Organic farming: In recent years, the topic of using as little...
How I stopped tormenting trees
The question of when to plant seedlings in the garden - in autumn or spring - does not have a clear answer, since it all depends on the specific crops, region and, of course, the experience of gardeners. But how should you plant correctly? And here there is no time for fantasies, since everything here is really in the hands of the summer residents themselves.
The easier it is to plant a tree, the better.
Yes, they write a lot about how to care for garden plants, how to prune them, what needs to be done to remove pests or prevent their appearance. And this is very good; it is useful for even a seasoned gardener to test his knowledge. But for some reason, the authors of the letters prefer not to dwell on the subtleties associated with planting young trees.
Back in the late 50s of the last century, I, as a student primary classes, helped his father prepare planting holes for apple trees: he carried sand and clay using a stretcher. At the same time I took a closer look at how it was and what was there. And it turned out that the work itself seemed to be simple: work with a shovel and observe the dimensions of the hole (and, of course, the planting site should be with a minimum level of groundwater).
In the early 1980s, I got my own plot and did the same thing. And what is the result, you ask? And indefinite: some seedlings took root and grew without any problems, others were sick after planting, suffered, but still came to their senses, and some died.
Listening to other summer residents is a normal process. It seemed like that to me too for the time being. It didn’t even bother me that when digging planting pits, countless billions of aerobic and anaerobic organisms died, and while all this microflora was being restored, the plants stood neither alive nor dead, crucified between the pegs.
But this is what all gardening publications taught and what “knowledgeable people” advised.
In recent years, the topic has been constantly raised about how to disturb the structure of the soil layer as little as possible. And this was exactly the opposite for landing pits.
How so? Do we treat one thing and cripple the other?
Meanwhile, the need for planting new fruit and berry crops arose for me in all its glory: the “old-timer” apple tree of the first planting died, its peers also approached their threshold of life (and their productivity decreased), and the last attempts to renew the plantings in the old familiar way did not always bring the expected result. In winter, I saw on the Internet how the famous Western European botanist Sepp Holzer demonstrated how to plant a tree.
I was amazed by the simplicity of the process. I also remember the phrase that was said there: “Blessed is the Lord for making what is necessary simple, and what is complex unnecessary”.
Well, I have nothing to lose. Moreover, it is necessary to thin out the thickened plum plantings (at least cut down almost three-meter trees), and one of the apple trees, planted three years ago, still stands in the twig phase, and rootstock shoots emerge from the roots. I started my transformations with her.
He transplanted her directly into the tree trunk of the deceased and asked that the neighbors not offend their baby sister. And it literally changed before our eyes - less than a month later, shoots and growths of 20 cm each grew from the rod in all directions. And most importantly, all the symptoms of post-landing illness disappeared. Then at the nursery I bought two pears, cherries, a number of shrubs, even brought a young oak tree from the forest - everything took root, as if they were not disturbed.
A Fistful of Worms
Well, now I’ll tell you how I put into practice the lesson of a world-famous scientist. I make a very small depression in the ground, just enough for the roots to fit there, I try it on and, if it’s not enough, I deepen it a little more. Mostly I plant on turf - I carefully remove as much as necessary and deepen it; if long lateral roots stick out, I use a shovel to cut and spread the gap. Having placed the root in it, I compact it with my foot.
Holding the trunk with my hand, I again scoop up the removed soil with my foot, lightly shake the trunk, and rake up the rest. I trample it moderately and put the turf in place on top so that outwardly traces of my work are not even noticeable. economic activity. I sprinkled it with some fallen leaves from last year and dry grass, and watered it a little.
Then I throw in a handful of earthworms, dug up in the nearest bed, and press them on top with two or three stones or fragments of bricks.
Who hasn’t seen, having turned away a stone or a log, a cluster of worms there? This means that they will be fine under my shelters, they will not spread out and will do their job properly - create ideal conditions for the roots.
Another purpose of the stones is to condense dew and keep the planting area moist. And finally, they press the roots, allowing the seedlings to bend in the wind on all four sides without falling. Even my tall plums withstood the very strong winds.
But all this is not trivial, because plants that are forced between the stakes lose the elasticity of the bark, which becomes rougher and, after the bonds are removed, begins to crack under the winds, which can cause the trees to die.
And I adopted one more trick: if you drive it into the ground next to a seedling, with south side, a small board, it will shade the delicate stem from the midday sun. Indeed, everything ingenious is simple.
Holzer also does not recognize pruning of plants, arguing that the vegetative development of a tree should proceed as nature intended for it. I don’t know what to do yet, time will tell and tell me, but for now I’m glad that my seedlings are alive, while the underground inhabitants suffered minimal and, I think, easily repairable damage.published
Ecology of consumption. Manor: Sepp Holzer is a legend. He is the brightest representative of the agricultural direction...
Sepp Holzer is a legend. He is the brightest representative of the agricultural trend, which is called “permaculture” - permanent, i.e. natural, Agriculture. Today they say so: not just permaculture, but Sepp Holzer’s permaculture.
An Austrian farmer is confident that with the help of so-called permaculture it is possible to feed the entire planet. You need very little for this: don't disturb Nature.
For a long time Sepp Holzer was called a rebellious farmer in his homeland of Austria, and what he does was called wild farming. For abandoning traditional farming norms and experimenting, he was forced to pay fines, moreover, he was threatened with prison.
Now Holzer's know-how - creating land ridges, crater gardens, constructing reservoirs - is admired by many specialists and amateurs. Sepp Holzer's secret is simple. He observes nature and tries to live according to its laws.
As a boy, Sepp grew various plants on his father's farm. Then he called all his acquaintances to his garden and gladly shared his discoveries with them. Much the same thing is happening today. Only now it’s not kids from the schoolyard who come to Holzer - professional farmers from all over the world come to see him.
Holzer's farm is located in the mountains, at an altitude of 1300 meters above sea level. There are harsh climatic conditions, for which his estate in Krameterhof is called Austrian Siberia. Even in July-August, Holzer’s lands can be covered with snow, but at the same time his plums and apricots ripen, and kiwis and grapes bear fruit beautifully.
“Everyone comes to me and looks: what can grow on these steep slopes in bad weather and without fertilizers? - Sepp Holzer says with a smile. - And when they see the variety of exotic plants, they are completely speechless.
Someone from Russian group, who recently came to see me, asked: “How is it that you have the most beautiful rhododendrons that can be found in nature bloom here, right up to the very top of the Alps, but here in the Moscow region they don’t grow?”
They also ask: “Why do you have such long ponds on the slopes - 80–100 meters long? How can water stay in these depressions, and even without a film? We are unable to conserve water even on the plains...” Then I begin to explain to them that this is a normal natural process, that nature will do everything itself, it is only important to stop interfering with it».
Sepp Holzer's estate Krameterhof
Three agricultural paths
Sepp Holzer: “Permaculture can provide food for at least three times the population that lives on the globe today. You just need to agree on this with nature.”
When in 1998 one of the Austrian students appreciated his diploma work economic indicators During the work of Sepp Holzer's farm in Krameterhof, the farm was immediately visited by the tax office. We conducted a complete audit of the farm and revised the basic performance indicators, which are usually set every 10–15 years. As a result, the regulatory authorities almost tenfold increased the amount on which taxes were previously calculated - from 24 thousand of the then Austrian schillings per year to 200 thousand.
When asked why his farm was ten times more efficient than the average farm, Sepp Holzer replied that it was all about permaculture.
Today, when people talk about agriculture, they usually mean industrial And traditional his directions.
As is known, in industrial farming For rapid plant growth, synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, genetically modified organisms, and heavy agricultural machinery are used. Thanks to this, farmers receive high yields and profits, but the chemicals are harmful to environment, and fruits and vegetables grown with their help are often tasteless.
Traditional, or biological, type of farming is characterized by closeness to nature, complete rejection of chemical means of protecting and fertilizing plants, and the use of crop rotation. Its main advantage is the production of healthy products, the disadvantage is low yield and high labor costs.
Permaculture offers new type conducting agricultural business based on the relationships that exist in natural ecosystems. From traditional agriculture, permaculture has taken away chemical fertilizers, and from industrial agriculture - large agricultural machinery.
Sepp Holzer calculates his costs, and, according to him, they turn out to be much more modest than in industrial and traditional agriculture. “Firstly, I have less labor costs, which affects wages,” he explains. - Secondly, I don’t waste time growing plants - they themselves help each other. Thirdly, the quality of my products is higher because I don’t have to fight weeds - everything is regulated by nature, and I’m trying not to interfere with it.”
The main difference between permaculture and industrial and traditional agriculture is respect for all living beings. Trying to change the world, permaculture practitioners always think about how their decisions will affect others in the ecosystem.
“Use your brain to go with nature, not against it,” Holzer teaches. - Do not try to control weeds, as such control is extremely harmful to agriculture. You need to think: can you take responsibility if you change something? My secret: put yourself in the place of a pig, a sunflower, earthworm, as well as the person who is opposite you. Would you feel good about it? If yes, then you are doing everything right. If not, then guess what’s wrong.”
Sepp Holzer at Krameterhof
The theory of mixed plantings
Sepp Holzer: “Become curious. Sow a lot of seeds and watch what happens. What grows well is in place here.”
In modern agriculture, it is customary to grow one species at a time in the fields. cultivated plants. Such monoculture of crops, according to Holzer, only brings harm: plants develop and bear fruit at the same time, require the same nutrients, which forces them to compete with each other.
Holzer takes a different path, advocating mixed plantings. He is sure: when different types of plants live nearby, a symbiosis arises between them. Representatives different types different nutrients are required, moreover, they feed each other - the soil is fertilized by fallen leaves and dead parts of roots.
Sepp Holzer talks about his estate in Austria. He, like his parents, grows grains. But along with them, Holzer grows fruit trees, shrubs, vegetables, and flowers. “Many people think that grains are a monoculture, and they are not,” he says. - On my site they get along well with other plants. When I harvest grains with a combine, I leave 10 centimeters of stems so as not to damage other plants during harvesting - radishes, lettuce, carrots.”
Holzer is confident: narrow specialization for an entrepreneur in the agro-industrial complex is too risky, not only biologically, but also economically. In his youth, he tried to find a specific niche in order to do only that. One of his hobbies was growing mushrooms - the Austrian produced, processed and even sold them to other countries. But one day, sales of mushrooms fell sharply, and he almost went bankrupt. According to Holzer, multilateralism, on the contrary, creates confidence in today and tomorrow.
Landscape change
Sepp Holzer: “Land is the largest capital in the world. If used properly, land will always produce wealth."
Proper formation of the landscape can increase the productivity of cultivated plants - this is another postulate of the doctrine of permaculture.
Holzer's favorite landscape elements are: land ridges(high hilly or flat) and crater gardens. The peculiarity of both is in the form: different plants are planted one above the other in steps, due to which not only the sown area increases, but also different microclimate zones are created.
land ridge performed in the form of an embankment approximately 1.5 meters high. It is ideal for humid regions where there is a lot of rainfall - the soil dries out faster than on the plain. Light-loving plants such as sunflowers grow well on the top floor. Fruit trees are also planted there, but not apple trees, whose roots spread along the ground, but with deep roots, like cherries - such trees will protect the plants planted below from the wind. Any vegetables are planted in the middle of the ridge. And at its foot, where a lot of moisture collects, there are cucumbers, zucchini, pumpkins, and watermelons.
Crater Garden it is built on the same principle as a land ridge, only it goes deeper. To create such a garden, the lowest place on the site is selected where above-ground and underground water can collect.
The crater garden is very useful for dry areas where additional moisture is needed, it increases the growing area, protects the plants from the wind, creates a heat trap and is ideal for moisture-loving vegetables. In winter, plants in such a garden are protected from wind and frost.
“Permaculture uses any land according to its suitability,” he says. - Imagine an area located on the slopes of a mountain. It must be cultivated, but it is impossible to use machinery there.”
Crater garden in Belarus built according to the Sepp Holzer method
Water lock
Sepp Holzer: “Water is the most important thing on Earth. Without water there is no life. Everywhere in the world there is enough water, even in the desert. You just need to learn how to find it and use it correctly.”
Restoring water balance - . Holzer is against mechanized irrigation systems and explains that although springs and groundwater are not available in sufficient quantities everywhere, there are many ways to attract water to your site.
The simplest is to collect rainwater from the surface into depressions to accumulate water, and then direct it to water the plants.
More better option- create a reservoir on your own where such water will accumulate.
“In the Moscow region, an average of 550–650 millimeters of precipitation falls annually,” says Holzer. - This is six thousand cubic meters. What happens to this water? It flows into ravines, carrying away the upper fertile layer soil. Soil erosion begins, which increases due to the wind. Add to this the bright sun. Cracks appear on the ground, plants dry out, and there is a danger of fires. Who is to blame - nature or the owner of the site? Of course a person. Try to retain the existing water in your area and you will save yourself a lot of problems later.”
It is important to choose the right location for the future reservoir. Each owner knows all the heights and depressions of his site, so he can easily determine where precipitation water will ultimately flow.
If the site is on a plain, Holzer advises observing the plants. For example, alder usually grows where there is underground water. This means that you can safely build a pond next to it and other moisture-loving plants.
An Austrian farmer proposes creating ponds by eliminating film, concrete and other materials that are usually used to retain moisture from the construction process. “I don’t want to disrupt the water cycle in nature, so I suggest filling the water tank naturally. In the future, such a pond will not only promote the growth of plants - it will be possible to breed fish, crayfish, waterfowl", he explains.
In his ponds, Holzer retains water exclusively using natural materials. “Water always wants to find a hole to get in, so you have to find that bottleneck and seal it. To begin with, clear the space of the future pond from anything that allows water to pass through - sand, small stones. Then dig a ditch two to three meters deep and fill the bottom with denser material, compact it using an excavator. If you make a good lock, the water won’t flow down the sides either.”
Sepp Holzer observes the construction of a dam at one of the permaculture seminars in the Moscow region
Shamanic trail
Sepp Holzer: “Russia has vast territories and the best soils in the world, but you do not know how to use them correctly. Otherwise, you would have overtaken the West long ago.”
Interest in permaculture is great and constantly growing all over the world - from owners of large farms, small farmers working in the field of biological production of agricultural products, as well as from those who strive to be closer to nature. An Austrian farmer spends different countries seminars around the world, and they are a success.
Of course, Holzer takes money for his seminars, and makes good money from it. However, seminars in Russia are cheaper than in European countries.
Holzer’s interest in our country did not arise by chance. One day, about ten years ago, he attended a council of elders, leaders and shamans of Indian tribes in North America. At the meeting they talked about the changing world, about its destinies. And what was discussed there quite strongly influenced Holzer’s worldview. “I can’t tell you specifically what the shamans were talking about, since I was obliged to keep it secret, but it was then that I began to be interested in Russia. Unfortunately, I heard a lot of terrible things about Russia that I didn’t want to believe, so I started studying your country,” recalls the Austrian farmer.
Today Holzer has a more positive opinion: he is confident that Russia can be not only a country of oil and gas, its future lies in the agricultural sector. “The wealth of your country lies not in mineral resources, but in vast areas of high-quality fertile land where you can cultivate a wide variety of different cultures, he thinks. - In addition, relative conditions in Russia are better than in other countries. For each person you have 8 hectares of land. No country in the world can offer this to its citizens.
But I am extremely surprised by the attitude of Russians themselves towards the land: I am often told that farming is unattractive. This statement is fundamentally incorrect, and with my example I want to prove the opposite.”
Not everyone needs to prove the attractiveness of agriculture. There is already a Sepp Holzer Permaculture Center in Russia, which popularizes Sepp’s ideas and helps him conduct his seminars here.
Seminar participants can be divided into two conventional types. The first ones dream of moving or have already moved with their families from the city to the village. Their goal is to get closer to nature, to establish tribal settlements; or they simply love nature and want to live in harmony with it.
The second type is entrepreneurs, and they are the majority.
Some also want to build a family estate and raise children and grandchildren in it.
But in addition to the spiritual component, these people are also concerned about the material side of the issue, the practice of life. “It’s very difficult to find pure products, the only guarantee of quality is products that you grow yourself,” says Anatoly from Samara, who once trained as an astronaut, but has always worked in private business. Recently, Anatoly accidentally discovered the idea of permaculture and realized that this is exactly what he had been looking for for a long time. Now, together with his family, he is choosing land on which to grow vegetables. In the future, he plans to engage in private consulting. The stories of the other participants are very different - and similar at the same time.
Musician Vladimir from the Kaliningrad region dreams of moving his family to the land, and then founding a company that will help everyone settle in the village.
Renaldo from Ulyanovsk region whole year studied the principles of building settlements, and now his plans are to create a brand under which residents of family estates will be able to sell surplus grown products.
Gleb from Krasnodar region He has been running a tourism enterprise for ten years - he has an aqua farm with trout and carp, and now he is building a mini-hotel in the forest, where he plans to apply the knowledge he has gained in permaculture.
Holzer says he has a lot successful projects in Russia - in its central part, in the south and in Siberia. “I recently started collaborating with Tomsk Agrarian University: this is a large-scale project, but our experience can be useful to everyone,” says Sepp. - We planted medicinal herbs in a box that we installed on a tree, it turned out like a nest. The plants began to climb up the tree trunk. I think landscape designers and those who work with gardens can use our idea.
But the most important thing, to summarize, is similar Every city dweller can create his own garden, with which he can heal. A balcony is perfect for this, and if there is none, then a box with plants can be mounted on an outside wall or you can do as we did: install a green pharmacy on a tree.”
The Austrian farmer has few unsuccessful projects. “I would not like to discuss them,” says Holzer, “because first of all I attribute failure not to my mistakes, but to the fact that the projects were not given enough attention. People need to understand that It’s impossible to do a permaculture project once with an A and then forget about it. Nature is a living organism that is constantly developing and does not allow us to rest. Therefore, you need to work hard, analyze your mistakes and correct them.”
Intuition and self-organization
Holzer himself is ready to work on mistakes constantly: his main goal is, with the help of the laws of nature and the principles of permaculture, to correct the mistakes of the past and prevent new natural disasters. Such a philosophy, of course, cannot fail to resonate with caring people, and after learning about permaculture, many of them begin to actively follow the teaching.
However, most people are skeptical about what Holzer is proposing. Representatives of Russian agricultural business we interviewed say that Holzer’s ideas appeal to them. But, they note, the practice of permaculture is only suitable for creating small niche projects farms or for amateur gardeners.
Despite the declared scale that it dreams of, it is difficult to apply its principles in large farms, and therefore permaculture cannot become the main one for agriculture and compete with industrial and traditional farming. There are several reasons for this.
Agricultural producers are mainly concerned about the unpredictability of Holzer farming. Agricultural business is generally high-risk: it is very difficult to calculate the annual harvest. If you follow the principles of permaculture and rely only on the mood of nature in everything, then predicting the economic results of future activities will be even more difficult.Implementation innovative projects permaculture costs a lot of money, so if the outcome is unsuccessful (what is the demand from nature), farms can go bankrupt.
A number of our respondents are confused by the fact that Sepp Holzer is an Austrian peasant, his experience limited to the area where he grew up. On Holzer's mountain farm, the temperature is constantly changing, the sun shines brightly, and snow can fall in the summer. And the knowledge on which farming on his farm is based is not universal and cannot be spread to other territories.
Much depends on the human factor. At the head of a large farm built according to the principles of permaculture, there should be a highly qualified specialist with a keen sense of nature and knowledge of its laws, like Sepp Holzer. Unfortunately, similar people few. In order for them to appear, you need to go through Holzer’s entire path from the very beginning. It is important that a person, in addition to logic, has good intuition.
Many techniques need to be specially learned, and not only from nature. This requires communication with like-minded people. Who will take the responsibility to follow the principles of permaculture, to be a teacher? Now there is such a guru - Sepp Holzer. But if it disappears, then permaculture itself risks disappearing.
Another question: how to motivate hired personnel, who will work at a large agricultural enterprise, so that ordinary workers follow nature in the same way as farm managers?
Many people are attracted to permaculture because of its simplicity. Really, in nature everything grows on its own, it would be good to learn not to interfere with it. But not everyone can do such a teaching - high self-organization, passion, and patience are required. This is the highest stage of agricultural development, which can only be reached independently and consciously.
And Sepp Holzer’s “intelligent farming”, despite all its popularization, by and large remains piecemeal. Although very tempting.
Heroes of Permaculture
For the first time, people started talking about permaculture as one of the ways to save agriculture and nature in general at the beginning of the twentieth century. This term was used in his work by the American Joseph Russell Smith. In particular, he was against deep plowing, believing that in this way the forest first turns into a field, and then into a desert.
The topic of depletion of land and aquatic biological resources also worried other scientists, in particular Bill Molisson. During the 1970s, he lectured in more than 80 countries on agricultural restoration and natural design. Molisson understood permaculture in a narrow sense - for example, he used its principles in gardening. His idea then expanded from farming to creating eco-villages.
Sepp Holzer believes that his plans differ from those of his predecessors in that they are global in nature. Holzer is not limited to small farming, but also involves the development of large projects, receiving from them economic efficiency on an industrial scale.
In Russia, the ideas of permaculture are just beginning to spread among farmers. Basically, residents of eco-villages try to conduct agriculture on the principles of permaculture. published
SUBSCRIBE to OUR youtube channel Econet.ru, which allows you to watch online, download free videos from YouTube about human health and rejuvenation. Love for others and for yourself,how the feeling of high vibrations is an important factor in healing - website
(Source: http://vkontakte.ru/topic-27538_8317652#offset=0)
First, a few words about Austria.
In Austria the nature is mountainous, like in the south of Germany.
People look the same - fair-haired, blue-eyed. They speak German, although in their own Austrian manner. They live in houses with gardens. Some people have fruit trees, others have vegetables, and still others have a garden full of flowers and ornamental bushes. In general, when I’m in Austria, I feel like I’m in the south of Germany.
I like vertical gardening- beautiful climbing vines and grapes are grown on the walls of houses - especially in the fall, when the walls of houses are strewn with bunches of grapes - great, but in Germany they also have this. Sepp Holzer has taken the idea of wall gardening the furthest - he grows fruit trees using his own method.
apple trees on the wall Any walls of houses - both a city high-rise building and a country house - are ideal, in his opinion, for growing trees and fruit vines - kiwi, grapes. Walls accumulate heat.
In the film, Sepp Holzer showed how he walks along a newly made terrace and scatters seeds. There are two important secrets that were left out of the film.
The first trick: he soaks the seeds for two to three weeks in nettle infusion. How to prepare such an infusion is described in detail in the book. Briefly: put nettles in a large container with fresh, preferably spring, water. Cover with gauze or fabric that allows air to pass through. In the shade the infusion is ready in about a month, in the sun - earlier. If the smell of rotting nettle bothers you, add valerian. You can water plants with this infusion as fertilizer, but dilute it with water at least 1:10.
The seeds are covered with a protective coating that protects them from germination. This is how nature protects itself from excess, excessive germination. If animals and birds eat fruits with seeds, they pass through the gastrointestinal tract, under the influence of acid, the shell softens and the seed is ready for germination. By soaking the seeds in nettles, he imitates this natural process. After this, the seeds grow very quickly. Instantly the plot of land is covered with lush greenery.
The second secret: since all the seeds germinate quickly, thickening occurs. They begin to interfere with each other, and little oxygen penetrates into the thick green mass. Therefore, he and his family walk around the garden bed and trample down some of the plants to avoid excessive thickening. You can also trim some of the plants with a flat cutter.
Wind protection is very important. The wind lowers the temperature around the plants and blows water off the ground. The first thing he does when he arrives at the site, e.g. in his next project, if it is windy on the site, he builds high ridges against the direction of the wind, around the site. If possible, hills should also be positioned in the direction of the sun so that they receive sunlight all day long. Of course, only one side of the hill turns out to be sunny, but the other side also receives light. In many places, instead of hills, it has rocks or trees - a protective hedge has been planted. In the hedge, as far as I could determine, there are birch trees, larches, various types of rowan trees, and various other bushes. The hedge appears to be dense and windproof.
She uses stones on her property as tiled stoves; they trap heat and at night give it to heat-loving plants. He grows tomatoes, sunflowers, melons. Then, if snow falls in September, he covers them with film, puts the film on the poles and harvests tomatoes until November. To protect the garden from hares, the roe deer plants milk thistle along with the plants. The hares do not yet see the thorns, they come running to eat the vegetables, but retreating from the thorns, they avoid this place. In addition, milk thistle is a valuable medicinal plant, for example. removes poisons from the liver.
In general, he treats animals with understanding: “They have nothing to eat, so they run to my site from all over the area.” He showed the remains of pumpkins, apples and gnawed trunks of fruit trees. The tree falls, and after a year or two it grows back from the root and continues to bear fruit. He protects especially valuable trees by tying the trunks with netting for the winter.
Along the way, he constantly showed medicinal plants and explained their effects (motherwort, gentian, etc.) He also has a unique tree growing; several biologists came to Krameterhof, but they could not determine what kind of species it was. The buds, branches and leaves smell like a balm with a unique aroma, and when you pick a branch, an odorous yellow liquid, like resin, is released. He used ointment from this tree (a detailed recipe is in the book) to treat his hand after a motorcycle accident. He underwent several skin grafts, spent a long time in the hospital, and doctors suggested amputation. I made an ointment and stuck the patches with the ointment until they fell off on their own, then applied new ones - after three weeks the skin on my hand was completely restored. Another peasant hit his knee with an ax while chopping wood, a third hit his leg with an electric saw - everything healed with the help of a healing ointment. The branches of the tree can be taken from him in Krameterhof and propagated vegetatively.
It showed a slope on which a few years ago there was a spruce forest - a monoculture of spruce trees, where the soil was so acidified that even grass did not grow. After cutting down most of the fir trees, he planted a mushroom, in his own way, on the stumps, autumn honey fungus, which removes excess resin from the soil. Then, when the mycelium grew, I planted rowan trees, apple trees, and many berries; even without terraces, everything grows well on the mountain. Berries - raspberries, currants, blueberries, etc. he plants seeds. I tried currants planted from seeds.
This makes the berries more adapted to cold climates. In winter it is -25°, -30°. When we were there in mid-September, snow was already promised. At an altitude of 1200 m the snow remains until April, and at 1500 m it melts in May. Holzer's neighbors don't believe he has cherries, kiwis, grapes and lemons. One said: “Well then, cherries are growing on my neck.”
Others say that he puts all the plants, including water lilies, in the greenhouse for the winter. I just wonder how tens of thousands of plants and trees can be removed and then put back in their place in the spring?
At an altitude of 1500 m, very fragrant apples grow, he treated me to them. They contain more nutrients and healing substances. The colder the climate and the more difficult the growing conditions, the more beneficial the fruits and herbs are, scientifically proven. He has a “leather apple” variety of apples, they are stored in the cellar until May and in May they become very tasty, as he said, eat and you can’t stop.
When he took over the site, there was not a single lake. He himself created 72 ponds, ditches and lakes on 45 hectares. “Water is capital. Water is life. Both humans and animals consist almost entirely of water. There is water both in the desert and in the far north. Plants really need water.” Therefore, he does everything possible to retain water in the area for as long as possible, to saturate the area with water. All his ponds are decorated differently, in one there are logs, in another - stones, in the third - driftwood unusual shape with rocks. For ducks, he arranges special nesting places, for example. a stump in which a “nest” is hollowed out stands in the middle of the pond.
Inaccessible to foxes.
If there is no suitable stump, you can take several thin logs, fasten them together like a raft, put earth on top, and sprinkle with grass seeds. The nesting place for ducks is ready.
There are rafts that float in the pond.
This is so that ducks and geese can come to the surface and dry out and warm up, especially in winter, so that they do not get hypothermia when they splash in icy water. There was a question: “Why don’t your ducks fly to the winter warmer climes? " He answered: “They live well here, like nowhere else in the world." A source with spring water flows into the lake from above, the stones in the lake heat it up, swimming ducks create movement - these are all the techniques so that the lake does not freeze in winter. In one lake, a raft is connected to a bridge. It is clear that foxes can cross the bridge and eat all the ducks. So he taught the ducks to let the cat out when they were sitting carelessly on the raft. The cat will not cause them much harm, but they learned the lesson for the rest of their lives. .
Raises crayfish in long ponds-ditches, two meters deep. Crayfish need a long coastal zone so that they can find food, the total length of the ditches is up to 25 m. Additionally, it provides the crayfish with kitchen waste. They, like pigs, eat everything.
"Kindergarten"for fish, where fish come to spawn, is connected to deep-sea lakes.
In the children's pond there is a lot of grass and various snags - optimal conditions for protecting the fry, so the fish happily go there to lay eggs, but it is inconvenient for them to swim there, because it is mostly overgrown. So they return to deep lakes.
The coastal growth is regulated using the depth of the lake; where it is needed, it makes a depth of up to 2 m; where there should just be water, it makes a steep sheer descent of up to 3 m or more. The roots of coastal plants can only reach up to 2 m; they do not spread deeper.
He admired the Siberian original grass, which he bought in 1957 and has been distributing his seeds ever since. Birds and animals eat it best. The bread it makes is excellent. There is a lot of food, animal bedding and mulch for the garden; it grows up to 2.5 m tall. Good for building adobe houses and making straw crafts. Original grass can only be grown in poor soils; it grows best in the poorest and coldest conditions. In good, rich soil it grows too quickly and begins to rot. Those. Only the “wild method” of cultivation is suitable - on poor soils.
Chickens graze in the forest among dense bushes. He keeps old breeds that have strong self-preservation instincts. As soon as they hear the slightest rustle, they immediately hide in the bushes. Additionally, to protect sheep and pigs, the fence is connected to current in some places. Foxes, lynxes and other wild animals that run around his area, wanting to hunt and having received a charge, remember this place and avoid it for a while. Then he changes places. If you keep chickens under open air, they will become easy prey for predators. Almost all animals are kept in “free enclosures”, i.e. In the woods.
He builds wooden houses for the animals, as described in the book Permaculture. I looked at how nice it was there, there was a thick layer of hay on the floor, grass, trees and flowers growing all around with a view of the lake, and you could even live in such a house yourself. Next to the stone basement there is a house built entirely of wood, with a roof made of larch.
In another place in Austria I saw the same one. The house has a beautiful wardrobe made of three types of wood, a lock and key are also made of wood.
Flowers, zucchini and tomatoes grow on the roof of the garage.
The greenhouses on the roof contain heat-loving exotic plants. Behind the greenhouses there is a forest; chickens that graze in the forest can move into the greenhouses and back into the forest.
And this is a stone house where the fruits are stored.
It is very important that the water in the pond is enriched with oxygen. In his projects (for example, he now has 20 projects around the world) he saw that people created a lake, but the water in the lake stagnated. I stuck my hand into the lake and smelled an unpleasant smell. In summer, stagnant water in the lake rots.
To prevent this, you can make a lake with an island, as in the project in Spain. The water will splash against the island under the influence of the wind and become enriched with oxygen. On 270 hectares in Spain, as part of a permaculture project, he created many lakes, the total area of water oases is 30 hectares.
If the pond is fed by an underground source, then the natural movement of water - in the spring there is more water, in the summer, when the source dries up, there is less water in the pond - is sufficient, in his opinion.
On its alpine, southern slope, all the lakes are connected to each other, water from the upper lakes flows into the lower ones - thus there is constant water exchange and movement. The water level in the lake can be adjusted; he showed a special device how this is done.
He has apples and fruit trees without pruning. If you cut off the branches and water and fertilize, the trees begin to produce too many branches, which then freeze in winter and can destroy the entire tree. His apples are smaller than those in the store, but much tastier. He showed me an edible forest - apple trees grow there next to conifers (with larch) and various bushes. It has cedar and beautiful unusual conifers. Fruit trees - 14,600 pieces. There was a question: “But in the nursery, fruit trees are sold already trimmed, and what should I do, leave them like that?”
- Yes, you can let them continue to grow or make your own, same-root ones. The root of the tree is lightly tied, then other roots grow from it, i.e. a new tree, after which the root needs to be untied, in this way you can get your own varietal trees, unpruned.
We came to a field with fruit trees, a seemingly simple field overgrown with grass. Sepp Holzer, where he stood, first took out two types of salad and began to eat, then various vegetables, straight from the grass. All the people were surprised and admired. It looked like a permaculture trick.
If you take a plant from the store, it depends on fertilizers, watering and care. You need to take the plant in your hand, shake off the chemical along with the soil so that only the roots are there. Plant it in the ground, in a community of other plants. It will gradually come to its senses, become strong and free. In the first year, it may grow worse, but it will gradually acclimatize and gain strength.
He has rose hips growing next to rhododendrons, despite scientific rules, because one plant needs a soil pH of 4, and another 8, and they grow next to each other.
To find out how a plant feels, you just need to look at it. Healthy plants have green, lush foliage. And from the trees, from the state of the branches, he can read at what period of life, how the tree lived, when it felt bad and when it felt good.
Plants for seeds are grown in poor soils, in the coldest conditions, at an altitude of 1500 m. In nurseries, on the contrary, they take seeds from pampered plants grown in rich soils. As a result, in poor soils, in the absence of watering and care, they wither. Only after a few generations do the plants adapt to the conditions of the site.
Sepp Holzer takes the seeds of the strongest and most powerful plant, grown in the worst soils, in the coldest conditions. He plants them lower, where it is warmer, and a sunflower, he showed us, grows from such seeds 4 meters high and the size of a huge dish, and a zucchini - half a meter.
He raises animals, but only for his own needs. Now, according to European standards, pigs or other animals must be taken to a special facility. slaughterhouse and they go a long way. Holzer believes that this is painful for the animals and refused to sell. If you even just take the pigs somewhere, they start to get nervous. Such meat, in his opinion, is dangerous for humans.
I personally am a vegetarian and I wish the same for him. Smile. There were several students with us at the seminar; he has been teaching them permaculture for 2 years, as part of his curriculum. His students, German readers of ZKR, persuaded him to read “Anastasia.” So far he has only read a little bit, where it is written about the creation of family estates by each family - he fully supports it. But he has no time to read, he is very busy - he is writing a new book and 20 permaculture projects around the world, from Scotland and Norway to Jordan and Ecuador.
He makes money with his projects and excursions around Krameterhof. The tour is all day, from 9 am to evening. He walks around Krameterhof, showing and telling how and what grows.
He also sells water lilies and rhododendrons, several times more expensive than they cost in the nursery. He is criticized for this, he says, I don’t force anyone to buy. If you take lilies or rhododendrons from a nursery, they will not grow on the mountain in cold conditions. And his plants are hardened and free. He plants them in a community of other plants, without watering or care; when they gain strength and become free, he sells them.
I was with my husband in Krameterhof. My husband used to not believe in the ideas of permaculture. I persuaded him to watch the film, but after a few minutes - where it was about how trees grow without pruning and bear fruit well, I finished watching it with the words: “Let him not make things up!”
At first I wanted to go to the seminar alone, but Austria is still a different country and my husband asked to accompany me. I spoke with Holzer personally and was immediately inspired by the ideas of permaculture. Now he tells all his friends and relatives what kind of nature Holzer has in Krameterhof and how healthy and beautiful everything is. “But Holzer said this and that” is funny and surprising to hear even, especially from the lips of my husband.
Still, some practical and rational men need to see real life. Talk to Holzer. Eat a small but very tasty apple from an apple tree without pruning. I am a more romantic person; films and books are enough for joy and delight.
We were in the largest spring garden in the world, Keukenhof, at the tulip festival in Holland, on the largest German flower island of Mainau, in Sans Sussi - the gardens of Potsdam, at garden exhibitions in Winsen aan de Looy, etc.
But Paradise, the Garden of Eden and the forest, of all these gardens I saw only at Sepp Holzer’s in Krameterhof.
I remember we came from Holland and while I was away, daffodils and pansies bloomed. I looked at the flowers around the house, small, crooked, but my own. Six million tulips have faded...
At Sepp Holzer's you can feel the gracious atmosphere, it's warm and cozy there, like home. Other gardens I have seen are like a cover glossy magazine, beautiful, of course, but...
And Sepp Holzer himself, with his own hands, together with his wife, planted all the trees, with love for himself and his children. Very Happy All his four children show interest in Krameterhof and want to inherit and continue his work.
Sepp Holzer has not just a lot, but a lot of heat-loving plants. In the edible forest, kiwis, peaches, cherries, apple trees, larches and other forest trees all grow mixed together. And under the trees in bright places and clearings there are Siberian original grains and vegetables. There are hundreds or even thousands of water lilies and water lilies in the ponds. I saw a lot of kiwis and grapes, more than four meters high and so healthy, with woody trunks. Is it really possible to put 45 hectares into a greenhouse, if only there were 20 trees, okay?
Holzer's lemons are surrounded on both sides by stones - boulders. And this is not a lemon, but a poncirus - a wild lemon, frost-resistant down to -20°. But Holzer has even more with his methods. Some trees grow on bare rocks, I showed a hazel on a rock - there is practically no land there. This is explained by the fact that trees grow due to leaf litter and humus. He says that if you have land on your property at all, that’s good. Under the apple trees, he places stones on top, securing their roots so that they do not fall from the mountain, literally. In only one place he secured them with a cable or string.
Yes, his weather, of course... I imagined that it was cold at the top of the mountain, but not to the same extent. I was there in a knee-length sweater and jacket in mid-September, and I was completely chilled. Here in northern Germany, now - on the eve of October - it is a hundred times warmer.
But Sepp wears a vest or a light jacket to the open air, and nothing. Snow may fall in early June and late August, especially at an altitude of 1500 m, but the summer is generally warm.
He believes that plants only need to create conditions for growth. Fence it, protect the area from the wind and soak it with water, but I already wrote about this. He has strong winds and hurricanes, and he plants trees in a mix, with shallow and deep root systems together. They support each other when a fir tree on the neighboring slope fell due to a strong storm, all his trees remained intact and unharmed, all the hedges. Larch, linden and fir have a spiral-shaped root system, the roots extend diagonally, and are especially wind-resistant. He has a lot of linden trees and firs. He also plants linden trees for honey. There are many larches growing with apple trees.
He also plants silver willow and other early honey plants so that the bees also have something to eat in the early and late periods.
From the book “Permaculture by Sepp Holzer”, translation by E. I. Nikolaeva
During my childhood, peasants still knew very well about the action and preparation of fertilizers from herbs. Depending on what effect was needed and what plants were available, we prepared fertilizers from a variety of components. So everyone developed their own “recipe”.
With the introduction of mineral fertilizers and synthetic products knowledge of the use of grass fertilizers has disappeared in many regions. Instead, today you are learning how to “properly” spray and fertilize without exposing yourself to the pungent chemicals.
The long-term negative consequences that enter the world around us through the introduction of sprays and artificial fertilizers are invisible to many of our neighbors. In the near future, all these fertilizers will seem to be paying off. Anyone who wants to be responsible to nature must say goodbye to the use of chemicals in fields, vegetable gardens, and orchards.
Permaculture by Sepp Holzer
“Permaculture” is permanent, i.e. natural, agriculture. An Austrian farmer is confident that with the help of so-called permaculture it is possible to feed the entire planet. For this you need very little: do not disturb Nature. Sepp Holzer's secret is simple. He observes nature and tries to live according to its laws.
Nature has prepared enough plants that, thanks to their better internal content, can prepare excellent complete extracts and fertilizers. For herbal extracts, either freshly cut or slightly dried herbs for one day are used. They are soaked in cold water; the extract can then be sprayed. The effect of extracts can be versatile.
I especially love and universally use nettle extract: thanks to its high nitrogen content, it acts as a good fertilizer that strengthens plants, especially highly nutritious vegetables such as zucchini, cucumbers, and cabbage. This fertilizer cannot be used for peas and beans due to the danger of excess nitrogen. This hood works very well against leaf fall. Aphids also, on the one hand, cannot tolerate its smell, on the other hand, the burning sensation (due to nettle poison), which is sensitive and visibly affects it when fresh.
I consider making an extract from cold water more significant than preparing a decoction, since decoctions are boiled, which means a lot of energy consumption. Especially if you want to cook a large quantity.
I think brewing is unnecessary. If I need an intense remedy, I can simply keep the contents of my extract longer by stirring it regularly.
The contents will be ready and there will be an excellent herbal fertilizer. Fertilizers are so rich that they can only be used in diluted form. Herbal fertilizers have an excellent effect, they strengthen plants and also prevent their diseases, naturally taking care of their growth even with the excessive appearance of individual insects.
Healthy and strong plants are more resilient against pathogens; Also, insects (pests) look primarily for weakened plants. Natural herbal remedies are very easy to make yourself and do not cost anything. It's surprising that they are still little used.
My technique
It is best to use local plants. I do not consider it justified to bring or bring plants from other places for this purpose, even if they are offered in special magazines. Almost all herbs are suitable for preparing fertilizer. The roots, leaves and stems just need to be kept in the container long enough to get a good fertilizer. Preparing a pest control product requires longer and more precise attention.
For my liquid fertilizers, I choose plants with a certain content of substances - such as essential oils, bitterness and poisons. When choosing, I base my feelings and knowledge that I have accumulated over the years. I try new plants and mixtures all the time because this is an area where there is a lot to experiment with and learn.
If I have not used a certain set of plants before, I prepare an experimental infusion. For infusion I use fresh spring water. Tap water is mostly artificial and sterilized. In this case, filters, irradiation, and chlorination are used to ensure that the water meets drinking water standards. Therefore, for me, such water is “dead” and is not used for drinking.
I, of course, am used to a fresh spring in our yard and always avoid buying water there if I’m in the city. Its taste terrifies me. If you drink this water for a long time, you can no longer feel its taste. The same thing happens with unsprayed and ripened strawberries and tomatoes, the natural taste of which many no longer know. If water from a source is not available, collected rainwater can be used. In any case, this water is better than from the tap.
A closed container placed outside can be used as a vessel. The container can be made of wood or artificial material. I do not use a metal container, since the herbal extract may react to the metal during the preparation process and acquire additional undesirable properties.
At short intervals (every two days) I test the contents for the presence of fungus or other undesirable manifestations and observe whether the corresponding processes occur. If I'm happy with the contents, I use ready-made fertilizer.
If the desired effect is not yet sufficient, I experiment further. Sometimes I add more plants, or leave it to stand, thereby adding more substances and increasing its effect. After long-term observations, you can yourself, through similar experiments, create recipes for an effective grass fertilizer that is best suited to the respective area.
During cooking, it is important that there are enough acidic substances in the container. To do this, I leave the lid slightly open and stir the contents regularly with a wooden stick. In a warm place with strong solar radiation, the cooking process occurs much faster. In places that are not particularly sunny, the process can last a month. I know it is ready because the fertilizer does not foam and is dark in color.
I do not consider an exact description of the compatibility of plants, temperature, amount of water and plants, as well as the dosage for use. The surest and easiest way is to do your research and independently find the appropriate products in the appropriate concentrations needed for a particular area.
A mixture of herbs that I enjoy and use often consists mainly of nettle (produces nitrogen) and comfrey (produces potassium). Here I gladly add tansy and wormwood. This mixture is a good fertilizer and enhances plant resistance. In addition, it acts against naughty boys and bedbugs, primarily due to the presence of bitter wormwood. If I expect a lot of people to eat my plants, I increase the amount of wormwood until the plant reaches the desired development.
Sepp Holzer,
from the book “Permaculture by Sepp Holzer”,
translation from German by E. I. Nikolaeva, Barnaul
Sepp Holzer
For a long time, Sepp Holzer was called a rebellious farmer in his homeland of Austria, and what he does was called wild agriculture. For abandoning traditional farming norms and experimenting, he was forced to pay fines, moreover, he was threatened with prison. Now Holzer’s know-how - creating land ridges, crater gardens, constructing reservoirs - evokes admiration among many specialists and amateurs.
As a boy, Sepp grew various plants on his father's farm. Then he called all his acquaintances to his garden and gladly shared his discoveries with them. Much the same thing is happening today. Only now it’s not kids from the schoolyard who come to Holzer—professional farmers from all over the world come to see him. Holzer's farm is located in the mountains, at an altitude of 1300 meters above sea level. There are harsh climatic conditions, for which his estate in Krameterhof is called Austrian Siberia. Even in July-August, Holzer’s lands can be covered with snow, but at the same time his plums and apricots ripen, and kiwis and grapes bear fruit beautifully.
Organic farming
Readers of the site are offered excerpts from the book “Sepp Holzer's Permakultur” - A practical guide for creating small peasant and model farms. Author of the abstract: V. Barsukov
About Sepp Holzer and permaculture
Sepp Holzer (Austria) is a famous developer of the agricultural direction of “permaculture” - permanent (continuous) natural agriculture. An Austrian farmer is confident that with the help of permaculture we can feed our entire planet. You just need a little bit for this - just not to disturb Nature.
Holzer's farm is located in the mountains (at an altitude of 1300 meters). There are harsh climatic conditions. Even in August, his lands can be covered with snow. However, at the same time, plums, apricots, kiwis and grapes ripen. When asked why his farm is ten times more efficient than the average, he replies that it’s all about permaculture.
In Russia, permaculture is just beginning to spread among farmers. So far, only residents of eco-villages are trying to farm on the principles of permaculture.
The main tenets of his teachings on permaculture:
Mixed plantings. Sow a lot of seeds of different plants and observe: what grows well is just in place here;
Competent formation of the landscape;
Green fertilizers instead of chemical ones.
Soil fertility
Countless living organisms are involved in maintaining the soil ecosystem. Only with their presence can the soil be kept fertile and therefore useful to humans. Soil organisms - bacteria, earthworms, fungi, etc. - ensure the health and fertility of the soil. In order not to harm them, you need to stop using chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
If a monoculture is grown on a plot, and in addition all the fruits are removed, then the soil loses more and more nutrients and becomes depleted. As a result, the fertility ecosystem is disrupted and chemical fertilizers are required.
Also, traditional regular deep plowing of the soil and its associated freezing destroy soil life and the formation of humus. If such areas are left alone, then after some time Nature will restore the soil ecosystem here. You can help Nature by planting green manure plants - green fertilizers that improve the properties of the soil.
1. Earthworm- a valuable worker for creating humus. A stone placed horizontally on a bed, under which water condensation collects, can protect earthworms and contribute to the formation of humus.
2. Watering can be done herbal infusion. Anyone can cook it. Just put nettles, other herbs, even leaves and kitchen scraps in the water - whatever you have, cover it. After one to two weeks, use it as irrigation water.
3. High hilly ridge in the form of a long soil-compost heap - the main element of Holzer's permaculture. Built against the wind, it restrains it and creates microclimates; due to the slopes, it significantly increases the cultivated area. Due to its height it is convenient for processing. By adding biomass, it increases the humus content in the soil. The ridge is aerated on all sides and penetrated by roots, which promotes the decomposition of the introduced organic matter.
The ridge can always be poured higher or lower, or leveled to the ground. At its core is biomass - various organic matter, converted into valuable humus, which can be spread throughout the garden.
The optimal height of the ridge (with average height of gardeners) is 1.50 m; at the top it can be pointed (with a ridge inclination angle of 65°-80°). At the top of the ridge, dry-loving plants such as peanuts and deep-rooted species such as cherries grow best. Moisture collects at the foot of the ridge. Moisture-loving vegetables such as cucumbers grow well here, and this is the most productive area. What is not eaten remains in the soil and activates life in it.
How to make a hilly ridge?
Dig a trench approximately 1.5 m wide to the depth of a shovel.
Divide the sod and soil and set it aside.
Fill the trench with branches, twigs and other organic matter - even old clothes, cardboard, paper will do - and
Place organic matter to a height of approximately 1 m. Mix coarse and fine material.
Place sod on top of this, roots facing up.
On the turf - earth up to a height of 1.5 m. The earth can also be taken from the sides of the ridge. It’s okay that the ground level in these places will drop.
Mulch the top of the hilly ridge. Anything available is suitable: grass, straw, leaves, compost. As a last resort, also cardboard.
Strengthen the slope with green branches. Place fresh, branched branches 1.5 m long with their tops up and fastened with wooden nails (they can be made from the forks of branches).
The plantings at the top are dry-loving plants such as peanuts; at the bottom - moisture-loving ones, such as watermelons, melons and cucumbers.
Sow all types of vegetables on top of the mulch, also with high needs in nutrients. It is good to sow radishes and salads.
Sow green manure plants with a deep root system: white clover, bitter lupine, alfalfa, etc.
4. Do it around the entire area high flat ridge 3 m high: the ground is formed with two terraces in a stepped form. The ridge must be permanent and not settle, so its interior consists of earth instead of biomass, like a hilly ridge. Each step is at a height of 1.5 m (this height is manageable for most people).
Green fertilizer from green manure plants
It is important to achieve a large formation of humus by increasing biomass. As a green manure, a good combination of herbs is important so that the plants complement each other. If biomass is left on the site, then due to the slow decomposition of green manure plants, a productive layer is formed in the soil. Thanks to biomass and loosening in the root zone, constant favorable conditions for cultivating crops are created. The resulting soil cover (with capillaries from decomposed roots) helps protect it from weather conditions and accumulate water and nutrients. Such a blanket, like a blanket, protects the soil from penetration, thanks to which soil organisms in the upper layer of soil can develop until late autumn and winter.
Green manure plants
These are primarily leguminous plants. With their roots (superficial and deeply penetrating) they can take root in any soil. Another advantage is that with the help of bacteria they capture nitrogen and introduce it into the soil. Bacteria, mainly of the Rhizobium species, live in symbiosis with roots, forming root nodules. In them, bacteria bind nitrogen in the air.
Well-known representatives of leguminoses are plants of the legume family, or Fabacea. These include peas, beans, lupine, clover, etc.
Rapeseed plants are also good green manure plants. different kinds cabbage, buckwheat, root vegetables, sunflowers, etc., since they produce a lot of biomass in a short period.
Holzer method
In autumn, for the most part, it leaves green manure on the soil surface. Plant residues are covered with snow and the decomposition process begins. The biomass is not compacted, as happens with mown plants. By planting plants of different types, the height and structure of which are different, the grass does not cake, but gets tangled up and down, thanks to which air circulation prevails.
By leaving the plants without mowing, he frees himself from mowing; At the same time, the plants bloom, ripen and are sown. Sowing for next year is no longer necessary. Moreover, meadow grass seeds are quite expensive.
The cultivated area can be changed many times for different crops (orchards, vegetable gardens, pastures for livestock, etc.). You can add sowing seeds of honey plants, medicinal or spicy plants. Cereals (barley, oats, etc.) are also good. He often sows hemp and sunflowers, which are excellent food for birds. A mixture of local meadow flowering herbs (yarrow, blue cornflower, chamomile, marigold, navel, spreading bellflower, comfrey, etc.) is an excellent nectar plant.
On steep slopes, it is necessary to sow more plants with deep-penetrating roots (not only to enrich the soil, but also to strengthen the slope), for example, lupine and sweet clover.
Particularly successful is a mixture of lupine, sweet clover, alfalfa, vetch, peas, sunflower and various tuberous root vegetables such as Jerusalem artichoke and turnip.
Leaving the plants without mowing, as a result, frees yourself from this work. At the same time, the plants bloom, ripen, are sown themselves, and sowing is not necessary for the next year. Which is all the more important since meadow grass seeds are expensive.
Using this labor-intensive method, he was able to improve the dry, depleted soils of the slopes so much that he was able to begin growing lush gardens within 2-3 years.
Error
A widely used method of “crushing” is that the entire green mass is crushed. In this case, living beings are destroyed. The broken mass dries immediately and is often carried away by the wind and washed away by rain along with small particles of soil. The soil loses its natural restorative properties.
List and characteristics of green manure plants
| Name (family) | Botanical name | Notes |
| Legume family | Fabaceae | |
| Lupine yellow blue, narrow-leaved white |
Lupinus luteus Lupinus angustifolium Lupinus albus |
Annual, strengthens slopes, good for sandy and acidic soils, forage plant, for bees |
| Peas, fodder peas | Pisum sativum | Annual, fodder |
| Sowing season | Lathyrus sativus | Annual, unpretentious |
| Hairy vetch (winter) | Vicia villosa | Perennial, light soils, honey plant |
| Common vetch | Vicia sativa | One to two years old, unpretentious |
| Beans | Vicia faba, Vicia faba minor, Vicia faba major | Annual, good forage plant on loose soils |
| Sweet clover white sweet clover | Melilotus officinalis Melilotus albus | Biennial, and on dry soils, for long-term landscaping and strengthening of slopes |
| Clover | Trifolium pratense | Two-three year old, fodder |
| Clover underground | Trifolium subterraneum | Annual, long-term crop, acidic soils, good as ground cover |
| Clover hybrid | Trifolium hybridum | Steady, stern |
| Clover white | Trifolium repems | Tolerant, long-term crop, forage and pasture, all soils, ground cover |
| Clover crimson | Trifolium incarnatum | One- to two-year, long-term landscaping |
| Persian clover | Trifolium resupinatum | Annual, frost-resistant, and for poor soils |
| Clover of Alexandria | Trifolium alexandrinum | Annual, freezes out |
| Ulcer officinalis | Anthyllis vulneraria | Biennial, and on depleted soils, cover |
| Lyadvinets horned | Lotus corniculatus | Sustainable, strong, ground cover, long lasting landscaping |
| Alfalfa | Medicago sativa | Sustainable, long-term landscaping, also on dry soils, fodder, strengthens the slope |
| Alfalfa hop-like | Medicago lupulina | Stable, undemanding, ground cover |
| Sainfoin | Onobrychis viciifolia | Sustainable, calcareous soils, honey plant, long-term landscaping, fodder |
| Seradella | Ornithopis sativus | One to two year old, acidic soils, especially for sandy soils, fodder |
| Family Cruciferous | Brassicaceae | |
| Rape | Brassica napus | Annual (summer form), biennial (winter), undemanding, honey plant |
| Garden turnip | Brassica rapa | Summer and winter fruit, undemanding |
| Radish (garden) | Rathanus sativus | Annual, fodder |
| Mustard white, yellow | Sinapis alba | Annual, undemanding, pioneer plant, freezes out |
| Forage cabbage | Brassica oleracea var. medullosa | Annual, very good fodder |
| Cereal family | ||
| Green rye Ivanovskaya rye |
Secale cereale Secale multicaule |
Perennial, winter-hardy. Undemanding, very good feed, good harvest grains |
| Feed millet | Sorgum dochna Panicum miliaceum | Annual, warm regions |
| Other green manure plants | ||
| Buckwheat | Fagopyrum esculentum | Annual, honey plant |
| Phacelia pigiofolia | Phacelia tanacelifolia | Annual, honey plant, undemanding, all soils |
| Sunflower | Helianthus annus | Annual, honey plant, seeds for bird feed |
| Jerusalem artichoke | Helianthus tuberosus | Winter-hardy, undemanding, except for prolonged waterlogging, actively reproduces by tuberous shoots, good fodder |
| Linen | Linum sp. | Annual, produces oil and fiber |
| Camelina sativa | Camelina sativa | Annual, unpretentious, fast-growing, and on sandy soils, drought-resistant, little susceptible to diseases and pests, produces oil |
| Small burnet | Sanguisorba minor | Perennial, unpretentious, and on alkaline soils, landscaping |
| Mallow | Malva silvestris | Sustainable, medicinal, landscaping, honey plant |
