all the land, followed by wet and cold)
I'm going to get my next batch of ACT brewing tomorrow, as I saw first black spots on some control roses today
Cheers!

 

[calliandra]

I read somewhere the other day that borage is the perfect companion plant for strawberries, couldn't find the one I read, but just found this http://strawberryplants.org/2010/06/strawberry-plants-borage/. I've sown some borage seed down the middle of the middle of the new strawberry bed I planted out last weekend, hope they're viable, they weren't exactly stored the best and must be at least a couple of years old.

Just been pulling baby slugs and some little orange bugs off my cabbage plants, they need netting really and I need to either make some beer trap or get some nematodes.

ah! so my freedom-loving plants, who grow where they like it, can confirm that borage likes growing with strawberries (but then again, borage likes growing in many places)
That's the sucky thing about establishing a new garden - you don't have all the desirable seeds in the soil yet. But ust ONE of those you sowed needs to sprout to change that haha, so fingers crossed!

And yeah, I sighted my first slug today too.
To kill them on the spot, you need to cut them in two right behind their "heads". Cut them anywhere else and they'll suffer.
Just a general FYI, not necessary to torture them, not their fault we had to fucking spread them all over the world

 

[calliandra]

I read somewhere the other day that borage is the perfect companion plant for strawberries, couldn't find the one I read, but just found this http://strawberryplants.org/2010/06/strawberry-plants-borage/. I've sown some borage seed down the middle of the middle of the new strawberry bed I planted out last weekend, hope they're viable, they weren't exactly stored the best and must be at least a couple of years old.

Just been pulling baby slugs and some little orange bugs off my cabbage plants, they need netting really and I need to either make some beer trap or get some nematodes.

ah! so my freedom-loving plants, who grow where they like it, can confirm that borage likes growing with strawberries (but then again, borage likes growing in many places)
That's the sucky thing about establishing a new garden - you don't have all the desirable seeds in the soil yet. But ust ONE of those you sowed needs to sprout to change that haha, so fingers crossed!

And yeah, I sighted my first slug today too.
To kill them on the spot, you need to cut them in two right behind their "heads". Cut them anywhere else and they'll suffer.
Just a general FYI, not necessary to torture them, not their fault we had to fucking spread them all over the world