At the beginning of March we started preparing the logs for the Shitake,Lions Mane and Oyster mushroom dowels that we had bought.Cutting and trimming done, we drilled the holes then tapped in the dowels and finally sealed them with wax.
The logs are now buried in a shady part of the forest garden where they will colonise the logs.The fruiting stage will come later.....we hope!
The raspberry pruning and tying in is complete thanks to a helper who came for a week.Thanks Antigoni.
We have been planting yarrow, feverfew and oregano around some of the fruit trees and adding a variety of black mint to the herb layer,which we had taken a lot of cuttings of, last autumn.
Now the sun is shining and the weather has warmed up it's full on in the annual gardens, we have been erecting lots of cana trellises in an attempt to get more growing in the vertical layer, peas,beans,nasturtiums,cucumbers and sweet peas will climb up them.It makes sense to concentrate the veg garden as much as possible as the watering will be easier to manage during the hot months.
It is looking beautiful and we all like to work there.
The forest garden is spreading!
Late and early raspberries mulched, with nitrogen fixing lupins in between.Black and red currants were planted between the tree tomatoes (Cyphomandra betacea)and herbs have been planted around the base of the trees for their beneficial effect.
We have decided to experiment with growing potatoes vertically rather than in a bed which uses a lot of space.We wanted to concentrate the crop and get as much yield as possible from a smaller space and also use less of our energy particularly because there is a problem with colorado beetle here. So.... we built a 'potato stacking bay'.
We had to use what we had around so made a double bay from pallets.One side is for the potatoes and the other is for making the compost which will be used to pile up around the stems of the potatoes as they grow.
A neat solution, we thought, as the bay is sited next to the chicken pen, providing the manure for the compost, the comfrey patch which feeds the chickens and the bay, and to the garden which supplies the organic matter for the bay and the chickens. Permaculture in action!
The bay is three sided at the moment,open to the sun on the west side, but we will add the fourth side when the plants have reached about half way up.Ten tubers were planted in the first layer of a soil and compost mix to which seaweed meal was added.
Nasturtiums were planted along the shady side to clamber up the bay.