Selfsufficientish.com

Hi ALL,may I put forward another idea of mine which I believe has never been done before,which you may like to try out on a over grown allotment plot that has not been dug over for a long time.
This I'm putting forward to be used in the South East mainly where we are having less rainfall each year,and we are having a hose pipe ban imposed on us now.
What I'm suggesting is we change our normal way of growing things to fit the drought situation we are in. Done in the simplest of ways,like my container system which works,which I would have been doing if had not covered my half allotment plot in unwanted wooden pallets and plastic containers to help reduce them going into landfill sites.
Stage one is to clear your allotment plot of weeds by using a fast acting weed killer,which allows you to grow things soon after using it. Next decide what and where you are going to grow things,like for example potatos,beans,peas,carrots,lettuce,sweetcorn.
Now comes the different way I was going to do it against all the so called experts advice,as I believe they have not tried it out before,which I'm sure I well now get every one talking about it in a negative way at first,which I'm sure will change after trying it out to a positive one in the future.
What I propose is that we dig lots of round or square holes all over a plot of land,in the size we think is the best size for what we intend to grow first.
This way it would mean leaving a surface which can be walked on,remembering with the old way of growing things we nearly always leave a space in-between crops whether it's in rows or individually,leaving a lot of space that been dug over but never gets used.
My way saves all that waste of time and effort in digging over the ground surface areas to not be used.
The end result of my idea is,a plot growing what ever I want to grow in a hole dug out and filled with what ever surrounded by a barrier of soil which allows any surface water to collect in it,but it will not effect the water table because it will slowly drain away after feeding your crop roots first,and you can do the same things on a slope too, done by digging channels across the slope with holes dug in them to act in the same way as a water guttering channel,leading to a water butt,but the water butt is your grop growing hole,plus it will act like it does when we plant trees in the land to hold the soil in place too. Less digging involved to make your plot have a grid like system,made up of lots of round or square holes with something growing in them. It's just another way of growing things in a contained space. John. J.R.P.

Hi John. I'm afraid that isn't a new idea. Those of us who garden in dry conditions already do that - all the shrubs and plants are planted in holes (or banked up all around) to make sure that when you water the water doesn't run away. It's a sensible thing to do though so a good idea to bring it to people's attention.

Hi Millymollymandy,thank you for showing your interest in my idea. The new idea part is just digging holes in a allotment plot that have not been used for a long time,or land that's not been used to grow anything in before.
The normal way we would grow things in the ground,such as in the garden,we would dig over and over again to keep the weeds down,and to also make it look good,done by then planting things in holes.
My way is different,you only dig a hole in the ground,this leaving the area around it to walk on just like you would have containers standing on a pattio.
If you work out say what a farmer uses of his field,and what is left in-between his crops so that he can get wheels to pass by his crops without flatterning them,it works out a lot,which means he can only grow things in rows,my way works in the same way,but you don't have to dig over the land first,which all allotment plot holders do ,exsept for me. John. J.R.P.

Hi john, as MMM says this is nothing new... the other allotmenteers in your patch may well be using "traditional" dig-over methods and row culture, but pick up one of the permaculture books and you'll see half a dozen variations of this technique. "Permaculture in a Nutshell" does a nice precis of them if you don't want to tackle the heavy stuff.

Hi Hedgewizard,thank you for showing your interest in my idea,which I was going to do years ago but I decided to do something else instead to grow things. I will go to our local library to read about Permaculture as you suggested,to see how others do it. Thank you.
May you and yours live long and happy. John. J.R.P.

hedgewizard wrote:Hi john, as MMM says this is nothing new... the other allotmenteers in your patch may well be using "traditional" dig-over methods and row culture, but pick up one of the permaculture books and you'll see half a dozen variations of this technique. "Permaculture in a Nutshell" does a nice precis of them if you don't want to tackle the heavy stuff.

Hi Hedgewizard again,I went on the internet and I found someone who might help me to spread the word,as most of what I do involves Permaculture in one way or another. He's a Mr Graham Burnett at www.spiralseed.co.uk who I sent a e-mail to the other day,I'm waiting for a reply. I think I can now call my self an expert on Permaculture on what I've read so far.. John. J.R.P.

Hi ALL,I did get a reply from Graham Burnett,but he's extremely busy with other verious projects,and life in general,at least he took the time to reply.
For those who are interested in my ideas I hope to be on SKY Three TV again,The Secret Life of Suburbia this week or next at a different time than before 8am or 1pm. John. J.R.P.

Hi John,
Am afraid the word 'Permaculture' is all sown up, so to speak.

You can't call yourself an expert on Permaculture if you have not completed a Permaculture Design Course. In fact, you are not even supposed to use the word in reference to your practices...

Some great practices and the overall theory is very earth friendly. Much derived through observation and thoughtful reflection, I think... if you want to complete a course contact the Permaculture Institute. If you just want to learn how to go about trying some of the ideas, just google or grab a few books. Keyword search: Bill Mollison

Your idea reminds me a bit of contouring and keyline ag... though am not sure how the idea would work for me. Removing all my topsoil to dig a hole, would then put me in the clay layer, which is not much chop.

Good luck with everything.

Hi Boots,thank you for showing your interest in the way I do things. I thought PERMACULTURE was when you do very little,no matter what you do,but in return you get more out than you put in,no matter what you did. For example my simple to make transportable system will allow you to grow something without digging in the ground,so I need no tools like most normal gardeners do. With this in mind would you please visit my website to see what I mean. May you and yours live long and happy. John. J.R.P.

John, it looks like you've not really grasped some of the concepts here. I'd really recommend some more reading up, but if that's not your thing then good luck in your garden!

PermaCulture

Today permaculture can best be described as an ethical design system applicable to food production and land use, as well as community building. It seeks the creation of productive and sustainable ways of living by integrating ecology, landscape, organic gardening, architecture and agroforestry. The focus is not on these elements themselves, but rather on the relationships created among them by the way they are placed together; the whole becoming greater than the sum of its parts. Permaculture is also about careful and contemplative observation of nature and natural systems, and of recognizing universal patterns and principles, then learning to apply these ‘ecological truisms’ to one’s own circumstances.

there you go John, your systems have the same idea in mind so they share the same ethos as permaculture but in fact by moving things around a lot you may be destroying some of the permaculture principals, so there's lots for you to think about :)

John wrote:Stage one is to clear your allotment plot of weeds by using a fast acting weed killer

do they have fast acting organic weed killers?

den_the_cat wrote:PermaCulture

Today permaculture can best be described as an ethical design system applicable to food production and land use, as well as community building. It seeks the creation of productive and sustainable ways of living by integrating ecology, landscape, organic gardening, architecture and agroforestry. The focus is not on these elements themselves, but rather on the relationships created among them by the way they are placed together; the whole becoming greater than the sum of its parts. Permaculture is also about careful and contemplative observation of nature and natural systems, and of recognizing universal patterns and principles, then learning to apply these ‘ecological truisms’ to one’s own circumstances.

there you go John, your systems have the same idea in mind so they share the same ethos as permaculture but in fact by moving things around a lot you may be destroying some of the permaculture principals, so there's lots for you to think about :)

Hi Den_the_Cat,thank you for showing your interest in my ideas,may I (quote) what I read the other day.

YIELD IS LIMITED ONLY BY IMAGINATION.

Traditionally, 'yield' is thought of as quantity of material output (eg, amount of potatoes, grain,etc) calculated against resources or EFFORT PUT IN,but there's no reason why we can't widen our definition to include information,lessons learned,experience,the health benefits of exercise and being outdoors, or even just plain fun...Within a PERMACULTURE DESIGN, we will constantly be finding NEW NICHES to utilise,new beneficial guilds, LEARNING NEW TECHNIQUES, TRYING OUT FRESH IDEAS, be gathering knowledge.
By comprehending and copying natural systems, we can develop techniques in order to consciously multiply such opportunities.
By being able to move things from one place to another I thought would be a good thing to be able to do, like my simple to make transportable system works to help feed people,made from rubbish.
May you and yours live long and happy. John.J.R.P.

Hi ALL,for those who are interesed in my ideas,I sent a e-mail to the Permaculture Council of Management UK the other day to see if they can help me to get my ideas used,and I've sent a e-mail to Sir Cliff Richard too,to see if he can help me,as he believes in tying to help others too,in his own way.
I'm waiting for a reply from both of them,I wonder if I will get a reply, as one has two people at the heart of a big organisation,and the other one is a fames person with a big heart who is in his sixtys too,like me.
May you and yours live long and happy. John. J.R.P.

John, stay with the thread rather than getting carried away with spreading the word. Can you answer this please because on the face of it this runs contrary to organic principles and permaculture ethics.

STHLMgreen wrote:

John wrote:Stage one is to clear your allotment plot of weeds by using a fast acting weed killer

do they have fast acting organic weed killers?

Cliff Richard... perhaps you could try Buzz Aldrin too?