SelfSufficiant Gardenventure in eastern Germany

[Lunai]

Hello everyone

Today was gift day for me
I managed to get in touch with a friend who has an established garden and some old bushes if black and red currant and Gooseberry so I asked her if I could have a cutting or shoot to propagate and... well there is the 1st got multiple of all three types

Then I got into contact via internet with a stranger, living about a 10 min drive away, who recently divided his very big and very old black currant rootstock. He wanted to gift the stuff he broke off to someone else so there is the 2nd gift which turned out to have already new roots forming and was actually in 4 pieces dug those in with some pumpkin leftovers and potato peels and voila

Then I salvaged a ton of seeds most of all our marigold, but also sun-hat/coneflower, garden cosmos and calliopsis/garden tickseed... I'm gonna save them for the next season especially the marigold to plant between the potatoes to ceep the bugs away.

Also got y'all a shot of our small and not well insolated greenhouse. It currently houses winter onions, spinach, weeds and now the new cuttings. It's enough to protect the plants from frost andit's temperature is jus about 3-5 grades higher than outside.With that it's mor of a protected Area than a greenhouse

And finally I got some very welcome visitor
A Robin perched itself just about 1m away on the peach tree and observed what I was doing. Sat there for about 3 min and listened to me about rambling on that, till I get my phone out and ready to take a pic he would surely have flown away. But hey, it's day so:

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

Haha, for me it's the opposite. If I even dare look away for just a second, suddenly they're dead. They're expecting to be treated like a princess.
But on the flip side of the coin, when I am actively trying to kill a plant, it'll fight back with a vengeance.

Loving the update on the garden!

 

[Lunai]

Hello

Today was a rainy day... so bad that my fiancé finished work early before 1 p.m.
Very good for me. not only did he bring lunch but also did the rain stop and I was able to go to the garden in daylight (sundown is around 5 p.m.).
I decided to do some (more) digging (again)
This time I relocated the one gooseberry to a slightly better Position. and what a surprise! One turned into Three!
While loosening the earth around the roots I saw that there was a offshoot already about 10cm tall, then I realised that the two stems forming something of a bush, actually had separate rootsystems. So in I went with the spade and separated them. now there are 3 instead of one

I also relocated the white currant and planted the red currant I had previously on my balcony, and also the scrubby gooseberry from my balcony which is hidden behind the Oregano on this pic.

in this pic you can see all of them: from left to right: three-in-one Gooseberry, balcony gooseberry, Oregano, red currant, white currant
I plan on putting the cuttings that reside currently in the greenhouse in between the both currants, and the gooseberrys respectively more to the left alongside the fence.

And as you can see... it's already dark as I'm leaving...

 

[Lunai]

Today and yesterday I did som (even more) digging (as almost always). Well I started with it, cause we had some rain over the week and the soil is quite heavy. And while I still have some strength in me at the beginning of my gardensession I like to do the heavy duty stuff first. Yesterday I leveled the new walkways (I tried at least). That would#ve been at least 6 wheelborrows full. And Today I had a spontaneous opportunity to get my hand on 9 wheelborrows full of really old and wormy horse manure, almost more like kompost already. All deliverd on a trailer to the garden gate for the price of 3 wild growing affshoots of raspberry which we didn't know where to put anyway (from the neighbor)... All with the promise that I can have more of that stuff for the price of one of my mature chili plants and a little help in shoveling it on the traile as well. Folks this is really good stuff. This is the real deal. And with the Manure/Kompost came a battalion of happy worms too Our wormpopulation has almost doubled in 30 min of work, while shoveling it from the Trailer into the wheely (maybe a bit overexaggerated)

I totally forgott to show you my (formely) newest raised bed which now houses our two struggling blueberries. Hoping that they like it there more. they don't get so much direct sun, but it's still very light here but shaded, especially in summer. I recycled an old rain barrel for that one. drilled plenty holes in the bottom, all just about 1cm wide so that worms and bugs and stuff can gett in and out, but no moles or mices get into. Mulched it with some soft thuja/conifer snippets to help withstand the coming frost. It's now getting colder by the day. So we have to start thinking about frostprotection.

And FINALLY those two sick peachtrees where taken down yesterday. The other two menbers of our shared garden finally turned up and did some work

But the pile has already shrunken about half today, cause the human shredder (aka me) went to work And the pile of thuja/conifer we got from our neighbor also got diminished. All putt into the (now) newest raised Bed no3. Thuja at the bottom, couse it takes the longest time to decompose and it is quite poisonous for mamals but Bugs and stuff don't have issues with it, and the poisonous stuff decomposes over time, so hopefully the thick layer at the bottom will ceep out moles and mices... The peach snippets are going on top of that, but I'm not done with that pile.... The really thick branches of thepeachtrees will dry over winter and be used for the next barbecue come spring Maybe I'll putt the appletree cuttings in this bed too, to get them out of the way, and there is plenty of scrubbery, AND of course that BEAUTIFUL horsemanure/compost
pic1 peachtree pile, Pic2 thuja pile, pic3 and 4 raised bed no3 made of old pallets

 

[Lunai]

I've never seen the German spelling for the region before. Thanks for that. My great-great-grandfather was born in Thionville, north of Metz. Of course, in that corner, going further back includes ancestors from Luxembourg and Germany. My surname, Thille, is a French variation on a Germanic name...apparently Thil, Thill, and Thiel are all derivatives of the same surname.

Many train trips here are measured in days. The nearest Canadian city with over 100,000 population is about 550 km away.

Good job on the progress...it's always good to be able to enlist the help of volunteers, I mean friends. I thought I had help today to dig sugar beets, but she sort of did her own thing at our country property.

I've grown up in Freiburg just over the border of Colmar and south-east of Straßburg. Then we moved (800km) to Eastfresia at the border to the netherlands, I lived 16 years there. And finally moved around 400km to the east

Train rides here ... well are always late... if they're not, something's wrong and here everything with a population over 20.000 is considered a city everything over 60.000 is a big city everything over 400.000 is a metropolis

And thanks apreciate the feedback. I can rely on my fiancé with that, cause he only does what I tell him to do, cause he doesn't want to accidentally kill something (brown thump) by looking or touching it and he's not that interessted in Plants and gardening. Don't get me wrong... he always listens to me, rambling on about the garden and plants and plans... but he doesn't remember But it's ok... with some themes it's also like that the other way round

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

Stunning! Loving the updates each time

 

[Lunai]

Winter has come!


No really. It's a bit crazy... last week we had +16°C, nice and warm and sunny...
Then we had almost a week of rain inbetween some downpouring bathtubs and some more wind...
Yesterday it was still around +8°C and now.... we're down to -6°C at 12 p.m.

look at that white stuff! I bet those chilis on the windowsill are glad to be inside

It's snowy at the garden too... the first 10 cm of soil are frozen solid already....

the cabbage looks quite happy... we'll wait and see

those marigold/Tagetes are looking quite sorry for themselves

ourgreenhouse has some sereously cold ground. but at least it warms up on top. The Icicle-radishes are looking yum

popsickle-tomatoes

that's how much was frozen... just over night

not much to do with all that frost... there was some bricking and cementing planned but... that'll has to wait unfortunately. It's unusual that we have snow that early in winter. It is not even yet winter... we're still in late autumn.... Usually we get the first snow around mid dec and not a month early... Last three years we had it even later in mid feb, and in dec everything was still wet'n muddy. Nothing to do about it.
We'll just have to wait, drink tea (loads of tea) and see what's going to happen.

cheers

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

I absolutely love snow
So pretty!

Though I must admit I wasn't into gardening yet since I've last seen snow. Your poor plants. Which ones do you usually overwinter?
I hear brussels sprouts can enjoy the cold too nearing the end of it's growth.

 

[Lunai]

I absolutely love snow
So pretty!

Though I must admit I wasn't into gardening yet since I've last seen snow. Your poor plants. Which ones do you usually overwinter?
I hear brussels sprouts can enjoy the cold too nearing the end of it's growth.

yeah, well but it's so cooooold it looks good and gives the earth beneath a much needed rest n stuff, BUT it's so coooold -8°C !

I thing almost all types of cabbage can overwinter... most garlic varieties actually need a bit of a coldspell, jerusalem artichoke stay in the ground and gets harvested if needed, Beets and turnips can stay inground until harvested, all types of pepers and chili need to but can overwinter indoor in our climate.
There are others, but I'm new to that stuff too, so I haven't yet learnd about all types that can be overwintered.

There are winter onions/leek, that also grow, slowly but steady, an can stay in ground.

 

[Alpenrose]

My DH and I are much older now. For five months of every year he dreams of being on a So. Pacific Island. Sometimes he even wears his tropical shirt while in the house. For most of that time he is outside shoveling snow off the walk ways and from around the car. I can sit at our dining table with a nice hot cup of coffee and look out the window and watch him shoveling! I tell him that watching him shoveling snow is my favorite "winter sport". His response is--"that's a spectator sport". One day I stepped out on to the porch while he was shoveling and called out: "hay Harry take off your shirt!" He didn't think that was as funny as I did ;-) !

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

I'm stuck in a heatwave (yesterday we almost hit 39 degrees Celcius), I'd love me some of that cold. I don't mind putting on some extra clothes, but you can only do so much against the heat. I'm literally wearing soaked long-sleeve shirts and sitting in front of a fan to stay cool. The heat is a bit much on me, haha.

That's very fair! I know that some people grow some hardy (though not freeze hardy) but insulating them overnight. This can be done by simply placing a bucket over them upside down as plants actually generate a little heat themselves. Depends on the temperatures of course, and if daytime does get above 0.
I actually invested in a small greenhouse, before I realised "hey silly, you live in the tropics, you don't get below 0 temperatures". Silly mistake, but it does keep some bugs off of my seedlings so at least there's that!

Learning what can grow when is quite fun in my opinion. Though I'm on the opposite side of things; the amount of times I've had plants bolt on me... hehe.

 

[Lunai]

My DH and I are much older now. For five months of every year he dreams of being on a So. Pacific Island. Sometimes he even wears his tropical shirt while in the house. For most of that time he is outside shoveling snow off the walk ways and from around the car. I can sit at our dining table with a nice hot cup of coffee and look out the window and watch him shoveling! I tell him that watching him shoveling snow is my favorite "winter sport". His response is--"that's a spectator sport". One day I stepped out on to the porch while he was shoveling and called out: "hay Harry take off your shirt!" He didn't think that was as funny as I did ;-) !

I loughed so hard on that one thank you for making my day.
My fiancé looked at me and said: Yeah I can imagine you saying the same thing.And I shot back: Or you. And we both louged at that, cause from time to time we hoax each other

 

[Lunai]

I'm stuck in a heatwave (yesterday we almost hit 39 degrees Celcius), I'd love me some of that cold. I don't mind putting on some extra clothes, but you can only do so much against the heat. I'm literally wearing soaked long-sleeve shirts and sitting in front of a fan to stay cool. The heat is a bit much on me, haha.

That's very fair! I know that some people grow some hardy (though not freeze hardy) but insulating them overnight. This can be done by simply placing a bucket over them upside down as plants actually generate a little heat themselves. Depends on the temperatures of course, and if daytime does get above 0.
I actually invested in a small greenhouse, before I realised "hey silly, you live in the tropics, you don't get below 0 temperatures". Silly mistake, but it does keep some bugs off of my seedlings so at least there's that!

Learning what can grow when is quite fun in my opinion. Though I'm on the opposite side of things; the amount of times I've had plants bolt on me... hehe.

That's waaaaaay too hot! I'm glad we only hit that mark on a really rare occassion in midsummer. but yeah... I was heavily pregnant last year over midsummer. sat there only with a soaked towel and a fan couldn't cope with the heat... dizzy spells and waterlogged thick legs

There's too many of my cabbages for the bucket method they're a sort of experiment anyway. Just look and see what does survive our winter without help. The serious stuff comes next winter.
Well at least it helps keep off some bugs (if you plant some thyme at the entrance it helps ceeps the bad bugs out even more.

yeah that's true. But there're so many plants that can grow here that remembering is the problem I'm trying to learn about companion planting at the moment. But thats even more...

 

[Alpenrose]

My DH and I are much older now. For five months of every year he dreams of being on a So. Pacific Island. Sometimes he even wears his tropical shirt while in the house. For most of that time he is outside shoveling snow off the walk ways and from around the car. I can sit at our dining table with a nice hot cup of coffee and look out the window and watch him shoveling! I tell him that watching him shoveling snow is my favorite "winter sport". His response is--"that's a spectator sport". One day I stepped out on to the porch while he was shoveling and called out: "hay Harry take off your shirt!" He didn't think that was as funny as I did ;-) !

Your welcome! Humor and kindness are the greatest gifts we give!

 

[daveb]

There are some great list of companion planting on the web and there is a book list on amazon " companion planting "
" Carrots love tomatoes " is an old guide

A few i learned from grandfather because he did huge tracks of potatoes was a few plants that did well it was uncommon in his fields of potatoes to see flax growing amount the rows or an occasion run of poles with snap peas and beans growing and if you walked in the rows you would always find leeks or garlic around. ok so here the potatoes keep the Mexican bean beetle away from the peas and beans and they give extra nitrogen to the soil the flax garlic and leeks work to repel Colorado potato bug. horse radish is supposed to also deter pest from potatoes but the way the fields go and tilling you would have horse radish everywhere unless you planted controlled spots .

In the house garden tomatoes always had carrots and lettuce under them the carrots help loosen the soil as you pull them during growing to eat and the lettuce acts as a natural mulch to shade and cool the soil, for herbs toss Basil in with tomatoes, dill - oregano help by attracting beneficial insects, keep cabbages broccoli and other of those family away from tomatoes
a row of edible nasturtium to attract pollinators near tomatoes will help also to attract a large number of pollinators, because the aphids love this flower toss some Sweet alyssum around them and tomatoes to attract the parasitic wasp that eat aphids

Lets not forget the very old group the three sisters very good reason my ancestors and many from other cultures grew them they were doing it probably from necessity to utilize room the first time maybe but who knows .......... the three sister corn beans pumpkin ( or squash ) corn for the pole the beans climbed squash leafs to shade and keep soil moist and act as dew traps and the beans to feed the soil extra nitrogen and to make a staple the stored well for winter with the dried corn.

a word of warning Fennel if you grow it give it its own plot many vegetables plants dont do well with it growing with it

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

Yes, I've heard about the three sisters too. Definitely an amazing example

 

[daveb]

its little things like this that I do second nature, forgetting so many didn't grow up around. The three sister were unique to north america ( meso american cultures ) but it shows how skills and ideas got passed along across cultures it was something i saw even my grandmother do in the farm house garden. i grew up around 3 generations that still farmed canned smoked their meat to save for winter and around a varied groups of different nationalities and their ways of growing and cooking. and I think that is slowing being a thing of past. My generation i think may have been one of the last that was fully exposed to the old way of growing - preserving -canning and some basic skills we forget some today have not seen and wont unless we pass it along. and i seriously think its time i start writting it down i have friends that if there is an issue in garden they come to me to ask because they cant find something in one of their books.

 

[Lunai]

Thanks for those amazing examples!

Tho I think it's a bit different in Europe... maybe because we have different pests. For Potatoes it's said that Tagetes and calendula keep Nematodes, white fly and viruses away, also are said to increase the amount of crop (some pages state that they can even ceep away the potato beetle because they don't like the smell of tagetes) All types of the legume family help with nitrogen. That said I found several german/europe pages/articles that state that peas are an exception to that. But I can`t figure out exactly why I`ll ceep searching... Yes I've heard of horseradish helping with pests. Lavender should help with Ants, but that one's not true at all.... we have a billion Lavenders throughout the garden and several antnests, sometimes right next to a lavender plant... cilantro and kummel are said tohave a positive influence on the Potato taste.

I'm planning on planting the three sisters. I've already ordered some Pumpkin varieties (blue hungarian, atlantic giant and some hokaido variety) and the heirloom corn (a colorful variety) aaaand the beans (vigne unguiculata ssp. sesquipedalis should have beans/husks up to 1m long, and the giant white greek). We will also use this combo as a kind of screen alongside the fenceline, so that not everyone that comes along the main walkway can see straight through to the very end. (there are regulations for walls or high screen fences or high hedges. I think they are allowed to a max level of 1,10m) So because we're not allowed to put up some kind of none-see-though wat-ever-thing on the fenceline we're going to plant a none-see-through veggie wall case closed

I relly appreciate any help and suggestions

 

[daveb]

Tagets we call Marigolds . yes they help deter certain pest, lavener and mint will work with ants and various other herbs do same specially peppermint it also deters rodents.

Ok the three sister a couple common ways it is planted here is one pattern

In hills corn is planted first 6 inches ( 15 cm ) apart after it reachs 6 inches tall plant the beans a week later plant the pumpkin or squash

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

Whilst I am very aware this list still looks a bit wonky at the moment, I did write down some companion plants and why they work together.
An example is cucumber. A good companion is dill because it could aid in deterring aphids and mites.

General Gardening - [WiP] Tips & Tricks guide to container gardening | Companion plants

Companion planting is where you plant multiple different plants together as they provide benefits to one or eachother. This can range from nutrients, to pest resisting, attracting pollinaters and much more. Companion planting sadly has a fairly...

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