✎ masanobu_fukuoka [the libarynth]

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==== Fukuoka about vegetable gardening ====

*The important thing is knowing the right time to plant, mostly just before certain weeds have sprouted.Its the best to wait for a rain which is likely to last for several days. If the seeds sprout up before the weeds they will be not overgrown later.

*For a backyard garden it is enough to grow the right vegetables at the right time in soil prepared by organic compost and green manure. and rotating the crops.

*[For the spring vegetables the right time can be when the winter weeds are dying back and just before the summer weeds have sprouted. For the fall sowing seeds should be tossed out when the summer grasses are fading away and the winter weeds have not yet appeared.]
  *Cut a swatch in the weed cover and put out the vegetable seeds, there is need to cover them with soil: just lay the weeds you have cut back overs the seeds to act as a mulch and to hide them from birds and chickens until they can germinate (ontkiemen). When the weeds and clover are not so thick you can simply toss out the seeds: just scatter the seeds here and there.

*Spinach and carrots dont gerninate easily.  Soak the seeds in water for a day or two and wrap them in a clay pellet.

*Radish and turnip (meiraap), are strong enough to copete succesfully with the weeds; leave a few unharvested to seed themselves year after year.

*Carrots,  burdock (kliswortel), garlic, pearl-onions (parelui) en chinese leek (chinese bieslook); will come by themselves year after year.

*Legumes (peulvruchten) are best sown in spring. In growing peas, red azuki beans, soybeans and kidney beans, early germination  is essential. They will have difficulty germinating  without enough rain, and keep an eye out for birds and insects.

*Tomatoes and  Eggplants are not strong enough to compete with the weeds when they are young and so should be grown in a starter bed and later transplanted. Let the tomatoes run along the ground. roots will grow down from the nodes along the main stem and new shoots will come up and bear fruit.

*Cucumbers: the creeping-on- the - ground variety is the best. You have to take care of the young plants, occasionally cutting the weeds, but after that the plants will grow strong. Lay out branches of a tree and the cucumbers will twine all over them. The branches keep the fruit just avobe the ground so that it does not rot. This method of growing also works for melons and squash (turkse muts)\

*Potatoes are very strong plants, once planted they will come up in the same place every year and never be overgrown by weeds., just leave a few in the ground when you harvest.

*If the ground is hard, grow japanese radish (daikon) first: they cultivate and soften the earth, after a few seasons potatoes can be grown in their place.

*If you mix white clover and the vegetable seeds; it will act as a living mulch, enriching the soil, keeping the ground moist and well aerated and hold back even the strong weeds zoals bijvoet.

*As with the vegetables, it is important to choose the right time to sow the clover seed. (Late summer or fall sowing is the best, the roots develop during the cold months, giving the clover a jump on the annual spring grasses. or you can also sow early in spring. Once the clover takes hold, you do not need to sow it again or 5 or 6 years.

*Leave some vegetables unharvested, the seeds fall, and after one or two generations,they revert to the growing habits of their strong and slightly bitter tasting wild predecessors.

*If various kinds of herbs and vegetables are mixed together and grown among the natural vegetation, damage by insects and diseases will be minimal and there will be no need to use sprays or to pick bugs by hand.

*You can grow vegetables at anyplace there is a varied and vigorous growth of weeds. It is important to become familiar with the yearly cycle and growing pattern of the weeds and grasses.

*By looking at the variety and the size of the weeds in a certain area you can tell what kind of soil is there and whether or not a deficiency exists.

*Fukuoka grows in his orchard: burdock (kliswortel), cabbage, tomatoes, carrots, mustard, beans and many other herbs and vegetables in a semi-wild way...

*Strooi over de zaden in de herfst wat stro or mulch. The use of mulch increases the soil ability  to retain water.

*The best disease and insect control is to grow crops in a healthy environment.

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==== the Japanese seven herbs of spring ====

when you gather and eat the seven herbs of spring: your spirit becomes gentle:
  ***Chickweed** - Stellaria media - Vogelmuur
  ***Wild radish** | Raphanus raphanistrum or sativius  | Knopherik
  ***Cottonweed** - Otanthus maritimus
  ***Shepherd's purse** | herderstasje - hij houdt wel van me ,hij houdt niet van me) | Capsella bursa-pastoris  -...Flora
  ***Watercress**  | Nasturtium officinale   | Waterkers
  ***Wild turnip** | (raap) | Brassica rapa ssp sylvestris
  ***Bee nettle**  |  Witte dovenetel | Lamium album

*When you eat **Bracken schoots** | Pteridium aquilinum  | Adelaarsvaren, **Osmund** ? and **Shepherd's Purse** you become calm to restless, impatient feelings Shepherd's Purse is the best of all.

***Horsetail** | Equisetum | paardestaart,  **Bracken shoots ** | varen,  a**nd Mugwort** | Bijvoet |Artemisia vulgaris:  they make delicious tempura
**Sheperd's purse** : jonge (voor de bloei) rozetblaadjes kunnen gebruikt worden in salades, of gesmoord in soepen.

**Wilgenkatjes** is edible

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