Survival garden southern Finland, no-dig, no watering, heavy mulch

[JesseI (Jesse Ilonen)]

I have just started my survival garden project. Potatoes, garlic and some salads were sowed/planted a week ago, and carrots and parsnips for seed last autumn. Both carrots and parsnips seem to have wintered well with some minor losses. It’s been so dry with no rain in almost a month that they have grown slower than would be expected, parsnips better than carrots, but they are hanging on. Even nature seems to be struggling. Yesterday I sowed a little over half of what was left with peas, moschata, sweetcorn and cucumbers. I had over-ambitious plans to get almost all, but run out of time and was being eaten alive by black flies so I have to carry on later.

Now I only watered during sowing, but the plan is not to water at least during the growing season. It would be hard to water much with the resources I have and there wouldn’t be much water around when the need is greatest so I just have to hope that there is at least a little precipitation to make some harvest even if it’s not great. Mulch seems to have kept some of the moisture compared to the ground that is cracked next to the plot, but it’s not an easy start that’s for sure. There is some chance that it rains a bit over the weekend, but because my location has a lot of features that affect rain, it’s a bit of hit and miss. Have to hope for the best.

Carrots are struggling, but alive.

Parsnips are duing much better.

Expanded a little more for potatoes. These are the ones I grew from seed last year. The plan is to add mulch once there is enough grass and weeds to cut down in the nearby field.

[mtttthwww_vdp (Mr. Plough)]

This is quite similar to my field plot, though it’s so much clay that I’m currently only able to grow potatoes on top with hay/grass/weed cover. But that will at least help add organic matter over time and then maybe can try other crops.

Last few years I’ve been able to grow unirrigated potatoes, the mulch helps quite a lot.

Looking forward to following this and all the other projects!

[UnicornEmily (Emily Martha Sorensen)]

I like your swales filled with twigs. Those look like a great way to provide some water management. Are you using them as pathways?

[malterod]

Jesse, can you describe your process - do you sow in rows, broad sow or start the seed in trays to later plant out, when do you mulch etc.?

I’m starting out a trial field this season that might have similar conditions. Very low maintenance, I’m planning to use lots of mulch (mostly straw) and sow lots of seed to only let the most vigorous survive. I might install drip irrigation on a timer, but won’t be able to weed the plot all the time, so more water might also present other challenges … My main worry is enough soil moisture when broad sowing and if heavy mulch will create too much habitat for slugs to make direct seeding too difficult.

[YrtheArts (Brent Hopkins)]

For my garden, my goal is to direct seed as early in the season as possible, when soil moisture is still high. Then the seedlings can follow the moisture as the water table lowers. Planting seeds in dry ground doesn’t give their roots anywhere to go, at least not until soaking rains arrive. This year I have been fortunate to have good rain. I have some bean, tomato, pepper and squash volunteers coming up. My planting has lagged due to my being overly busy with other things at work.
I think swales and berms are a very good way to make use of incoming rainwater. I fill my swales with leaves, twigs, decaying wood; whatever organic matter is available. Also I use cardboard, especially to cover paths.

[JesseI (Jesse Ilonen)]

This plot is some sort of clay mixture. Probably can see those hard clumps in the newly made beds. Under mulch it was maybe little more malluable as it has little more moisture, but still had to use a hoe to break the surface. I hope that being no-dig will loosen up the soil.

[JesseI (Jesse Ilonen)]

They are paths, but also to stop water from running of. Person who I got this plot through was clearing his ditch and asked if I wanted those bushes. There was no planning behind, it’s just free organic matter. I had thought about some wood chips if I could get them from somewhere. Those will hold some water once they start to break down, but that takes a lot of time and would need a lot more. I’m thinking they could also slow down water running off sideways if there is some incline. Always like that everything gets water equally.

[JesseI (Jesse Ilonen)]

I laid the mulch last autumn and plan is to add more as I get more and where there is need. I just put the mulch aside, used hoe to break the surface and over sowed a lot. You will see it all in pictures once I update.

[JesseI (Jesse Ilonen)]

I did sow as early as possible. We don’t have really any other window of sowing/planting, just have to be aware of the possibility of frosts. Around mid month it was -8C (17F) at ground level and then a week later highs of 25C (76F). I still sowed a week earlier that expected because it is so warm and warm weather looks to continue over the period when hard frosts are possible. Last year there was slight frost still on 11.6 and that still isn’t out out of the question. Looks like second week of june might have very close to frosts.

There has not been any rain in a month and previously it has gone weeks with forecasted rains avoiding this area so can’t really wait for them either. I’ll give them enough to germinate and there should be atleast some moisture a bit deeper down. Mulch had held it to some degree even if you can’t say the ground is moist. Better than the cracked up desert next to it.

[JesseI (Jesse Ilonen)]

This is how I’ve done sowing. Loosen the soil around 5cm deep and 10cm in width, sow a lot of seeds, water, cover with soil and water again. @polarca peas just had come to the surface. Moschata and sweetcorn had not so I checked the situation on a few spots by digging up gently. It looks like both have germination, but might be a little too dry and hot. Some moschata seemed to have roots shriveling and sweetcorn had some which had a shoot with no root yet. The latter I suppose is quite normal from what I’ve seen. Didn’t have time to water yesterday and the rains seem a little unreliable. It had rained 7mm at the other plot a few days ago, but I’m not sure if it had rained even that much where the other plot is. Yesterday I sowed maximas, summer squash, beans and favas. Might have to do some watering tomorrow for those first sowings just to make sure they get some start. It’s been hard enough for them. Really would rather not as it’s almost 100m one way where the closest source of water is.

[JesseI (Jesse Ilonen)]

Today I went to see my plot, not because I had much to do there (only sowed salads and broccoli to the last remaining spots and did some quick weeding), but because I wanted to see if there had been any progress in the last 4 days and if I need to do some watering. Yes, little I’m anxious because of how difficult the weather has been for recently sown seeds. At the other plot there has been a total of 24mm, but looking at the radar maps, those were very localized and didn’t hit as well where this plot is. It’s probably true that there hasn’t been much rain (and there are signs of lack of water in seedlings), but there has been just enough that it feels like there is some moisture once you go a couple of centimeters deep.

Now it’s 10 days from the first sowing so I expected something to be up. First I went to check moschata and only could find a single seedling. Not good I thought. Cucumbers looked a lot better. Some spots had a lot, some less. Evenly enough that it should be easy to cover the area that they have been allocated. Sweetcorn didn’t have as many seedlings, but evenly enough that it looks quite promising. Then I went back to check moschata and found dozens of seedlings that were just under the loose topsoil. Maybe it’s not such a bad start after all. Now it’s a few more hot days, but at the same time it’s becoming more unstaple with thunderstorms before it goes down to more seasonal temps and possibly some rains.

Moschata

Sweetcorn

Peas have signs of lack of water, but they have come up fairly evenly.

Cucumbers

[JesseI (Jesse Ilonen)]

Went yesterday to do some unrelated to the plot sowings of beets, carrots and swedes (hopefully making seeds next year) off this plot and had a look at the progress. There hasn’t been much rain, which quite is apparent just outside of the plot. Luckily today is raining a little and there might be more in the coming week as long as the weather stays cool, with highs of 15-17C (59-64F). Probably not enough to break the drought in the long term, but at least a little relief before warmer weather (possibly) returns late this week or early next.

As I expected last time, moschata are now up in some numbers. Maybe 5 times more seedlings than fits which is quite good at this point to have some room for error/selection.

Sweetcorn are also getting stronger. Maybe not as many extras as moschata, but they will do. They might be struggling more from the lack of water and will probably get a good boost of growth after the rains.

Some of the strongest cucumbers. Culled some extras where there were way too many, but mostly there is just appropriate cover for this stage.

Maximas are the strongest from the latest sowing. Still a bit patchy, but I’m sure more are still to come similarly to moschata.

Summer squash hasn’t been as prolific as maximas yet, but only waiting on some blocks. I sowed all in “blocks” (consisting of several lines) with the same crosses so that I could have as diverse mix as possible. Some might have had faulty seeds, and thus not expecting many from some blocks. I’m sure more will come in the coming days and if there are gaps I can leave some more in the nearby blocks.

Pole beans and favas are up. Pole beans sowing some damage, which is quite normal. Not sure if it’s related to drought.

Parsnips and carrots are starting to flower. Not sure if the plants should be bigger or if they are stunted because of drought. I left them quite a lot of space because I was expecting them to get quite big. Probably going to sow something underneath once the flowering is well underway to make use of the space. Next year I know to plan ahead. Potatoes would look suitable crop to interplant.

Plot is starting to disappear to surroundings with growth of some weeds. Maybe I was overly optimistic about surpressing weeds, but plan was also to continue this year. In any case, plants seem to be growing and hopefully in some weeks will overtake weeds, with some added help from weeding and mulching.

[mtttthwww_vdp (Mr. Plough)]

Here’s my plot of potatoes and favas on old, abused clay farmland. Starting the potatoes off in the 70 year old wood shaving insulation from our house’s floor renovation

We probably made a mistake by mowing the weeds around the beds, rather than crimping them, but now scything and adding tons of mulch. I’ve done similar techniques before, but still not sure how this will work. Scything for mulch is, at the least, very satisfying and efficient.

[JesseI (Jesse Ilonen)]

I would have used tarp to cover for a season if I had thought about it enough back then. Now I have one additional area for next year covered with tarp. I should be getting lots of cut weeds during summer to continue supressing which should make the weeds more manageable. It’s still working fairly well as it is. It’s only perspective from the side that makes it look more weedy. Especially grass looks a lot thicker than it is. Hopefully by end of summer all weeds are run over by the crops.

[JesseI (Jesse Ilonen)]

I was expecting (or hoping) to see some good development after 9 days of not visiting my plot, but it was a bit of a disappointment. Most had grown, but not as much as I hoped and cucumbers seem like they had taken a hit. Possibly had lost some plants as the biggest weren’t as big as last time. With the much needed rains temperatures were cool and that must have reduced the growth overall. It still remains dry; almost looks like it hasn’t rained at all. To be fair, under 20mm to dry soil is nothing.

Seeing how they were doing, I changed my plans and took weeding as a priority. That reduces competition for water and at some spots seedling were also starting to get quite shaded. Weeds I used as mulch to cover bare ground on the holes in mulch I used for sowing.

Today was the only hot day of the forecasted “heat wave” with high of 26C (80F). Now there aren’t any hot weather forecasted, but not cold either. Fairly typical around 20C (68F). Might be that there is some rain, but doesn’t look like I’m getting enough water to break the drought anytime soon. I was concidering watering cucumbers and possibly moschata, which are the most stressed for time to make seeds, but didn’t do that yet. Hoping that some of the rain that is forecasted comes more heavily than expected.

Cucumbers looking quite sorry.

Favas (pictured) and peas are probably the only things that have grown as expected within the timeframe. They don’t mind the the cold and can deal with some dry as well.

Moschatas had grown atleast some. They should be bigger this time to have the best change of making seeds. Those pictured are some of the best. Not all parts look as good. Possibly they don’t grow as big in these conditions and have more time than I expect. We’ll see.

Sweetcorn certainly benefited the most from weeding. I did it after the picture, this was just one of the more clean spots. Now I can see the seedlings in other parts that were camouflaged by grass. Don’t look too bad. Not as big as I would hope (biggest around 15cm max), but I’m fairly certain that sweetcorn will flower smaller in these conditions and thus situation might not be too bad.

First picture is fairly poor at this stage, but you can see maxima seedlings if you zoom in. Second picture showing some of the best spots. They are doing fairly well, even if they haven’t grown quite as much as they could have. They have come up in good numbers and I could even do some harder culling to give the best plants less competition.

Summer squash have grown fairly well (atleast the best ones). I’m a bit worried about the numbers. There is just about enough to have fairly good coverage, but not too many extras anywhere.

Parsnips are in full flower and carrots are almost there.

[JesseI (Jesse Ilonen)]

There was same rain over the past week, but not more than around 10mm. It’s something, but only to maintain some moisture in the ground. There did seem to be some moisture under mulch, but otherwise everything is dryed up. I did resort to some limited watering on cucumbers and moschata. Cucumbers because they look like they are sufferening the most, moschata because it has the longest growing season. Also the selection has mostly been done. Couldn’t water much anyway which is why I used it where I think there is most to be gained. Water is 100 meters one way (closer source dried up long time ago) which limits it’s use. Also I used all of it, with 10 trips with 2 watering cans. Now I just have to hope for the best. Forecast is 3 days with highs closer to 30C (86F) and after that it cools down a bit (20-25C/68-76F) with some hope for rain.

Now I made some harder culling and left closer to final numbers. Maximas (below) had the most to cull. They also had grown fairly well, but some signs of drought are also visible. Hopefully less competition will help.

Sweetcorn are starting to look a bit better, atleast on some parts.

Best moschata.

One of the better summersquash. There aren’t many extras and some empty spots, but overall looks quite good once they grow a bit.

Cucumbers had recuberated some, but still looking a bit weathered. Hopefully water that they got will get them going.

Parsnips are in full flower. Who needs big showy flowers? At least not the pollinators that were buzzing on them.

Took a while to come up with a easy and effective support design for peas and beans. Once it came to me those were quite fast to make from local natural materials. possibly can re-use them next year as well after reinforcing.

[JesseI (Jesse Ilonen)]

Plot was 2 weeks without care. Only briefly visited with brothers and made some quick culling, but yesterday was a day to proberly tidy up. Start of this period was again 10 days with no rain and even a few days highs of 30C (86F). When I visited with my brothers it had just rained some 10mm and continued to rain similarly in the following days. Didn’t really notice that it had rain there. The ground was so dry to start with and those plants that were suffering from lack of water have not had time to recuberate. Some of the maximas, summer squash and sweet corn look the best apart from beans and peas. Some seem to be genetic, but it also looks like there are some differences in the growing spot that makes some plants struggle. Some of the cucumbers had recuberated, possibly due to watering I made back then. Moschatas are struggling a bit considering the time they need, but with todays rain (so far looks like at least 20mm more) things might start to pick up overall. I did water both cucumbers and moschata after I made heavy culling down to those that have I change to contribute at least pollen. Moschata got 10l per plant, cucumbers 5l. Also gave water to couple remaining seedlings of yukon chief sweetcorn to make sure that I can get crosses this year.

First I had to secure pea supports. Did not go to plan, but now I know.

Best summer squash. Doesn’t look like it has any signs of lack of water. There are some arabian summer squash in the crosses, but can’t say if this is one of those.

Some of the more typical summer squash. Not sure which seeds are these, but might have made the mistake when I sowed F1s. All are same within the cross which means they either do good or not. I was expecting a little better conditions. It still looks like all different types that germinated still have a chance to make fruits and at least contribute pollen.

Some maximas are doing amazingly.

Overall maximas are a bit patchy.

Best moschata.

Moschatas overall. Worst is at the back which I have mostly given up on. There are still about 20 plants that have a chance if they really pick up now. They need to flower in this month to have a realistic chance of making seeds. I do have as a back up 2 plants in my other plot that have had a bit better growing conditions. Plan is to use these survivors as pollen donors (as male flowers come first) to make sure that the selection doesn’t go to waste.

Best cucumbers. Was a bit surprising that they had improved that much. Must have been one good watering that allowed them to push roots deeper.

Cucumbers overall.

Best sweetcorn.

Some areas are struggling more.

Favas are a bit stunted and starting to flower quite small. At least it should mean seeds.

Parsnips are already forming seeds. Carrots are starting to flower. Last years tps grown from tubers are trying to grow. Haven’t had the time to mulch and haven’t given them water since the start. Doesn’t really matter how much they produce.

[YrtheArts (Brent Hopkins)]

I live in zone 6a. Last winter, temperatures went as low as -20F, -29C. This year i had some volunteer moschata squash from last year’s fruit that rotted in the garden after frost. So i know the seeds can overwinter and survive very cold temperatures in wet ground. This fall I’m planning to plant squash seed to overwinter in the ground, so i can take advantage of the soil moisture early in the spring. Significant rain has ended by late May in the last few years. I have a lot of seed, so will let nature select.

[JesseI (Jesse Ilonen)]

The rains continued after the last visit. Nothing too heavy, but together with what I mentioned last time it has rained around 50mm this month. Looks like it will rain some more every few days, but temperatures also stay good for growth with highs of 20-25C (68-77F). Especially nights are warmer than average because of partially overcast weather. Even ground level it will remain above 10C (50F) and nights are very short this time of the year.

I was expecting to see more growth, but it looks like once you compare pictures, there has been quite good growth overall. Favas and potatoes were the most obvious even without comparing pictures. Dispite the rains, it still looks quite dry. Total is still well below average since may on top of several dry years, which might mean that it need a lot to recuberate. There are also lot’s of water vole holes and I don’t know if that could have something to do with it. I knew it wasn’t the best place to put a garden and we’ll have to see if it will improve over the years. At the moment goal has been lowered to making seeds that are adabted for the next year.

Sweet corn and maximas are partially doing good. Looks like I’ll get some seeds.

One was culled after previous update, but these 2 can both stay as they are from different seeds and there is plenty of space on other sides.

The best summer squash aren’t showing sings of stress whatsoever. They are little later than if I had cared for them, but all things considered they look impressive. These 4 plants are from the same seeds and right over the line that marks different seeds, the plants don’t look as fresh. All plants have little differences which makes me think it’s F2 and probably one with arabian squash in it.

There are even the first female showing. i’m not sure if it’s ideal for plant this small to produce fruit for seed (possibly big fruit), but I don’t think I have a lot of time to be picky. If it get’s pollinated and starts growing, it probably can stay. Another matter if it will get pollinated. There are males showing, but I likely won’t be there to make sure of the pollination.

Some of the more struggling summer squashes. Some show positive signs and some are at least getting ready to be pollen donors with males already showing.

Cucumbers have atleast a couple of better plants. Some are ok atleast for donating pollen to get some diversity. But the clock is ticking for the fruits to form.

Moschata are still looking quite yellow, but there has been some growth with the first starting to vine. Still not sure if they will make fruits in time, but at least male flowers are showing. They should bloom early enough to impliment my back-up plan.

Favas probably had some 20cm growth since the last update.

Just dug out runner beans from under the weeds. They are quite sorry looking, but still well in time. Need to finish trellising as they start to vine.

This is what I have to deal with. I could fit my hand in. No wonder if at some places plants aren’t doing that great although I’m not sure if these explain wide areas of poor growth, but rather single plants. I have been meaning to get these devices that should scare voles with sound/vibration. Might also keep the deer away. They haven’t eaten anything, but might tramble on plants. According to person who has farmed the field for several years, they have never eaten anything from them. Just using the nearby field to sleep at night.

[YrtheArts (Brent Hopkins)]

In terms of assisting pollination, it might be well to scatter mixes of flowers that do well in your climate. I don’t see many flowers in your photos. It’s my understanding that the majority of pollinating insects tend to be visually attracted to masses of flowers. So creating that destination would bring them to proximity with your squashes and cucumbers and so on. It’s much less likely that pollinators will go out of their way to visit a relatively few stragglers out in a field, that is not efficient for them.

Overall though your garden looks very good!