New to SFG in the Netherlands

Hi,

gratefully accepting male strength superiority... my hubby came with me to check on the tomatoes and while I tended to the not so happy campers and got them on the bamboos again. He started pulling the green plants in the middle. He had a good go at them and the difference is big. A real bonus to me, since he only spend 15 minutes or so on it, where it takes me an hour or 2 to do a piece like that.

check it out at www.engelencursus.nl/tuin (dutch voor garden LOL)

CU
Annelies

Hi,

didn't think anything would happen in the garden today. But today while I was teaching, Rob went and pulled some more old plants out.

This image is before:



This is after:



I am happy with the progress, I hope to get this all sorted out soon. I know the handyman will make a toolbox for me and the SFG boxes, 3 by 3 squares, so I am looking forward to changing the garden to my purpose.

CU
Annelies

Hi,

more green removal. This was before I started today:



This is after I was done:



and this is the growing garbage heap that needs to be removed:



More tomorrow, need to keep my back happy as well
Annelies

Wow! You are working HARD! Great job!

GG

to bad you dont have a place to compost all that

the wooden box in the back of the second image is an already filled compost heap.

This would be slightly too much for me

Honestly you can never have too much of your own home made well made organic compost for your squarefoot gardening .

It is the backbone of Mel's mix and is in truth the core of the system .

That amount of materials will soon reduce if you use " The Berkley 18 day hot composting method " & it will save you many Euro's worth of additives and fertilizers.

Fascinating thread, Annelies, I am really enjoying reading it.

Wow - I'd never heard of the Berkeley Method of hot composting - and UC Berkeley is just down the road from me.

This is the site I checked out - Hot Composting

Very clearly explained and illustrated. Having compost in 18 days is worth trying.

ramarks wrote:Wow - I'd never heard of the Berkeley Method of hot composting - and UC Berkeley is just down the road from me.

This is the site I checked out - Hot Composting

Very clearly explained and illustrated. Having compost in 18 days is worth trying.

How do I send this posting over to the "restarting and old compost pile" thread where I think it will do a world of good.

I didn't know how to move it - so I just reposted it in that thread.

Hi Plantoid,

I am going to check out the " The Berkley 18 day hot composting method " and see if I can do something with it. Makes sense and for now I got plenty of emtpy space to play with. Monday I have a man come in and clear the place. So I can start working ANSFG boxes and hopefully get some action going that way.

Thanks for the link ramarks and Kelejan, sometimes it is fun to see something happening from scraps. So I'll update you on the things as they happen.

In the coming days I'll go to the garden en only tend to the tomatoes and the trees that are still there. And inform the others that someone will come in on Mondoay to help me. That way they won't be too startled LOL

We agreed that this man equals the place. Everything that is just plant, and some of the sick bushes will be done too. He won't take out all the roots, since that would take too long. But I'll be able to start boxes and I can do a square meter at the time and work my way through it. Since I am expecting to be there for a few years, that isn't a big hurry and will happen.

CU
Annelies

ramarks wrote:I didn't know how to move it - so I just reposted it in that thread.

Thanks, ramarks.

Hi all,

that composting sounds pretty good, I'll see what I can do with it. I'll check out the old compost heap, by taking some of the top off next week.

I think there may be some good stuff left still. It is sure keeping plants happy that keep growing out of it.

I so hope to be back Monday night before the guy is done with the work and still see it then, else I'll go there Tuesday, since we only have 1 key to the complex and I am borrowing it to him.

Anyway, next week I should be able to move on and get stuff planted and such

Looking forward to that
Annelies

Hi,

so today I got to check it out again, after taking care of all the regular stuff that you have to do when you've been away for a long weekend.

I get to use the old stones from a new neighbour to get my path to the water. Tried 3 and they are pretty heavy. That path will be slow coming. A few each day will get me there too :-)



I also used a spray to get rid of the roots, but I wonder if that will be enough, covered it a few hours later with black cloth



Put my first 4x4 together :-) This is a DIY kit from a garden centre.... hmm image doesn't show, but clicking in the preview gets you to the image :-)



I also got wood and screws and all that and will put 2 more boxes together tomorrow ... I hope :-)

CU
Annelies

I love following your progress. With regard to the stones, you are right to only do a few a day; the job will get done in time.

Hi Kelejan,

yes I think that is the best way LOL

For now I am looking forward to go there later today and plant some seeds so there is at least something positive happening apart from me trying to get the whole thing cleaned up.

Does anyone have a good ecological suggestion to get rid of roots? Apparently this plot has the reputation to always have been a wild garden. When I dug in there yesterday it seems to be roots on top of roots in very sticky clay.
Since I am rather unexperienced at gardening I wonder what my best option is to do here. So any advice is very welcome from everyone.

CU
Annelies

Hi All,

so today was good, I went and planted seeds in my first box. Didn't get around to making the other ones yet. But that can be done later as well, since I don't want to plant it all in one week



I even thought about putting labels in, I tend to forget that, but I am sure this time it will work out. I also made a little SFG in my notebook. And will use the SFG app that I found somewhere to put the veges in.

The neighbour that I am in touch with at the garden has kindly moved some of the branches to the shredder and one of the other men will help as well to move all the greens to the spot where the community services pick it up next week. So that is a big help

CU
Annelies

Love your box!

GG

Hi Goosegirl,

Thanks LOL, can't wait to see stuff growing.

I read somewhere that covering the ground with black plastic cloth and leaving it for 6 months should kill the roots as well. i am willing to try that, and keep it covered till spring, while I have a happy few boxes with stuff growing until then. I just wonder if that is really working or just a thought, does anyone have experience with this?

Also my inside tomato plant all of a sudden had mildew, are there any eco solutions for that that anyone knows off? I went online and to garden centers but can't find anything other than preventive eco solutions or chemical stuff that isn't allowd on tomatoes.

CU
Annelies

Oh, fogot to say I started two more boxes, byt drilling the holes and such. Still got enough MM to fill them too.

So I hope to get those going too. Just need to think of what to plant in them, since I now have lettuce, cabbage, amsoy, bok choy, cauliflower, palm kale(i'm hoping this will be good stuff), endive and zuchini.

I'll go looking for other foods to plant, like turnip, parsnip, sweet potato , carrots, root sellery? I'm not sure if they'll be good to saw still though.

If not, I would have boxes and not much to put in yet. Lol
Any suggestions?

Annelies

Hi

I'm sure that this is old news to all of you, but most of the squares show little plants this morning. That is so motivating and cool to see. Several types of cabbages, spinage, amsoi, bok choy and cauliflower peeped their little leaves out of MM's.



Also I got to almost finish my path to the water:



and along the water the ferns and other stuff started growing almost a foot high again in a weeks time. So I sat with my little handcutters (for lack of knowing the proper English word) - no electricity - and leveled them again and them put black plastic on top of it. I intend to cover it all with black plastic to stop it from keeping me going in circles to keep it short instead of making progress and than do one piece at a time and get this garden under control.



One of the other gardeners has been trying to convince me to take another garden with less work and everything in place. "So I could sit down in my new garden and read a book this afternoon" Gave him some coffee and had a good talk to explain that I don't mind working in the garden and expect this to take a while, but that I am enjoying the journey

Also the garbage heap has been removed.... yes I know that could have been a huge amount of compost... and it already was heated up pretty good in the middle. But this was just way too much for me to handle and I already have a good one sitting there.

So this was this morning before we started to clear it out:



and this is after 5 loads were taken out:



Tomorrow I have to write texts for a cd first, then I hope to plant the second gardenbox with veges and put some plastic on top of the cleared out space. Get some rootcloth on top of the space next to it and place box 3 there, with some decorative plants.

So far for now
Annelies

Those plant cutters .... a french word ???? .. Secateurs ..... or pruning sheers perhaps

Your english is very very good , don't be put of by bad spelling .... I aren't , I'm english born and bred & dyslexic so any spelling goes , just don't try and play scrabble with me .

Hi Plantoid,

I'll go with pruning sheer LOL, woke up with a blister on my middle finger from the amount I clearing did with it.

and darn... was just about to invite you for scrabble, word feud and all that LOL
Thanks for giving me the right word

Oh the dewberries that I inherited got pruned too and look pretty good btw

Annelies

Hi all,

Been busy all week in the garden, but too tired to update this page. So here goes.

The plants in Box1 are growing well :-) Something had a nibble of one of the cabbage plants

Also created two more boxes and filled box 2 with more vege seeds Most of the garden is covered with black plastic and along the front border I am working with root cloth and bark.



Box 3 has flowers now.

so that is all for now
Annelies