and zigzag beds sloped (hopefully) towards the sun:
It depends a lot on how high you need your beds to be. I lose a bit of width with the slope of the sides. Ergonomically having them higher would also mean less bending, although I always wonder how people harvest their parsnips without digging.
Observation Weather and priorities have meant I haven't progressed on this recently (I'm trying to get last year's wood away before I cut this year's ) Anyhow - lots of rain at the weekend following frost and snow thaw meant the ground is pretty saturated round here. It gives me the opportunity to see where the natural water flow is around the tunnel without the cover.
You can hopefully see the three areas where the water is standing - outlined in red.
1) Alongside the downhill side of the tunnel - this will obviously get much wetter after the tunnel plastic goes on. I'm hoping to harvest some of this by digging out a ditch there and perpendicularly under the side of the tunnel and infill with 'stick drains'. Hopefully this will irrigate the East side of the tunnel pretty well.
2) At the front of the tunnel by the vehicle access. This could be a problem - I foresee this filling with mud, so I'm going to use some of the loose rock from digging the ditches to back fill a bit here.
3) On the uphill North corner - This is maybe an opportunity. This is a bit of seepage from the land above the tunnel. I'm not planning on much irrigation on the West side - there will be overflow from my wicking beds which will be fed from gutters off the west side of the cover. But mostly that will be further to the South end. I may however be able to put a stick drain in to guide some of this water into the tunnel at this end.
Hi Tess. I'm not that familiar with the specific requirements but usually they are not that flexible. If it says "make a spoon" the making a fork won't do Which BB were you looking at (a link always helps!) An alternative might be an oddball BB - where you make something else and get a BB credit for that. You can only get credit for a certain amount of oddballs though I think, so you need to be strategic!
There actually appeared to be three different sorts of fungi on this coppiced Alder tree trunk that didn't grow back; brown ones at the top, bright green ones and some frilly ones with almost reflective white edges. The bright green one was rather gorgeous!
I rinse white rice, but usually don't bother with brown... It occurs to me too that the rinse water might be useful if you are into Korean Natural Farming - isn't rice water a starting point for essential microorganisms?
Toad in the hole again tonight (or sausages in batter), and the hole turned out pretty good this time, if I say so myself. The trick is a good hot oven!
I've heard that the Akebia fruit is a fruit and a vegetable in one - the pulp around the seeds is sweet like a fruit, but the skin is used by the Japanese as a cooked vegetable. I have achieved flowers on mine in the tunnel, but alas no fruit...
I struggle with vines here - too windy! I think the only natives I see are ivy (yes the dreaded English ivy!) and honeysuckle. There isn't much ivy, I think the sheep eat it, but there is a lovely honeysuckle down by the river that flowers and has red berries. I don't think of brambles as vines...more as grasping prickly shrubs!
Just starting out with hops - they flowered well in their second year, but I'm not sure when to pick them
edited to add picture of my hop flowers :)
In my tunnel I hope to grow again many more fruiting vines, I've done well with grapes, and count mashua and Apios as vines there too. I'm going to try some hardy kiwi, passionfruit and Akebia again. The Schisandra didn't seem to like it here so I don't think I'lll buy another plant, but the ones I had may have survived; I'll have to check.
Lots of annual legumes of course - peas and climbing runner beans - Although the runner beans can technically be perennial, they need help with that in my climate. I did have them overwnter one year in the tunnel, so that may be worth another try.
A graduate scientist turned automotive engineer, currently running a small shop and growing plants on Skye: turning a sheep field into a food forest.
) Anyhow - lots of rain at the weekend following frost and snow thaw meant the ground is pretty saturated round here. It gives me the opportunity to see where the natural water flow is around the tunnel without the cover.
Which BB were you looking at (a link always helps!) An alternative might be an oddball BB - where you make something else and get a BB credit for that. You can only get credit for a certain amount of oddballs though I think, so you need to be strategic!
