Nikita Sidorenko

Chris Badgett
I’m not sure if I really need a course but thank you anyway! I will look through them.

Alder Burns

more "stuff" of many sorts should be coming onto the site than are leaving it. Compost materials of all sorts, mulches, organic matter, paper and cardboard, wood chips and brush and the like.

Should I put stuff into the compost piles or just throw on the ground? Will cover crops and so on grow fine under a lot of mulch?

bob day
Thank you for such a great answer!

The idea is to create a contour design for your property, which is basically taking level lines from one boundary to the other

Can you please give more info or rephrase sentence above? I understood that I should make swales or contour ditches to catch water and also fill them with irrigation water. Anything else?
By the way do you think drip irrigation is a good idea or it’s sufficient just to fill swales with water?

jay william

Run some animals over the land

I really don’t want to make deal with animals. At least for the first time. Too complicated for me.

Follow them with your pioneer species. Plant densely, so you can sacrifice them over the years and coppice them for mulch. At the same time, plant your long term fruit and nut species. This is time stacking. These trees will grow up amongst your pioneers, eventually taking over as you disadvantage the mulch making and nitrogen fixing bushes and trees.

Sounds good, thank you!

bob day, thanks for your reply!
First of all, there are no or a few cattle and wildlife.
Irrigation water is available several days per week.
I'm not sure if it's possible to get water from any other source since rains are really rare and site is situated on the high position of the hill. Not the highest but close to it. I was thinking about making sort of a drip irrigation.
Do you have any ideas of water distribution in such a dry area? Make a focus on irrigation water?

So the first steps I see:
1) Start compost pile
2) Plant cover crop
3) Think about water distribution

Does it make sense?

Lynsey Nico, thanks a lot! I will check your articles and books!
But I still really need to find out what first steps should I do!
Should I start planting something? Should I fertilize soil in some way? I'm really stuck.

Hi!

I have no experience working with plants and ground at all.
Occasionally got 800 square meters land and want to play with permaculture (really like idea of forest gardens)!

The problem is that soil is really pure and as far as I understood I must improve it.
So could you please give me some peaces of advice what steps should I make to improve the soil?
Please consider that I want to create kind of forest garden (if it's possible on so small area).

If you know useful links or books - please share with me.
My priority is to get a result(something edible) as fast as possible - to keep myself motivated.

Thanks!

PS I will get there in early March so I really need to know what work can I start doing.

Land info:

800 square meters
Temperate climate (south Ukraine). Snow in winter, hot summers.
Rains are really rare
Slope is about 10 degrees.
Soil seems to be clay. Really exhausted.
No one worked there for several years so it tends to be covered by grass.

John Elliott wrote:You have neighbors? Can they toss their organic waste from their balcony to yours? If not, just put a lot of leaves on top of the pile and leave it out in the rain.

Don't think neighbors can help. Will use lot of leaves, thank you!

John Elliott wrote:You need to have a larger, shallower pan under your sand&worm pan to (1) allow for drainage and (2) catch what drains so you can use it to fertilize your other plants. If you add organic waste and water it frequently, you will replicate natural conditions and your worms can thrive and make soil in the process. What drains off should help you raise a nice crop of tomatoes or other vegetables on your balcony.

Thanks a lot! Growing tomatoes is a great idea too! However the main goal is to transform sand into the soil. Just for fun and to see how things work I am going to 1 month vacation soon. Do you think it's possible to make system live without my care? Rain water can be collected into the pan but what about organic waste?

Hi! I'm very new to gardening (no experience at all).
I've got a pan with sand on my balcony.
And I wan't to find out if it is possible to transform sand into the soil by growing earthworms, adding mulch etc.
Can you give me advices how to do it?
1) Is it possible at all?
2) I am going to put some soil with worms into my sand. Feed them with organic waste. I will put waste under the mulch. Is it correct?
3) How can I make earthworms feel good into the sand pan? Should sand be humid all the time? How much water should I give there? Maybe I should make kind of drainage so that surplus of water can be set aside?
4) Any other advices?

Thank you!