atle hesmyr: efficient gardening in the northern hemisphere

8/10/2019 Atle Hesmyr: Efficient Gardening in the Northern Hemisphere

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Efficient gardening in

the Northern

Hemisphere

By Atle Hesmyr

Amidst the present climate crisis, horticulture and agriculture confront massive challenges

with respect to carry sprouting plants through to the ripening stage and resist attacks from

microbes and insects. As several of the modern grain varieties, for example, are beleaguered

by the so-called Rust fungi, which has destroyed crops on a world wide scale during the past

few decades, species which has developed resistance against the one fungicide after the other,

the need to co-operate with microbial life forms instead of trying to "defeat" them is morepressing than ever before.

As an illustration of how this can be done, I will present in this paper my diary from the

growth season of 2012, which brought me ripe harvests of vegetables such as beans, carrot,

potato, parsley, beet, leek, onion, garlic, squash, celery, in addition to tobacco, at the latitude

of ca. 59o. All vegetables include traditional varieties, some of them dating all the way back to

the Early Modern Era and beyond. The soil is partly heavy clay and loam.

March:

10: Sowed leek, onion root celery and tobacco.

24: 18oC. Extremely dry and hot late winter/early spring so far. The lawns are greening

already.

25: Implanted tobacco. Started pruning leek and onion, to develop the stem.


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April:

1: Sowed parsley and cherry tomatoes (Gardeners Delight).

20: Implanted root celery. Sowed "pick" lettuce and broccoli. After a very hot March with

temperatures approximating 20o

C, April has arrived with frost and snow, and temperatureshardly reaching 10oC so far. Started careful water manuring of leek and onion (poultry

manure from local animals).

May:

2: Sowed cucumber, sunrose, pumpkins squash and maize.

4: Sowed potatoes. Reaped leek and potatoes which had overwintered. A bit sweeter than the

automn harvest, but fine quality.

7: Sowed carrots (Amsterdam forcing and Autumn King).

12: Sowed red onion and yellow onion (nodules). Sowed parsnip and root parsley. Cool May,

as last year.

13: Sowed garlic (a New York variety).

16: Sowed persian clover. Prepared sow beds for mulching and inoculation with nettle water

and mycorrhiza.

19: Sowed yellow beet. Provided mulching material to the whole area (ca. 200-250 m2),

except from the carrot/onion and parsnip/parsley spots respectively. Implanted pumpkins.

Somewhat too early inoculation of the tiny sprouts, at least as far as maize is concerned. Wait

till the leaves are more developed. Temperatures up towards 200C today -- gradual increase

during the last few days.

21: Implanted squash and sowed beans. Approximately 200C during the past couple of days.

Watered the plant rows (carrot, parsnip, parsley and yellow beet).

22: Implanted cucumber. Temperature up towards 270C. OK carrot sprouting. Continuedwatering in the above mentioned rows in the evening. Moisty soil underneath ca. 5 cm.

mulching (lawn cuttings).

24: Very hot and dry weather. Added mulching material (lawn cuttings with a high flowering

dandelion content rich in phosphorus).

Onion shoots fine. Autumn King carrot seems fresh. Yellow beet starts sprouting. Potato

plants are showing, and garlic is shooting fast.


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the final space for the carrots, and watered them with nettle water (mycorrhiza inoculum), and

provided mulching as far as the plant sizes allowed for.

Planted celery and tobacco in the evening.

28: Cooler weather (ca. 20o

C). Planted broccoli, pumpkins, maize, lettuce and leek. Down to15OC in the evening. Looks like it's going to rain.

29: Inoculated the potato plants (10 cm high leaves) and provided mulching material close to

the stem.

30: Planted the rest of the lettuce plants. Considerably cooler weather. Down towards 8-10OC

at night. No precipitation during the last 14 days.

31: Inoculated onion (nodules), tobacco, pumkins and maiz. Provided mulching close to the

plants. Supplied more mulching material to the beans, which now are sprouting. Watered

persian clover.

June:

1: The first summer month is coming with rain and astonishing 4oC (!), which means a

temperature pendulum of close to 30oC in the course of few days. (Thanks to occasional

sunshine in the middle of the day, the temperature rose to 15oC -- a releif).

2: Frost at night has caused severe damage to pumpkins and maize. Had to sow them all overagain

All the other plants have made it through the harsh conditions. As regards the inoculation

procedure, it functioned well as regards leek, onion and lettuce. The others should await the

treatment until after planting and proper establishing.

4: The night frost also killed of a few bean sprouts. Apart from that, all looks well. Planted

sowed leek, parsley and sunrose. Waiting for benign night temperature before planting of

cucumber and squash.

As I am writing this down, a massive hail is thumbling down, followed by heavy rain. After

the incident, it is almost possible to og skiing over the garden. Temperature fell by more than

10oC in the course of an hour.

6: Two days after the hail shower over the tiny sprouts, there are only minor damages to the

plants. Planted cucumber. Fine conditions now, 18oC.

9: Cloudy and rain showers, ca. 15oC. Made space for the bean plants, which seems

remarkably healthy despite night frost and hail. The tobacco plants are standing still -- the

cause may well be the harsh weather and possibly too thick mulching. Loosened the mulching

and provided for air to the roots. The squash plants almost ready for planting. Did the secondstep in the mulching process -- ie. cleansed the leek, onion, carrot and bean rows.


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10: Planted squash. Made proper space for the parsnip.

11: Fine growth weather; a little rain and sunshine in succession and ca. 18oC. Potato plants

are ca. 30 cm and stark green, onion plants are at an even height (15-20 cm) throughout the

rows, and carrot plants are almost ready for mulching clos to the stems and inoculation. Leeks

are well established after planting, the same obtains for broccoli, lettuce, cucumber and

squash. The beans are well established and made it through the critical stage -- soon ready for

mulching close to the stems and inoculation. Yellow beet, parsley and parsnip are doing well -

- may soon be provided with mulching.

14: New round with mulching over the whole field, apart from the potatoes. Discovered

belated damages after the hail on some of the beans, but it seems like they will make it

through. Heavy rain and down to 13-14Oin the afternoon.

15: Sowed green mint and pepper mint with the view to develop early C-donators for next

season. The persian clover is clearly better established around single individuals of field mint(a wild local species), primarily as a result of low irradiance/low temperature after sprouting.

17: Planted field mint amnong weak persian clover/beans. New layer of mulching on the

potatoes, with a new round of inoculation (nettle water/mycorrhiza). Tried to provide one row

of the carroots with mulching close to the stem, and supplied inoculation.

18: Heavy rain and lightening. Ripe lettuce.

23: Moist weather and heavy soil. Provided sand from the "wilderness" to the onion and

carrot rows; new round with inoculation over most of the field. Cracked the dense soil

surface.

24: Loosened the soil in the rows in which the clay had stiffened. Inoculated between tobacco

and potato plants. Inoculated the last leek rows (St. Viktor).

Provided new layer with mulching, containing coarser material (straw). Inoculated in the new

cover as needed. Cut some persian clover for nitrogen fertilization for the broccoli plants.

27: Gathered mycorrhiza over a vast area in the forest region and by the roadsides in the

vicinity of my garden.

29: Planted pumpkins and maize. Inoculated with the new "substrate".

30: Loosened the soil once more over the part of the garden containing the heaviest clay.

Another inoculation.

July:

5: Cut the persian clover, which was about to flower. Reaped some garlic. Considerable

amounts of lettuce. Broccoli about to flower. Potatoes are flowering. Spring onion (from last

year) is flowering.


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8: Provided persian clover, beech leaves and gras to the broccoli; persian clover to cucumber

and squash. Another inoculation on the latter.

9: Reaped a few potatoes -- enough for a wild trout dinner.

14: Ripe broccoli. Planted tomatoes (down prioritized this season).

16: Cut white clover yesterday and distributed it all over the field. Watered inittially with

temperated water (20o), provided the mulching and inoculated. Reaped a few leaves of

tobacco.

18: Has started reaping potatoes for dinner, starting where the plants have flowered.

Satisfying quality. Because of the dry weather, some watering is provided to keep the

mycorhizzae going. Daily watering of cucumber.

22: Tomato cuttings rapidly rooted thanks to the inoculum. Cleansing of the leek, carrot and

other roots. New layer of mulching and inoculum. Reaped ca. 1 kg broccoli yesterday. New

side shoots are already developing. Mulching delayed because of rain, to spare the soil for

compaction.

23: Regular reaping of parsley, broccoli and lettuce. Mulching material (white clover from the

lawn) is meant for leek and carrot. Reaped a couple of full grown tobacco leaves (Virginia)

from flowering plants, to let the side shoots develop.

28: Lots of rain, enough to secure a plentiful harvest this season.

29: Reaped 2-3 kg broccoli and prepared them for the freezer.

30: Reaped 16 l lettuce and delivered to local restaurants. Reaped 2-3 hg tobacco for drying.

New side shoots are developing rapidly. Cut some mulching material for lettuce and tobacco.

August:

1. week: Fast ripening of broccoli. The first beans and squash are ripe. Onion is ready, and the

first leek may be harvested, too. Lots of rain the last few days -- good for the roots and the

potatoes. Ok lettuce plants, but some has flowered. Delivered 40-50 l to the local restaurants.

8: Implanted peppermint. The experiment with the tomato is highly interesting; the cuttings

are about to flower -- more or less without sunshine(indoor) -- that is, about 14 days after the

development of the roots started, with the sole aid of the mycorrhizza cocktail containing

probalby hundreds/thousands of species).

Tobacco is still flowering and still develops leaves -- after the ripe ones have been harvested.

The few overwintered leek plants meant for seed production is flowering -- looks like they

will be able to produce ripe seeds. Yellow beet is ready for reaping, but should be left in the

soil until proper storage temperature. Parsnip and celery root develop fine in the heavy clay.Moist weather has caused some potato leaf rot on the ripe plants.


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Persian clover is well established once again after the 1. cutting, and some of it has been cut

to provide nitrogen mulching to the plants which seemed in need of it.

17: Cut the potato leaves as the growth process was completed and it started to wither. Good

harvest and good quality under difficult conditions. Harvested the most delicious garlic, with

fully developed slices for the first time. Reaped 3-4 kg broccoli. Tasted the leek, which was

spicier and not so voluminous as in the previous season, which was much moister and hotter

during the main season. Delicious yellow beet, which could easily be eaten raw. The same

applies for parsnip. Squash has ripened slowly, but is tasty. Onion has grown so considerably

that the nodules are competing of the space, even if the distance was ca. 10 cm. Highly

variable carrot harvest, probably because of the seed material (Autumn King), which used to

deliver uniformously good harvests earlier. Amsterdam Forcing produced a harvest consisting

of uniform roots, among the onion.

September:

20: Has reaped between 50 and 100 kg onion. A little less potato harvest than last year

because of drier weather. The lettuce provided a good harvest, and the same was the case with

broccoli, leek, parsnip and yellow beet. Moderate bean harvest and ok carrot (Amsterdam

Forcing) harvest. Autumn King produced a poor harvest; lots of the roots rottened in the soil -

- they probably did not tolerate the intense mycorrhiza inoculation of some reason. Small

harvest of squash, cucumber and pumpkins because of the cool and dry weather. Okay

tobacco harvest.


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Litterature:

Charles Walters (ed.): William A. Albrecht: The Albrecht Papers (1918-74) (1975: Acres,

USA).

Albert Howard: Soil & Health(1947; 2006: The University Press of Kentucky).

Charles Dowding: Organic Gardening; The Natural No-Dig Way (2010: Green Books,

Devon, U.K.).

Sally E. Smith & David. J. Read: Mycorrhizal Symbiosis (1983; 2008: Academic Press,

Amsterdam, Boston, Heidelberg, London, New York, Oxford, Paris, San Diego, San

Fransisco, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo).

Marcel G. A. van der Hejden & Ian Sanders (eds.): Mycorhizzal Ecology (2003: Springer:

Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, Hong Kong, London, Milan, Paris and Tokyo).

Chantal Hamel & Christian Planchette (eds.): Mycorrhizza in Crop Production (2007:

Haworth Food & Agricultural Products Press, New York).

William R. Jordan & George M. Lubick: Making Nature Whole; A History of Ecological

Restoration(2011: Island Press, Washington, Covelo and London).

J. G. Torrey & D. T. Clarkson: The Development and Function of Roots (eds.): (1978:

Academic Press, London, New York and San Fransisco).

R. Lal, J. M. Kimble, R. F. Follett and B. A. Stewart: Soil Processes and the Carbon Cycle(1996: CRC Press, Boca Raton, Boston, New York, Washington and London).

atle hesmyr: efficient gardening in the northern hemisphere

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