We have mains water too but my veggie garden is too far from the house to lay pipes without unlimited funds. We are in the process of setting up reserves, we have a 40000 litre cistern but the only way to fill it is by using guttering on the barn... again, a question of money, zinc is so expensive but we refuse to use plastic so the setting up is slow... we will get there eventually I hope!
I have had no onions or leeks or anything from the allium family for three years due an evil little mite in the soil that takes five years at least of leaving barren to eradicate... this mite also affects ‘les haricots verts’ (how can i have a veggie patch here without??) and strawberries too. It’s been such a battle compared to my lush and giving garden in Ireland that many days I have wanted to just give up....
I absolutely get all of that, Susie, and we too will only use zinc not plastic pipes; not cheap, no. I wonder if your 40000 litre cistern is underground? We are wondering how to set one up, as we have two or three barn roofs and we do mostly have guttering on them. Someone suggested one of those small above-ground swimming pools, which I suppose we'd screen with hazel fencing or something. Cost and unsightliness are issues.
Our garden here, only set up in the early part of last year, has been v good, though I'm v annoyed that voles have been nipping off my best-grown saffron crocus tips, dammit. Didn't have enough to 'tithe' some to the voles, as I like to do :-). But it is generally more like Ireland in Brittany, of course, than the Med.
Don't give up! Hard luck on the alliums tho. I'm also growing perennial, hardy, ones in a different bed...?
Our cistern is an underground, vaulted construction thankfully, but old - make that ancient - and also in need of repair, although not desperately so. The run off pipe leads into the well and is damaged. We cannot risk filling it until the pipes are free running and minus leaks, for obvious reasons. The guttering is in progress and the cistern will be repaired this summer, in time, hopefully, for the well water, which was piped by us the 250m to the garden, to not run dry. That’s the plan anyway… but my husband is an artisan and most of his work happens through the summer months, meaning ours is always put to bottom of the list.
I try not to despair but…
Could you not dig a more environmentally and aesthetically pleasing water containment area Roselle, from what you say you have plenty of land to play with?
Here there are many wells rather than cisterns, mostly of course in disrepair now. Awfully, our old one has had an elec pylon installed in it several decades ago. It's ironic, as my practice from forever has been cleaning out old wells, and I have written at length about actual and symbolic wells!
We could, but we would have to use a concrete tank, which is hardly environmental either; plus it would cost too much to have the digging and installation done, and then there's the q of a pump down to the veg area (though a solar panel is not impossible). We've also looked at a borehole, but the rules in France (we had an inconspicuous one in Devon) make it a) hugely expensive and b) SO ugly, with a 3-metre square tall concrete covering dome, bang in the middle of our beautiful Home Meadow!
There was an article in Connexion a couple of years ago about a small-scale farmer who grew all his veg (outdoors, in soil) without watering! Permaculture certainly reduces the need for much irrigation, but...
Goodness, yes, anything concrete is obviously a huge NO, do you have good clay beds though? I know getting the water to wherever it needs to go is expensive but a good digger driver can dig a natural looking pond which would generate all number of new insects and wildlife too. This way you need no liner of concrete containment tank... just a thought Roselle.
I’ve been looking at permaculture also, definitely the most ecological alternative but when one has a garden, filled with the worse ‘mauvais herbes’ possible, bind weed, buttercup, thistle, dead nettle etc... I just don’t see it working as effectively as it should... more is the pity!
Ah yes we do have a good wildlife pond, in its infancy; but because of the topography here it's below where we need it for the garden.. But we had to use a rubber and then coir lining, as we're not clay-rich here (shillet and slate, and granite).
We suppressed all our 'mauvaises herbes' with cardboard from the move, then woodchip and compost. A few months later it is very rich fertile soil - but we've run out of cardboard now (we'd need a huge amount more for reclaiming more meadow) and I don't want non-degradable membrane and degradable linen is too pricey, sadly. But if you can get on top of them with a deep mulch, then permaculture systems help to keep them suppressed... Hard to do it basically alone though.
There lies my problem Roselle, there is only me! My husband has no interest in either growing or eating vegetables (except tomatoes and asparagus) which makes the whole operation not only arduous but there are days when I even wonder at it’s worth... regardless, I battle on, and over the next week will add more green mulch to the soil ready for spring plantings..
No clay is definitely a huge disadvantage, being in the side of a hill, we have bedrock - not useful at all!
I am a huge fan of purple spouting! Sadly I lost my entire crop (and many other greens) this summer due the drought and our well running dry for the second year in a row, so I have none, all that survived are the Cavelo Nero Kale (thank goodness!) although not in abundance as in in previous years... it is a good substitute though!
Your said sounds delicious Roselle... and inspiring!
Yes, what a strange season it was. And me too – I love purple sprouting. Ours is just coming in now, and we have plenty of other greens including the cavallo nero; we lost onions (all blackened) and tomatoes (blight), but the greens were OK.
Wells running dry: I think we can expect more of that. I'm so sorry, though – you can't get by without water (do you have Mains too?). It was a major concern for me when we were talking about heading further southwest. Even here in Finistère my daughter's commune was without water for weeks.
I love apple in salad. I also ‘shave’ broccoli florets or cauliflower, so the just the little green or white pinpricks of crunch go in - save the rest for soup of course.
Nice - often use those ingredients in a salad. Love pomegranate jewels. I cut them in quarters and put them in a big pan of water. The seeds just fall out of the skin into your fingers!
We have mains water too but my veggie garden is too far from the house to lay pipes without unlimited funds. We are in the process of setting up reserves, we have a 40000 litre cistern but the only way to fill it is by using guttering on the barn... again, a question of money, zinc is so expensive but we refuse to use plastic so the setting up is slow... we will get there eventually I hope!
I have had no onions or leeks or anything from the allium family for three years due an evil little mite in the soil that takes five years at least of leaving barren to eradicate... this mite also affects ‘les haricots verts’ (how can i have a veggie patch here without??) and strawberries too. It’s been such a battle compared to my lush and giving garden in Ireland that many days I have wanted to just give up....
I soldier on though... xx
I absolutely get all of that, Susie, and we too will only use zinc not plastic pipes; not cheap, no. I wonder if your 40000 litre cistern is underground? We are wondering how to set one up, as we have two or three barn roofs and we do mostly have guttering on them. Someone suggested one of those small above-ground swimming pools, which I suppose we'd screen with hazel fencing or something. Cost and unsightliness are issues.
Our garden here, only set up in the early part of last year, has been v good, though I'm v annoyed that voles have been nipping off my best-grown saffron crocus tips, dammit. Didn't have enough to 'tithe' some to the voles, as I like to do :-). But it is generally more like Ireland in Brittany, of course, than the Med.
Don't give up! Hard luck on the alliums tho. I'm also growing perennial, hardy, ones in a different bed...?
Our cistern is an underground, vaulted construction thankfully, but old - make that ancient - and also in need of repair, although not desperately so. The run off pipe leads into the well and is damaged. We cannot risk filling it until the pipes are free running and minus leaks, for obvious reasons. The guttering is in progress and the cistern will be repaired this summer, in time, hopefully, for the well water, which was piped by us the 250m to the garden, to not run dry. That’s the plan anyway… but my husband is an artisan and most of his work happens through the summer months, meaning ours is always put to bottom of the list.
I try not to despair but…
Could you not dig a more environmentally and aesthetically pleasing water containment area Roselle, from what you say you have plenty of land to play with?
Yes, of course, Susie – I understand all that!
Here there are many wells rather than cisterns, mostly of course in disrepair now. Awfully, our old one has had an elec pylon installed in it several decades ago. It's ironic, as my practice from forever has been cleaning out old wells, and I have written at length about actual and symbolic wells!
We could, but we would have to use a concrete tank, which is hardly environmental either; plus it would cost too much to have the digging and installation done, and then there's the q of a pump down to the veg area (though a solar panel is not impossible). We've also looked at a borehole, but the rules in France (we had an inconspicuous one in Devon) make it a) hugely expensive and b) SO ugly, with a 3-metre square tall concrete covering dome, bang in the middle of our beautiful Home Meadow!
There was an article in Connexion a couple of years ago about a small-scale farmer who grew all his veg (outdoors, in soil) without watering! Permaculture certainly reduces the need for much irrigation, but...
Fingers crossed for your cistern!
Goodness, yes, anything concrete is obviously a huge NO, do you have good clay beds though? I know getting the water to wherever it needs to go is expensive but a good digger driver can dig a natural looking pond which would generate all number of new insects and wildlife too. This way you need no liner of concrete containment tank... just a thought Roselle.
I’ve been looking at permaculture also, definitely the most ecological alternative but when one has a garden, filled with the worse ‘mauvais herbes’ possible, bind weed, buttercup, thistle, dead nettle etc... I just don’t see it working as effectively as it should... more is the pity!
Ah yes we do have a good wildlife pond, in its infancy; but because of the topography here it's below where we need it for the garden.. But we had to use a rubber and then coir lining, as we're not clay-rich here (shillet and slate, and granite).
We suppressed all our 'mauvaises herbes' with cardboard from the move, then woodchip and compost. A few months later it is very rich fertile soil - but we've run out of cardboard now (we'd need a huge amount more for reclaiming more meadow) and I don't want non-degradable membrane and degradable linen is too pricey, sadly. But if you can get on top of them with a deep mulch, then permaculture systems help to keep them suppressed... Hard to do it basically alone though.
There lies my problem Roselle, there is only me! My husband has no interest in either growing or eating vegetables (except tomatoes and asparagus) which makes the whole operation not only arduous but there are days when I even wonder at it’s worth... regardless, I battle on, and over the next week will add more green mulch to the soil ready for spring plantings..
No clay is definitely a huge disadvantage, being in the side of a hill, we have bedrock - not useful at all!
I am a huge fan of purple spouting! Sadly I lost my entire crop (and many other greens) this summer due the drought and our well running dry for the second year in a row, so I have none, all that survived are the Cavelo Nero Kale (thank goodness!) although not in abundance as in in previous years... it is a good substitute though!
Your said sounds delicious Roselle... and inspiring!
Salad for lunch it is! X
Yes, what a strange season it was. And me too – I love purple sprouting. Ours is just coming in now, and we have plenty of other greens including the cavallo nero; we lost onions (all blackened) and tomatoes (blight), but the greens were OK.
Wells running dry: I think we can expect more of that. I'm so sorry, though – you can't get by without water (do you have Mains too?). It was a major concern for me when we were talking about heading further southwest. Even here in Finistère my daughter's commune was without water for weeks.
I wish you a full water table.
Ahh yes, I’m familiar with that, chocolate truffles for breakfast . . .
I shall try this recipe, sounds delicious!
Thanks Chris!
Glad to hear I'm not the only indulgent one around here...
I love apple in salad. I also ‘shave’ broccoli florets or cauliflower, so the just the little green or white pinpricks of crunch go in - save the rest for soup of course.
Yes indeed! Sometimes I chop in raw broccoli too. Nice to have that crunch, as you say.
Nice - often use those ingredients in a salad. Love pomegranate jewels. I cut them in quarters and put them in a big pan of water. The seeds just fall out of the skin into your fingers!
Ah that's a good tip! And I sometimes use small segments of oranges instead of the apple.