After countless hacks attempt to enter the Forest Garden The blog became myself eventually locked out of my own safety, and has put up some posts in a while. But now the problem is solved and in this post I start a small series of scarification techniques. Happy reading!
One of the most important chores in the young forest garden is soil preparation. There are many different ways to prepare the soil before planting and which technology is most appropriate depends on the site-specific conditions.
The purpose of scarification is to:
- Give trees, bushes and herbs the best possible start to become healthy and independent
- Accelerate and get control of the transition from grassland to deciduous forest land
We have over the years been testing a variety of scarification techniques, and in this series, I want to describe them and to share with you the lessons we have learned.
The first thing that greets visitors to putt Myra forest garden is large surfaces (almost 1000 kvm) covered with black markväv. Ground fabric is made from polypropylene plastic (PP) which is considered less harmful to the environment than many other plastics, which in theory can be recycled completely. It is not particularly neat with plastic, but I have long believed that I had to use plastic for working in the scale we do. The plastic is generally most useful when it comes to cover large grass areas on relatively flat ground.
Ground cloth is woven and admits both moisture and oxygen, but almost no light. The idea of covering with plastic is killing off all the grass that grows under the plastic and competing hard with trees and bushes. We have let the plastic remain for two seasons in order to be sure that even couch grass and thistles killed by. Since we have moved the plastic sideways to the next area and insert various green manure plants in the past covered the earth (more on that in a later post).
What we have realized is that there are a variety of seeds in the earth's so-called seed bank just waiting for the kind of interference that cover with plastic means. There are all sorts of meadow flowers and other ephemeral annuals that may have lain in the ground for decades. But unfortunately there are also a lot of grass seeds in the seed bank. All of these are quick to germinate and usually managed to get ahead of the green manure plants that we planted in. Just a year after we lifted the ground weave grass has thus been able to reclaim large areas in the previously covered areas.
One way to overcome this is to lift the plastic spring, let the seeds in the seed bank to germinate and then put back the plastic in a few months or a whole season if you bothered to wait so long. Then there are far fewer seeds left in förbanken and it is easier to establish green manure plants. Since this method is relatively tedious and laborious, we have begun to move away from the cover with plastic more and more. Would you still use markväv as cover material, the following can be useful to think about:
- Make sure to fasten the plastic thoroughly with hooks (see image nedan) which is not longer than 2 m apart and Tyng happily down the plastic with sticks. Otherwise, blowing the plastic light of.
- When you move the plastic, let at least 30 cm overlap with the previously covered area, otherwise looking couch grass in from the side of the former covered surface.
- Since the plastic is woven, it can easily lacerate the ends. Fold the edges over the plastic or use a propane torch to burn the fuse wires. Otherwise it ends up plastic threads throughout the garden.
- Never walk on the plastic if it can be avoided after the first season. The Earth gets a very fine structure when the earthworms come to the surface and heaves in the dead grass, but there is no vegetation and no roots that dampen your footsteps anymore then and it is great risk of compaction damage.
- Make sure that there is no soil on plastic, weed can easily grow through the fabric from the top.
- Do not let the plastic remain for a long time. Soil organisms need food and plastic is that they do not get any new addition of organic material. Earth is best after two seasons when most of the organic material is decomposed.
There are a few different makes of markväv and Agriculture has made a compilation of which suitable for coverage in the open, is http://www2.jordbruksverket.se/webdav/files/SJV/trycksaker/Pdf_ovrigt/ovr227.pdf. One should expect to pay about 5 per square meter of plastic if bought on a roll.
Next post will be about more environmentally friendly and aesthetically pleasing alternative to mulch with plastic!
I'm not sure that it would be important to actually remove the existing markvegitationen to build a forest garden. The goal is well that with as little force as possible to bring the forest foreward? The only time I feel it is justified to completely cover the ground is in the establishment of the perennial land crops, and then the amount you need them. This I think should not happen immediately, but may 5-10år in construction. That in the early succession when the light is free insken on the ground trying to keep the weed and seed bank in check, I think not enerieffektivt, and almost impossible. The grass grows on the sunny meadow is because it is best adapted! I myself will probably rather wait until the half deep humid shadows formed during the various lövskikten, and then take out the ground cloth, and afterward deposit large amounts with the self-propagated plants, better anpassde to this new niche; halvskuggig, fughibaserad forest environment. I have in our forest garden in Rågdalen, Stockholm, who is in 6:th year, completely ignored the fact that the eradication of land weeds, it's not possible (but certainly as a bunch of wild flowers and white clover during construction, it is the prime sense to do so for fussy). Instead tunes I only of couch grass, turned root, nettles, fescue, etc. a few times a year and give the spring a give hästgösel, may own urine, wood ash from our wood burning and some free rotten hay cover, sometimes. Of course it's job a little sloppy cover with hay and fertilize, but it seems on the other hand to establish themselves well and provide excellent harvest. Perhaps 5-7 working days per year in maintenance, Four trimming and adjusting a total of 1 liter of gasoline per year. Surface nowadays corresponding Putte Ant, type. I think the amount of fuel (in the future) would be worth replacing with a liter of pure alcohol from home-grown, destilerad, yeast potato. With the trimmer says it just swish, and then pull a little fast in the bushes with gloves. I who keeps multiple forest gardens, a newborn baby boy and a hell of a lot of projects, seeks the point where most results are given for minimum work hours. Ordered also recently one kilogram seeds on oljerättika, something with a TERRIFIC roots will loosen the soil in depth. Grow some as a kind of lower rapeseed. Will try it at some point the cutthroat, often compacted clay soil we have here in människobyn. Keep it up! Thank you also for your recent post about chimeras and the American pepper tree. Grease!!! 🙂
Thank you for your detailed comments! I have come to much the same thing as you think it is unnecessary and struggling to keep up with such large surfaces from the start, grass teaches always be the most competitive plant as long as there are large amounts of light. Today we removed about 200 sqm plastic and will not move it to a new area. Mer om det kommer i nästa inlägg 🙂
I do not use the trimmer without a super Austrian sliplie and a small cut (also from Austria) for the more inaccessible areas.
Also, I bought a big bag of oljerättika the same reason, will be interesting to see if it will work!
Continue this with your great work!
Hej Philipp, Where did you buy your nice gear? I've been looking high and low for a good cut without result. An ergonomic scythe would also be fun to have.
Eagerly awaiting the next post in the series. We have also given up the mulch with plastic sheeting for the same reason.
Hej Tina!
I bought my cut of a flea market near here, but the same model is also sold by Meyer: https://www.meyer-shop.com/!cat-detail/640107. You need to have businesses to buy them. My liar I have bought by Silvanus, a distributor for the Austrian lieföreningens scythes. They're very ergonomic and well: http://shop.silvanus.at/index.php/shop1/sensen-und-zubehoer.
Please
Philipp
Many thanks for a detailed reply with tips and links Philipp!
Tack, superintressant!! Do you have any inside reached on allelopathic agents in collaboration with other? Vitsenapskakor from oljepresseri… I think an option or just growing such. I tried Holzer's recipe for lasagna bed against weeds, skiiitbra worked against quackgrass on dandelion. Feels like d way also can eh affordable work if Gort pöompö on large surfaces.. But d'you now in the succecivt oust sounds oxå really good. How Crawford has done?
Hej Sanya!
We have not tested any allelopathic agents, and lasagna beds only on a small scale. I think they are too labor intensive and we are still in the weeds by covering only the papers / securities, and any organic mulch on top. But as soil is the super!.
Martin Crawford recommends markväv and used it to much of its forest garden. I had his method as a model at the beginning, which covers a plastic strip and moves laterally biennial. Nowadays he uses most hampaväv which degrade with time. Neatly and efficiently, but quite expensive.
Super-interesting post, and the mighty interesting comments. We will even convert at least 1000 m2 asp, birch and willow in Smaland forest garden, and expects that start to fall / winter, so we are looking forward to the next post! 🙂
Hi!
Tack för spännande inlägg! Jag skulle vilja täcka en stor yta med mycket kvickrot och undrar om ni haft problem med kvickrot som tagit sig igenom marktäckväven? Jag har kollat på Mypex väv men kan inte hitta någon information om den verkligen står emot kvickrot om man inte täcker den med något täckmaterial.
Tack för spännande inlägg!
Hälsningar Agnes
Hej Agnes!
Vi har aldrig haft problem med kvickrot som tar sig genom väven, så länge man inte gör hål i den. All kvickrot dör ner på 2 säsonger. Ett problem har dock varit små ansamlingar med organiskt material ovanpå plasten som har varit grogrund för kvickrot och annat. Then looking out couch in from the side as well, maybe half a meter inward, so you have to have the generous margins to cover material.
Good luck!
/Philipp
Hi!
Thanks for the answer!
Hälsningar Agnes