Market Garden

We have redesigned and rebuilt our market garden. It is now composed of six 4’x32’ beds near the community garden. These beds were constructed using trench gardening, a method of garden bed construction in which trenches are dug, organic matter is dumped into the trenches (things such as wood, leaves, compost, vegetation, etc), and then the last roughly foot is filled in with garden soil. It is essentially in-ground hugelkultur. In an effort to demonstrate a variety of bed construction, our next bed or two in our market garden will be true hugelkultur, constructed this fall or early spring next year. We are also working on a new, very large bed for garlic at the front of the property.

 

Demonstration Gardens

This year, we have shifted focus from market crops to demonstration gardens. Each bed is designed to showcase as many vegetables as possible and how to grow them, including trellising, spacing, and companion planting. We will be conducting harvesting workshops in which the produce will be donated to the Greener Village food bank. 

 

Passive Solar Greenhouse Aquaponics

The aquaponics system in our passive solar greenhouse has been rebuilt. We added a fish tank to the two previous ones, plumbed in a deep water culture bed, added a bell siphon to the flood and drain grow bed, and integrated an aquatic vermicompost component to add lots of extra nutrients. Our aim, with respect to organisms, is to create a trophic web, a largely self-sustaining ecosystem that only requires the periodic addition of organic waste to the aquatic vermicompost component. So far we have established: common garden snails (which are apparently just as happy being aquatic), detritus worms, water fleas, cyclops (a tiny crustacean like water fleas), red wiggler worms (in the aquatic vermicompost system but also in the sand in the deep water culture bed), goldfish (which are not staying once we get past the hurdles involved in getting tilapia), and a wide range of microorganisms. We will soon be adding: Peruvian apple snails (which grow to the size of a baseball), marbled crayfish, guppies, and possibly ghost shrimp. Work on the black soldier fly cultivator is almost complete. This will drop a steady supply of black soldier fly larvae into the water, to be eaten by the crayfish (and the tilapia, when we get them). We are looking forward to getting the solar pv system running (all we need is a battery now), building more demonstration sub-systems such as nutrient film technique and aeroponics, and building passive solar heating systems that will keep the temperatures up next winter.

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Beneficial Insects Garden

This display, to be installed in the oval earthen island in the main parking lot, will demonstrate the use of certain perennial plants to support beneficial insects. It will consist of six circular groupings of plants, with each grouping representing a different beneficial insect (butterflies, bees, braconid wasps, ladybugs, soldier beetles, and lacewings) by being composed of the plants that each uses for forage, shelter, breeding, etc. Six to ten ‘insect condos’ will also be part of the display. These rectangular wooden structures will consist of various compartments, each providing some benefit to beneficial insects, being filled with such materials as leaves, sticks, piles of rocks, bamboo tubes, etc. The display will also feature plenty of educational signage explaining all of the ways in which the insects benefit from the plants and insect condos.

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Drop-off Compost Program

With our vermicompost, aquatic vermicompost, and soon the black soldier fly cultivator, we have a great need for organic waste. We have established an organic waste drop-off program in the gym lobby. Anyone who visits the building regularly can drop off a full container of kitchen scraps and pick up an empty container.

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Compost Tea

Compost tea fills the soil with microbes that form symbiotic relationships with the plants. We have recently started experimenting with compost tea recipes, trying to figure out how much sugar should be added and how often, how much aeration is needed, how many days it takes for a batch to be full of microbes, what sources of microbes to use, and what additives support the growth of the microbes. We are nearly ready to move to the next stage: establishing and maintaining continuous compost tea batches in large drums for us and our community gardeners to use on a regular basis.

 

Workshops

A lot of work went into workshop development over the winter. So far we have presented Introduction to Permaculture, Home Garden Planning for Beginners, and Starting Annual Seeds for Home Gardening. Still to come this year are: Upcycling for Cat Parents (new and improved), Annual Vegetable Seed Saving, Companion Planting, Planting a Perennial Food Garden, Hugelkultur, and Vermicomposting, and Garden Vegetable Harvesting.

 

See what workshops are available here!

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