How to grow vegetables at home or in the yard
Chappy the gardener is happy to present the complete guide How to grow vegetables at home or in the yard.
Chappy the gardener, everyone’s favorite horticulturist, is back with a brand new guide on how to grow vegetables at home or in the yard. This comprehensive guide covers everything from soil preparation to harvesting, and includes tips and tricks from Chappy himself on getting the most out of your garden.
Growing Guide Menu
In the last four decades, the Western world has emerged from the dangers and health, environmental, and social problems created and created by the well-known conservative industrial agriculture: soil and water source pollution; Poisoning of the local food chain; Pesticide residues in vegetables and fruits; Creation of super-insects; Salinization and soil depletion due to excessive use of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers; Land tightening due to excess mechanization; Massive and cruel exploitation of farm animals and the production of nutritionally worthless meat; Local labor emissions and the disintegration of the agricultural community …
Traditional agriculture was in fact ecological agriculture that strives to mimic the natural processes that create the healthiest growing method for all participants in the food growing process. This agriculture today is an accumulation of agricultural methods and approaches based on the accumulated knowledge of thousands of years of farmers and peasants, in addition to a new understanding – scientific, bio-ecological and social – that began to grow in Europe and the US following works by Rudolf Steiner and biodynamic agriculture, and her revolutionary book Rachel Carson ‘Still Life’.
All of these approaches place a major emphasis on soil fertility conservation.
With the application of these approaches there is no need for massive use of synthetic chemicals for pesticides and fertilizers, instead of monoecious / mono-culture there is a combined growth of several families and varieties over divided areas. The livestock will contribute to the other industries and will be managed taking into account the needs of the animals, there will be breeding of varieties and the use of selected local seeds and not genetically modified seeds.
The farm is not considered a bubble and a money machine, but a place where land, plants, livestock, the community and the environment are integrated.
The garden or vegetable field was built as a stage on which bacteria, diarrhea, tomatoes and peppers, herbs and flowers and even frogs and snails play.
The assistant director of the play is the farmer or gardener who sees soil fertility as the central motif, and the integration with the environment as the direct message inherent in the play.
Compost
Natural fertilizer created from aerobic decomposition (fan) of organic waste: vegetable residues, pruning of plants or dried leaves, feces of vegetarian farm animals: cows, sheep, goats, horses or poultry.
The compost pile needs air, moisture and warm temperature for complete aerobic decomposition, so we stack it and not bury it, water it weekly if it has not rained, and put dry leaves or papers in it and sometimes cover it with them.
The organic matter in the heap is aerobically broken down by heat-releasing bacteria (40-50 degrees). Unlike stinking local manure that rots here there is no release of stinking ammonia gas due to the aerobic process. Bacteria, fungi, insects and various microorganisms break down the organic matter and enrich it, after about a month and a half – three months we have an excellent fertilizer that looks like black soil and crumbles almost odorless. This natural fertilizer provides the three important macronutrients of the plant: NPK (nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium) and is rich in essential micro-nutrients (sulfur, magnesium, calcium …).
There can be one pile of compost in the garden, but it is better to have two piles of compost: a hungry pile and a cooking pile.
Hungry heap – regularly picks up vegetable scraps (from the kitchen or the vegetable garden), pruning weeds (from the garden or the gardener of the faculty) and manure from farm animals (if any).
Baking heap – receives the semi-ripe compost (the material at the bottom of the pile) created after 4-6 weeks from the hungry pile, in which there is again room for more organic waste. In the boiling pile compost can be collected due to the bottom of the pile after another 4-6 weeks.
How to build a compost pile?
Dig a pit about a meter and a half in diameter and about 60 cm deep, line it with cardboard or wooden twigs and begin to pile up layers upon layers of dry leaves, organic waste, and a little sand, and so on and so forth. 500: sqm) is: height 1.50 meters (including 60 cm pit); diameter 2 meters. Nitrogen The green, wet substance) means putting a little more green matter than brown matter.
Ongoing treatment
During the summer period between May and November we moisten (create humidity conditions) the pile every week. It is better to use gray water, such as those collected from the sink, shower or air conditioner and give 3-4 liters every week (it is better to use environmentally friendly detergents). We will turn the stack once every two weeks with the in order to inject oxygen and speed up the decomposition process.
During the rainy winter period between November and May, we will cover the pile with plastic or sacks and allow water to enter from the water, but not flooding, in order to prevent the pile from flooding and the decay process to begin.
What should not be thrown in the compost pile
Meat or milk scraps, plastics, nylons, batteries and statistics teachers.
You can also add tree dirt and plant extracts.
Mulch
The cover is the ‘blanket’ of the soil protects and protects against hardening and erosion, creates shade and cools high soil heat, allows to create a habitat for soil insects, prevents invasive weeds and increases the amount of organic matter in the soil. You can use dry or fresh herbs, leaves, pieces of wood, pine cones, remnants of agricultural crops such as straw and wild hay, lawn mowing or stones, cardboard and even b.
It turns out that we do not need to use an herbicide, on the contrary, the herbs become a solution and a gift of nature. You can also spread a composting sheet, in which there is a combination of ripe compost and weeds or dried leaves, or simply use semi-composted leaves / pruning.
The benefits of cladding are in retaining moisture and lowering soil temperature; Prevention of rainwater and wind drift; Reducing soil moisture evaporation; Relative obstruction of invasive or toxic weed growth; Food for microorganisms in the soil and changing the micro-climate around the seedling. It is not recommended to use pine cones, with eucalyptus leaves, and walnut and celery leaves because they contain substances that are similar in their properties to herbicides). In the organic of trend, an orderly cladding pile was built in which we will use the compost piles and vegetable beds intensively.
Green Manure
Green manure crops enrich the soil in the winter-summer cycles according to their season, they are sown in combination with the vegetables and other crops and until adulthood they form a living cover, after their maturity they are harvested again as a raw material for cover and compost. It is mainly sown legumes, legumes, which install nitrogen in the soil: alfalfa and clover of all kinds, beech, soybean lentils and the like.
Other grasses such as barley, rye, oats, mustard, nettle and bong are also sown as edible crops in combination with vegetables or sometimes in rotation of crops in another plot or among the fruit trees in our orchard.
Green manure crops are also called cover crops, because their function is similar to cladding to enrich and protect the topsoil by creating efficient drainage of rainwater due to their deep roots, preventing soil erosion and pushing invasive or toxic weeds by their very presence.
Jazz also create a shading effect on low-growing crops, protect against winds and provide an alternative to vegetables if harmful insects are present.
When they bloom, they encourage insect pollination in vegetables such as tomatoes, beans, melons …. In addition, some of them, such as nettle and bong, can also be used to prepare protective extracts and strengthen vegetable crops.
Companion Growing
In nature, plants grow in a variety of species in a mixture and in constant interaction with the vegetation, insects and microorganisms in the soil. They develop vaccines, methods of protection and endurance for various diseases and insects due to the interaction, exposure and the fact that they do not grow alone and with the same plant varieties. The plants in many cases also ‘help’ each other due to different features.
In this ancient method, flower beds with herbs (ordinary herbs and herbs and medicine) are combined in flower beds, and different crops or different varieties from the same family. Various properties of plants allow the gardener to arrange in beds and according to seasons and rotation of crops – different plants according to their beneficial properties and thereby achieve cladding, fertilization, shade, drainage, crop protection and increased productivity, variety of species and soil fertility.
The Companion Planting method, a derivative of this method and its benefits are seen in plants that emit odors that disrupt and / or confuse insects and various parasites (garlic, for example, repels harmful fungi, fragrance removes dung from tomatoes); Plants that seduce in their color and / or smell of insects and thus divert them from the crop (the monk’s hat, for example, attracts leaf aphids); Plants that provide shelter for beneficial insects (dill for example, will attract parasitic wasps and spiders that feed on cabbage building larvae); Non-competing plants; Tall plants that save on low crops; Crops that contribute to the soil such as legumes. Thus the diversity of species in the garden will increase, productivity will grow and the garden will also be beautiful to the eye.
Crop Rotation
This is an agricultural method that has been used for thousands of years by farmers designed to balance the nutrients of the field soil, to maintain the vitality of the soil and crops against diseases, pests and intensive growth of weeds – all by cyclical transport and rotation of crops. The basic meaning is the encouragement of diversity, which gives stability to the biological system of the field.
In familiar agriculture, the same crops are planted on the same area every year – this fact makes it easier for harmful insects or diseases to repeatedly damage the same crop and more vigorously. The farmer will buy and pour on the crops and soil another dangerous pesticide spray and another synthetic chemical fertilizer to solve this problem, but this is not a smart and unhealthy solution for anyone, neither the farmer nor the world.
In crop rotation, the different crops change from one department to another every year, clockwise or counterclockwise. The crop that alternates with the other crop does not belong to the same botanical family, in addition to the two ‘heirs’ crops will have different nutrient needs from the soil and they do not share diseases or harmful insects. The longer the rotation the better, the recommended minimum is a 3 year rotation.
For example, legume crops will be replaced by non-legumes, so the soil will contain the nitrogen contribution left by the legumes and a crop that needs nitrogen such as tomatoes will benefit from it. Garlic or onions will always be before cauliflower / cruciferous susceptible to fungal diseases, due to their properties they will spread antiseptic substances in the soil and prevent fungal diseases when the cauliflower or cruciferous are planted next year.
Clovers and alfalfa that are able to repel invasive weeds and which have deep roots will be replaced by crops that suffer from invasive weed cultivation and which need deep and drained soil such as asparagus, melon, tomato …
Integrated Pest Management
Problems of harmful insects, diseases and invasive or toxic weeds are treated, in the organic way, primarily in the form of preventive care as part of the overall system of the crop: compost, mulch, rotation, combination of crops and friendly plants. The constant work on preserving soil fertility, increasing the variety of varieties and increasing the interaction with the local environment is first and foremost in everything related to integrated pest management. A veteran biodynamic farmer in the Galilee emphasizes that if you learned the secret of soil fertility, you solved about 80% of all pest problems and diseases that plague the field. Plants grown with enough water, on fertile soils withstand insect attacks better than plants grown in soils with nutrient deficiency, density and uniformity. In case there are pest problems there are some organic methods to treat ‘problem’, and sometimes the problem is the solution:
Order and health
maintaining balanced drainage and moisture, pruning, spacing between plants, checking seedlings before planting, buying seeds that have not been covered with an exterminator (untreated), being careful not to injure plants, working with tools, not entering the garden when it is wet, cleaning tools from time to time. Plants that show signs of disease should be pruned to the centers of the disease or rooted and burned on the side of the field.
Medicinal herbs
In any field it is important to combine the cultivation of herbs and medicine. Extracts can be extracted because onions, nettles, chamomile-bong bongi, hot pepper, etc. to spread / spray on soil intended for sowing / planting or from which a diseased plant is knocked out. Another role is in repelling insects by preparing onion extract, hot pepper, onion peels, rosemary, basil and more.
Manual collection and rinsing
Simple and easy while visiting the garden, while working in the garden or after drinking coffee in the garden, check the plants. In case there is a serious problem you should collect harmful snails. You can shake, crush or pick for dinner masses of insect eggs, sage, larvae and aphids (it is also recommended to collect pests put in a blender add a little soap and sprinkle on the infected plants). Rinsing (high current in a short time) of larvae, eggs and insects is also effective but it should be in coordination with the order and schedule of irrigation.
Barriers
Two wooden planks or a row of stones on either side of the flower bed are an effective barrier for snails; Scattering or laying stones / rocks / oysters / crumbs or pieces of sandpaper around the snail-stopping crops; Scatter on and around onions, carrots or cauliflower – hot pepper powder deters worm larvae. In severe cases a tumor can be covered in tunnels made of fan polypropylene that will stop flea beetles, various beetles, cauliflower larvae and even hungry birds (while pollination of specific tumors the cover should be exposed). Collars made of cardboard or sandpaper around seedlings prevent access to nocturnal raids by butterfly larvae, Cutworms
Insects and Beneficial Animals
It has been said in the past “the fruit that wasp was bitten by is not a fruit to blame …” In an ecological field that mimics the ecosystem in nature there is a predatory predatory balance of insects and other animals. – Insects, damages local food chains, leaves poisonous residues in crops in the soil and water reservoirs and virtually destroys almost all organisms in the field’s ecosystem! The ‘bad’ and also the ‘good’.
It is important to identify by observing and researching which insects, animals, fungi and bacteria are beneficial to us in our garden / field and to preserve, or incorporate them into it in a controlled manner.
Insects such as leaf aphid fly, parasitic wasps (barkonid, halibut), beetle, dragonfly, mantis and more. They themselves, or their larvae are predators and parasites of insects known as pests such as mites, rhinos, thrips, nematodes and more.
Spiders, frogs, birds, hedgehogs are all harmful insect predators and system scales, and it is important to host some of them in the garden and find a place for them. Therefore in a sustainable field it is important to establish a small pool of water, grow flowers rich in nectar and pollen (friendly plants), leave some weeds between the vegetable crops (Gazi) and build trenches and burrows for them.
Traps
Traps of various types can be prepared or purchased designed to reduce the number of a harmful insect strain or to be used as a measure of the arrival or appearance of a new pest so that it will be possible to know how to treat it ahead of time. There are colored sticky traps, and / or tempting by emitting pheromones, food and water traps, and trapped shifting crops such as dill that repel pests from the tomato, as soon as the dill is attacked by these pests take root and burn it, adding the dirt to the compost pile.
Locality
Tumors that are bioecologically adapted to their environment or grown for hundreds or thousands of years in the same area are characterized by high physiological resilience, genetic diversity and sufficient yield. Specific species and varieties of plant and livestock crops such as basmati rice in India and Pakistan, South American corn, white goat in Switzerland, cassava in Cuba, beetles in Israel and the vine in France have been adapted to their habitat for hundreds of years. Moreover, the natural environment and the local farmers improve and increase the variety of crop varieties over the years without the use of Mandalian seed hybridization, and / or in the creation of trans-genes by genetic engineering – but by the propagation of seeds by the biometric method.
Seeds that are not local and uncoordinated with the environment in which they grow – usually create high resource utilization such as excessive consumption of fresh water, chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Because they are not compatible with
The ecosystem of the field and region, they are actually forced on the field and the new region – which creates and increases waste of resources and environmental pollution damage.
Crops that are only recommended in tropical regions: banana, avocado, papaya, cotton, coffee, cocoa, rice, mango, koi, etc. More suitable for local cultivation are the olive, fig, carob, pomegranate, vine, and date trees. In addition, grains such as wheat, barley, rye, sesame seeds, which are sown in the fall, are used in watering in the winter, and are harvested in the spring. Vegetables are not small water consumers, but if they are grown according to their season (see later in the guide) they do not create ecological problems.
On observing perseverance and love
Farmers, peasants, farmers or peasants are in fact the bridge between wild nature and the diverse ecosystem and the modern-urban single-human human being who is perceptually almost completely detached from nature, but dependent and intensively exploited.
Year after year farmers are a kind of scientists who examine the reality of growing food in each growing season, dealing almost every day with a new problem or phenomenon that emerges from the wild and amazing natural world of plants, insects and animals. The real peasants observe and learn how to work with nature not against it, they do so in a healthy way to produce real food by so that they do not harm the delicate ecosystems that sustain them. They preserve the land not only for themselves but for future generations. They do not exploit, coerce or rape the resources because they know and knew even then that the resources are depleted; That everything in nature is related to the other; What you do to the system you do to yourself.
They understood that the land does not belong to them, but that they belong to the land …
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