Albert Cross

I tried to say above that the plan is to insulate the roof with styrofoam and tyvek, with tyvek covering the rafters, but somehow I forgot to finish the sentence. Would tyvek, being breathable, let the spores through, or is it good enough? I guess I can easily get another layer of plastic instead of tyvek or along with it. I'd have to review that with my contractor.

Don't worry about sounding negative, that sounds like a real issue that needs addressing! So how do I address the issue, fungicide before starting anything? Is it safe to use?

The plan is to cover all walls and the ceiling with, as well do the floor. I hoped that might prove enough if I disinfect the area. I guess the spores are the biggest issue. Is there a reliable solution, other than using a relatively new object?

Hello, I am interested in starting a small-scale oyster mushroom production as a first source of income on my farm that I inhereted. I plan to convert an old garage into my first grow and incubation room and start from there. I've  spent a lot of time researching and now I have lots and lots of questions. I'll try updating this thread as I progress so that everyone interested can learn the process along with me.

The first question I have is: is it a good idea to use the same object for incubation and grow room?

The garage dimensions are 553x310x192-268 cm (cca 18x10x6-8.8 feet). My idea was to split it in two and make one half a greenhouse for fruiting, and use the rest for incubation. I plan to grow in buckets and stack them and make the greenhouse frame out of wood. Also, I plan to fill all the holes and isolate everything.

What would be the best way of making the division? In other words, how would I shape the grow room in relation to the incubation area? From what I've read, I should aim for a 1:1 ratio. I could just roughly split it in half, souns good enough? Also, what about the gap between the wall? My guess is that I should leave it big enough so that I could clean everything. If the gap between the chamber and the outer wall is too small to reach, that could lead to contamination of the incubating buckets. Is this correct?

I potentially have many more questions, but this should do for now. I'll add some pics of the garage later when I get the chance. Thanks in advance for any help.

I planted some zucchini, lettuce, carrots, arugula and spinach today. Too late for spinach perhaps, but who cares. Hopefully I'll at least get to eat some baby spinach. I plan on getting a few tomatoes and peppers as well once they start selling seedlings here.

I planted way more arugula than I'll ever need, but the plan is to let most of it go to seed and establish itself in that part of the garden if it likes it there. I tried transplanting some wild garlic as well yesterday, but accidentally dug up half of it while digging the beds. >.< I need to start paying more attention to what I plant where and mark it out better.

Anyway, the plan is to have that part of the garden as a semi-unkempt area, with patience dock already being a resident.

After some research and meditation, I think that all of the bushes I cut down were actually cherry plums. They were in the shadier part behind the buildings so they still hadn't flowered, while the rest of them already had leaves. Also, the thorns had turned into sprouts, so they looked considerably less thorny.

I am going to cut all the saplings except a couple on the edge of the orchard. I had an idea how to put the crappy clay soil to good use - make balls out of it and cover the stumps of the cut down saplings with them to attempt to stop them from regrowing. Good idea, or downright dumb?

Thanks for the tips, Eric, I really like the compost idea. I thought about that myself, it's definately something I'm gonna try. I have these metal tubs without a bottom that can be easily moved around, they should be perfect for the job.

I can see why you hate weeding, the roots of these thorn shrubs are massive. They either go deep or wide, I pulled less than half and I'm already exausted. I may take on your advice and just mulch them and keep trimming as they sprout.

I only cleared a small part of the orchard from the weeds, the rest is overgrown with wild cherry plum saplings. I can't decide if I should just clear them all, or let them grow. Or maybe something in between, clear only around the trees so I could pick them come harvest time?

I'll try to keep this updated as I progress for sure.

It seems that the soil isn't as good as I thought. top 2-3 cm were fine, but underneath was clumpy clay mess like everywhere else. But as I was pulling the roots out, I practically tilled those places, so that's where I'm going to plant. It's a patchy mess and I'm already being criticized for it, but I don't care.

I mulched the ground with dried grass, the plan is to remove it when planting time comes, pull out any weeds that survived, get the seeds in (or on) the ground and then put the mulch back. Sounds good?

I'll spend tomorrow pulling out some more roots and on tuesday I'll get some seeds and seedlings.

Thank you for the replies! Here are the pictires. I guess this is a gentle enough slope now that I'm looking at it. The spot is in an overgrown old cherry plum orchard. The trees are big and unpruned and there's lots of patience dock growing around. Apparently my great grandfather kept his pigs in this spot, so this may be the reason for the good soil.

I'm pretty sure arugula is gonna love the shade. I am currently mapping out the sunny spots, it's open in east and south, but in the southwest are some old buildings, and in the west there's a walnut tree, so it's most likely shady in the late afternoon. Less than ideal, but it is what it is. Summers here are super hot and dry anyway.

I already have basil in plan, I have the seedlings ready since I've already planted my herb spiral. Now that I've thought about it, I think I'm gonna try zucchini, spinach, lettuce, maybe peppers. Not sure if I'll be able to fit all of that!

Concerning the thorns, I've no idea what they are, they haven't flowered yet. There's still a couple around so I'll find out eventually. I'm gonna pull out as much of the roots as I can.

Hello, I'm new to permaculture and gardening in general, but I've been reading Gaia's Garden so I know the basics. While clearing out some thorny shrubs on my land, I've discovered that the soil where they were growing isn't bad at all, as opposed to heavy clay almost everywhere else. So  I picked two spots, a shady one for arugula and a sunny one for tomatoes. I've started removing grass and weeds and the plan is to cover with mulch until planting arugula next week. I have a couple of questions:

What would be good companions for mentioned plants? I'm completely unprepared and I haven't planned to plant anything, but now I've changed my mind. Something easy preferrably since I'm a complete beginner.

Should I remove the thorn roots? They are big and deep and it would disturb the soil more than a bit. In fact, by pulling out a couple of them I've discovered that the soil is good.

Would it be a good idea to dig a small swale above the planted spots? It's on a small slope, how do I know if the slope is too steep?

I started digging in a keyhole shape for the tomato patch along north-south axis. Maybe that's a mistake, should it be along east-west axis?

I may have many more questions tomorrow, and I can put up some pics. Thanks in advance to anyone who tries to help.