When I had the opportunity to write about the Orto Da Coltivare, I started to wonder what contribution I could make to the blog. I realized that there were already many interesting articles and discussions on various topics related to agriculture, so I was afraid that I had nothing to teach. That’s why I decided not to provide information, but a concrete experience . I’m going to make a small experimental garden and I’ll have fun seeing what works and what doesn’t.
i will try to use unconventional practices i and observe how nature reacts. Whoever follows this experience, which I will document as much as possible, can learn from my mistakes and hopefully repeat something I did well.
Contents [Ocultar]
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Natural farming (theoretical premise)
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The experimental garden (practical premise)
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sown
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Preparing the soil in the natural garden
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Beginning of November: autumn sowing and establishment of a vegetable garden.
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no tillage
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Observations on the work carried out
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Varieties planted in the experimental garden
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November: the first seedlings appear
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another plantation
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Mulch and organic matter
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Here are the first shoots
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future programs
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December: end of year garden
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March: the natural garden after the frost
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April
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What plants are in the garden in April
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Don’ts and the value of diversity
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EM: the real microorganisms
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May
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The state of the art: crops and wild herbs
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Failures: vegetables that did not appear
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Natural wealth: a living ecosystem
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Exploitation of this natural environment for transplantation
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Future plans
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Let’s summarize
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The summary of a natural garden year
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soil improvement
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Collection results
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A scalable environment
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How is the garden now?
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Bigger extensions?
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The natural garden one year after the start of the experiment
Contents
Natural farming (theoretical premise)
My practices will follow the philosophy of “The Straw Yarn Revolution”, a book written by a Japanese farmer named Masanobu Fukuoka. This farmer, writer and philosopher has an alternative view of the agricultural world worth exploring: he claims that the best agriculture comes without effort. This “don’t” philosophy goes hand in hand with my laziness, and it’s a way of seeing that it’s not limited to cultivation, although it’s particularly effective here.
For many modern farmers, this may seem absurd, but in fact, behind this perspective there is a deep philosophy and practical experiences that have produced good results. In this regard, I wholeheartedly recommend reading Masanobu’s book and other texts derived from his ideas, such as Emilia Hazelip’s writings on synergistic agriculture.
To give an idea of what I will try to do in my experimental garden, I report the “four pillars” of natural agriculture theorized by Masanobu Fukoka. These points are not to be transposed as commandments, they are simply facts that he has pointed out after years of experimentation.
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According to Fukuoka:
1. no spade . It is not necessary to work the soil, that is to say to plow it to prepare a harvest.2. no manure neither chemical nor organic.
3. Not removing weeds: It is not necessary to remove the weeds, neither with chemicals nor with the harrow.
Four. Do not use chemicals in general .
It must be said that Masanobu said that this form of agriculture and its techniques worked for him in Japan, with the climate and the soil of the regions where Fukuoka lived. He said any farmer who wants to farm semi-wild must find their own techniques through a period of experimentation. The guiding philosophy is to do only what is necessary. Removing instead of adding: nature will do most of the work and there will be more gratitude than effort on our part.
The experimental garden (practical premise)
I decided to allocate about 50 square meters to an experimental garden in Friuli Venezia Giulia in which this year I grew vegetable plants (tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, green beans, potatoes, zucchini). In March he had plowed the ground and prepared the garden in the classic way, transplanting the plants in April.