Saint Maur {Gardening}

Principle

tracking progresses on my gardening process. Why Im interested in it, how it is going on, what are the existing alternatives, ...

Summer 2011

On the menu (mostly just for Summer 2009)

• Result
• Watering
• Expenses
• Cuttings
• Seeds
• Potential seeding
• Difficulties
• Lessons learned
• Theoretical Considerations
• To Do

more pictures and their feed

Result

• svg (see ImageMap)
  • FrontA? = radis 30
  • FrontB? = empty
  • LongA? = salade 31
  • LongB? = brocolli 31 / zuchini
  • RoundA = mint cuttings
  • RoundB? = hybrid stawberry
  • MediumA? = herbs / laurel
  • MediumB? = herbs / thym
  • SquareA? = carrotts 2 (leafs 4/08/09)
  • link to each specific pot
    • make a sheet with statistics with curves (cf the website with inline plots)
      • price
      • protein
      • "handwork" done
      • financial return on investment
  • global sheet information (sun exposure, average rain drop, ...)
    • Prévisions météo de Météo-France Saint-Maur-des-Fossés Précip : 104.2 mm

Watering

~3x3L per watering

Expenses

Cuttings

• menthe

Origin : marche des Marronniers, 21/07/09

• fraisier hybride
• ?

Origin : Parc Floral, 25/08/09

• laurier
• thym
• ?

Origin : Parc Floral, 26/08/09

Seeds

• Courgette, verte noire maraichere, Gondian Bio, 4e
• Chou brocoli, Vert calabrais, Gondian, 3e
• Radio, National 2, Vilmorin, 2e
• Carotte, de Colmar a coeur rouge 2, France graines, 1e
• Laitue Batavia, blond de Paris, France graines, 1e

Origin : quai de la Megisserie, 27/07/09

• Poivron vert (mis a secher le 30/07/09)

Origin : marche des Marronniers, 28/07/09

Potential seeding

• monthly "Travaux" from AuJardin.info : Juillet au potager
• ideally
  • vegs : pepper (sweet, spicy), beans (green beans, lentils, ...), carotts, tomatoes, salads (lettuce, ...), cucumber, zucchini, spinach, brocolli, leaks ...
  • herbs : mint, persil, basil, coriander, marjoram, ...
  • fruits : *berries, ...

Difficulties

• pot with "radis" is rapidly become too small
  • not knowing how to select the best individual to let grow further
• problem with large pot B, water did not evacuate properly, hole cleaned and soil shuffle and to oxygenate it
• not having a goute-a-goute (sic)
• watering cuttings and salad probably too quickly and damaging the leafs
• having a mushroom (2cm tall!) in the cuttings pot

Lessons learned

• direct the plant based on your needs
  • with cuttings, cut large leafs in half
  • with seeds, water often to send the clear signal that conditions are gathered for germination
• channel nutrients
  • water drains them, consequently should not be lost
• the first cycle is probably the hardest as it does not provide positive feedback. Consequently it runs more on hope and expectations than tangible returns.
  • hence the classical "first one is free" business practice
• independance has a cost, somehow expanding or just reconfiguring a Bernard cycle is very costly especially as it breaks previsouly established habits (thus, hopefuly, optimized actions)
  • see also my notes on The Things We Do
• in the same way that during a market actors overbuy then oversell in the hope to "counter" the movement, providing and excess of resource (being light, nutrient or water) instead of a gradual amount to "counter" a lack is probably a bad strategy

Theoretical Considerations

• study how it interplays with extended Bernardism
  • how does it changes my homeostatis process
    • internalize food production within my home vs externalization/delegation
    • cost vs return
  • see also my notes on The Things We Do by Gary Cziko
  • see also enclosure and the work of David W. Deamer
  • one can wonder if this also apply to home cleaning and fixing, instantly giving relaxing or other pleasurable feelings
• desire to have "printer for seeds"
  • engineer them using a (dedicated computer) language (like Lisp) then see them develop based on the algorithm written down before the printing process

To Do

• check semantic(pm|media)wiki potential as pot information are most likely to be very structured
• experiments
  • seeds from market fruits/vegs (tomatoes, melons, ...)
    • drying green pepper from the market
  • cuttings from random places (markets, gardens, parcs, ...)