2 months without water.

After a couple of months away from the garden and a couple of devastating heat waves the hole garden has gone to shit.  The soil has died and all the fruit trees have gone as has the lawn - not much of a surprise there.   It took 2 years to get the garden to where it was so it's a bit disappointing to take such a large leap backwards.

However, what this does prove is that whatever we were doing was not sustainable.  No matter what work we did, what we planted none of it was sustainable without a more integrated and sustainable water retention strategy.  Using our grey water was good and was showing results, but the solution needs to be deeper than that and take in to consideration a natural sustainable water retention strategy.

We've got some ideas such as the water sink that we tested with the grey water, and of course water capture from the roof.  But we need to do a little more research in to other methods of water natural and sustainable water storage.

So, I guess we're starting from scratch but this time with the aim of designing a solution that essentially survives without human input.

 The soil is totally dead

 The hugelkulture is the only place that has any signs of life

 The tomato plants here are still alive and there are even some tomatoes left.

The other potager is totally dead.  The soil looks pretty terrible too.

Motivation after disaster

Got really frustrated after the latest disaster with the early planting.  It's not a total disaster yet...but still after all the early planning it seems like it all went to waste.  The frustration being that we'll have to wait another year before we can test the early planting again.  (Probably also a result of the Quit smoking and Drinking regime too - to be fair)

It was starting to feel like we hadn't had many successes and that we kept just making the mistakes without making any learning (this blog being an attempt to address that).  But then today I realised it wasn't all that bad and that it was largely a symptom of the time of year (I've planted lots but nothing's happening....it's still early....things will take off...just need to stick with it).

• We've still got time enough to re-sow a whole new spring crop inside, provided we get in to it asap. 
• All the bulbs that were planned and planted last fall are coming up and should prove to be a great success
• The vines planted on the potager frame, will grow double or tripple their size this year now that they're settled and should look good (perhaps even grapes)
• The cherry tree looks to have loads of shoots after settling from last years planting
• The kiwi"s seem like they lasted and so could grow back nicely this year
• The gooseberry although showing nothing yet could still prove to come strong
• The compost is again looking good

I guess the moral of the story is that although it felt like last year we didn't have many victories...we WILL be having victories from things that were planted a year ago and that just take a year to settle in.

Patience perhaps is the key.

Note to self: 

I like this idea.  I like the developments that take a longer time to get results but that when they do come they are recurring and need not to be re-planted all the time.  Need to look more in to permaculture (permanent culture) for solutions so that you only sow once - not every year.   What's the point working every year to plant for a short period when it could be permanently sowed??? There must be some reasons