Balkan Ecology Project : Perennial Polycultures - The Biomass Belt: Fertility Without Manure. We're extending the Polyculture Project to include experimental perennial polycultures on various plots of our newly acquired land.
Our aim is to develop models that are low cost to establish and maintain, can produce healthy affordable nutritious food and will enhance biodiversity. We've been looking into fencing our plots, and how to meet fertility demands of the establishing perennial crops such as fruits, nuts, herbs and perennial vegetables without relying on animal manures and imported compost, and have come up with a polyculture that may meet both of these needs that we call the biomass belt. What is the Biomass Belt ?
The biomass belt is a simple closed system, perennial polyculture dedicated to growing mulch and fertilizer for annual and perennial crops. How does it work? The polyculture is composed of mineral accumulating comfrey in raised beds, Nitrogen fixing ground cover sown into pathways and a Nitrogen fixing hedgerow. Design Considerations Ground Preparation 1. 2. 3. References. Permaculture Design: Vegetable & Herb Guilds. For the last eight years we have been experimenting with growing annual vegetables and herbs in guilds.
Over the years I have stuck with what works, discarded what has not, and now have what appears to me to be a good model of productive ecological design. Productive in that it provides us with a harvest from early spring until early winter, ecological in that it provides habitat and food for many other organisms too. Garden Produce Our annual guilds will be the focus for a series of articles on this blog based on the observations made over the years.
Specifically we will focus on plant selection, sustaining fertility, irrigation, pest management, measuring yields and scaling up the guild. Here I am going to introduce our guilds. Annual Vegetable and Herb Guilds Our annual vegetable and herb guilds are situated in six raised beds each 1m x 6m and approx 30cm high with 50cm paths between the beds. IrrigationWe are fortunate to have access to water channeled from a nearby mountain stream. Simple Vegetable Garden Tips. Looking to add some extra color and nutrition to your meals this season?
Try growing your own vegetables! Fix has growing tips for every size space. If you're interested in creating a container garden, vegetables like cucumber, eggplant, and green onion are perfect candidates for this potted practice. Just make sure you avoid dark-colored or treated wood containers, and ensure that your plant is placed in direct sunlight for at least six hours every day. Are you a salad lover? If you have some extra space you can try creating a garden plot. Whether you have ample space for a garden plot or just a sunny window for a container garden, homegrown produce can add a fresh, delicious element to your meals! Canadian Urban Farmer Grows 50,000 Lbs Of Food On Less Than 1 Acre Of Land.
“Just imagine what our cities would look like if we had an urban farmer on every street corner producing healthy, abundant, fresh food for the people in that community.”- Curtis Stone, CEO Green City Acres “What if I told you that there was a way you could live off the land, farm commercially, be a direct solution to food security, economic inequality, and environmental degradation, build community ties and social capital, and make a living out of it?”
, says urban farmer Curtis Stone, CEO of Green City Acres. Green City Acres grows vegetables on donated plots of land throughout Kelowna, B.C., and transports them to consumers using only bicycles and custom-built trailers. In 2012, they grew over 50,000 lbs of food on less than 1 acre of land, using organic methods and only 80 litres of gasoline (used to run a rototiller).
How To Farm On Land You Don’t Own SPIN Farm Your Way To Success Perhaps the most intensive and effective farming technique ever developed is called SPIN Farming. Bill Mollison Permaculture Lecture Series On-Line. 101 PERMACULTURE DESIGNS, downloadable imgur album. DIY: A Vegetable Garden That Waters Itself! Build It Easily, for Free. Permaculture.