I was also surprised, the balcony is so high, how do snails and slugs (slugs) climb up? In the first year or two of planting, I have not seen snails, slugs, this kind of insect in the soil, and the vegetables have been harvested in waves. A person, according to the sustainable harvesting and planting methods, can basically meet 70% of the daily vegetable needs.
A living ecological balcony, ecological cultivation method: beans, onions, garlic and lettuce intercropping (mixed cultivation), next to the flowers such as moon flowers.
Oneliving eco balcony vegetables
How did it come to the third year, creeping out? Later, I think about it, on the one hand, because the compost soil of kitchen waste is constantly added, and the composting method is not a way of hot composting, it has not been able to kill the eggs carried by the dish at high temperature, and it will begin to emerge. There is also the soil becoming more and more vigorous, and the microorganisms are becoming more and more abundant. During the practice of lazy people do not turn the soil cover method multiching, that is, straw or dried leaves are directly laid on the soil, imitating the appearance of the forest. It turns out that doing so, at least growing vegetables (leafy vegetables) on the balcony, is not suitable. Subtle fungi, etc. will occur between the leaves and the soil, and the small environment will attract insects. Nature is just so magical.
This is also what the Park Gate design says not to copy, but to observe and adjust according to local conditions. I stepped on the pit myself and found that, like bio-intensive cultivation, a deep layer of soil is needed to increase the fertility of the plant. But when it comes to the balcony, I really don't dare to use deep soil, which means that after watering, it will become heavier. Soil that is often watered with chlorine tap water will clump and the roots will not be able to be rooted too deeply. The root system of different crops is also different, the needs are different, and they cannot be followed.
oneliving eco-ecological balcony eggshell deworming
What about slugs and snails growing on the balcony? Eggshell deworming!
The number is certainly not much, and you can only catch it while using eggshells to protect the dish. If there is a partition at the bottom of the planting trough, it also needs to be checked. The dark and damp environment at the bottom is the best hiding place for slugs.
Prevention is the mainstay, supplemented by other measures
Growing vegetables on the balcony is different from the field, where there are other creatures that can destroy insects in the soil, such as ducks who like to eat snails, hedgehogs who like to eat slugs. However, the premise is that the soil cannot be sprayed with pesticides, otherwise you cannot use ducks to eat insects. The ducks are also eventually eaten. Many people ignore the interlocking laws of nature!
The appearance of snails and slugs is also telling us that the soil is too wet. Compost soil is more water-retaining, and the amount of watering can be appropriately reduced. Or water at the bottom of the soil or around the container, as long as the vegetables are not seedlings, the appropriate lack of water will find ways to grow more roots to find water, and the vegetables will be healthier!
The soil where the balcony grows vegetables lacks natural enemies, and can only rely on the natural enemies of people to eliminate pests. The best way is that as long as the kitchen waste compost is sterilized at high temperature, it does not matter if you can't use fire, first of all, the compost soil is dried, and then the soil is put into the bucket and scalded with boiling hot water. After that, the soil is spread out to allow the water to evaporate, and the soil can be used directly to grow vegetables.
Oneliving Hot Pure Land Method
If it is other plants, depending on the situation, because there are bugs in the soil, in fact, as long as they are not too much, there is not much threat to the health of the plant. Moreover, the feces or insect corpses produced by living creatures in the soil are naturally turned into fertilizer after they are decomposed. How nice! There is no garbage in nature, because all life eventually returns to the soil and then nourishes life (plants).
And how do soil microorganisms recover? It is all up to the earthworm compost tea to activate the soil in the later stage.
oneliving A living ecological balcony garden - sustainable living with love is a life worth living!