Jānis Šipkēvics or Shipsea, the musician, the leader of the group “Instruments”, lives with his wife Zani and his one-and-a-half-year-old son Kristaps, living in a forest surrounded by city noise. In the area of less than three hectares, various trees, berry bushes, zucchini are growing and tomatoes, cucumbers and asparagus have been cultivated in the raised beds of the future “concrete greenhouse”.
Practical Latvian
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Both Zane and Jānis have lived in the city for most of their lives. “I always had fields where we went to our grandparents on weekends, but no one has lived like that in the countryside before. Jānis is from Ilguciems, I am also from Pardaugava, ”reveals Zane, whose move to the countryside was not frightening, because there are no pets, such as chickens or cows, that would require a lot of responsibility. “Our scope is relatively small,” says Zane.
“This is a place with its own history. A forester once lived here. The whole world is like one big map where you make stops. This is one of them, ”says Jānis about a place that has been called home for seven years. He is very enthusiastic about caring for the surroundings of the house. At the age of 30, Jānis had a desire to start moving around, followed by planting the first trees. During these years, a large amount of knowledge has been acquired, both in practice and in searching for information on the Internet and reading in magazines. “It’s a cool school where you just tried to understand what was arranged, of course, through all kinds of mistakes,” says John, who once planted a Canadian maple in the garden, which unfortunately fell over time.
The owner tries various recommendations and practical advice, for example, to get rid of the strain, it should be added magnesium sulfate, which significantly speeds up the process of wood crushing. As a result, the tree becomes very fragile and can be easily cut out with a small ax.
Experts know the best mushrooming places in secret, so you can try to “sow” mushrooms in your yard. Jānis hopes to expect the first mushroom harvest this autumn. Early on, he overgrown the overgrown mushrooms with sugar and milk and left them in the barn for a month. Jānis no longer remembers exactly, but it seems that the birch leaves and mushrooms were blended. Later, this mass was watered in a place where, hopefully, this year will be able to see the first mushrooms.
Make garden care easier
“I find the idea of permaculture very sympathetic in that one plant helps another – another leaves compost what is at the bottom, another draws nitrogen again. Everything is like one big orchestra – not you struggle with something, but figure out how this one helps each other to make it all happen naturally. So that you can make as little effort as possible, ”says Jānis about how to make taking care of the garden easier and more enjoyable.
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The owners of the garden have taken care not to spend much time on weeding – the beds created in the ground are obscured, but in the raised beds the weeds do not grow so easily. Of course, both mowing the lawn and seasonal work, such as planting or picking berries, take time. “We probably choose the principle of self-preservation quite consciously, so that you do not become a slave to what you have planted yourself, because then, at least in our case, you lose the joy when you feel that you have let something in, because something is overgrown, unrooted. , ”Says Zane about the garden.
Aromatic mint grows near the house
A few steps from the door of the house is not only the herb bed, which is tidy in a box made by John on wheels, but also under the apple tree grows an aromatic mint bush. They are cherished by Zane and, as it turns out, are quite simple to grow. “First of all, they grow well on their own, they have the character of weeds. They do everything themselves and you just have to pick it up. I also really like mint tea. I consume it in huge quantities, ”says Zane, revealing that she is already preparing winter stocks – dry tea. They grow not only under the apple tree near the house, but in three other places in the yard. “Let’s go to the plantations,” jokes Zane.
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Although the territory of the backyard is quite large, the Šipkēvics couple does not plan to cultivate long potato, carrot or beet beds. “We’ve been thinking about some more exotic things, like quinces, that could be plantation-type,” Zane shares. Blackcurrant and currant bushes also grow in the garden, but Zane entrusts the canning work to grandmothers, who are happy to prepare jams for the winter.
Fighting earthworms
Agronomist’s advice in the fight against crayfish:
Agronomist Māris Narvils says that earthworms usually end up in the gardens with manure. Their eggs are small, so it is difficult to detect the presence of earthworms in the manure. When we start fighting these unwanted insects, we need to find out whether our neighbors are facing the same problem, because they have to be fought together. One year will not be enough to eradicate earthworms, it will take several years. The garden should be carefully inspected at the beginning. If a plant suddenly begins to wither for no reason, it is possible that an earthworm is underneath. You can try to dig it out quickly and destroy it.
Another option is to make special fake media in which to put something juicy, such as salad or carrots. Then they are buried in the ground – 15 cm deep. This place must be easy to open, as the bait can be restored every few days and the crayfish found near the feed can be destroyed. Even in winter, fake nests can be created by digging rotting leaves to a depth of 20 cm. It will be warm there and the crustaceans will gather for the winter. In spring, this place can be unearthed and insects destroyed. They also do not like loosening the ground to a depth of 20 – 30 cm.
Earthworms are very sensitive to dried eggshells. They should not be ground into powder, but into fine pieces. The crushed shells should not be sprinkled on top of the ground, but should be crammed into 10-15 cm deep furrows. If the ground is mulched with straw, if it is watered regularly, the earthworms will gather under them and be able to pick them up by lifting the mulch. These pests also do not like strong fragrant plants, such as garlic, chrysanthemums, so they can be planted between the beds.
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-Initially, there was a greenhouse built by the previous owners in the yard, but the passage of time did its own thing and it began to crumble together, and the earthlings did not make it easier to clean it, so the couple decided not to renovate it yet. At the pond, where someone once laid the foundations for a small sauna, now there is a “concrete garden” called Jānis.
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Due to unwanted garden guests – earthworms, Šipkēvici no longer tries to clean the beds. Laughing, Zane says that all the tips found on the Internet have been tried. “Probably no miracle cures have been invented anymore, but we try to fight them from time to time. Honestly, wooden boxes are a good way not to give them all their harvest, ”says Zane about the solution.
Silence surrounded by forest
Here, in the middle of the forest, you can’t hear the noises made by cars, just the trolling of birds, the beating of grasses and sometimes the rain hitting the leaves of trees. This idyll of silence does not go unnoticed by the guests, but for the Šipkēvics couple, as young parents, the child fills the silence quite neatly. Zane has recently spent evenings with little Kristaps sitting on the backyard stairs, talking about what he had experienced during the day, watching the sun disappear behind the horizon, the trees swaying in the wind. “It simply came to our notice then. Maybe not so much their silence exactly, but in general all their feelings and the place we are, ”Zane tells about the evenings with her son.
“Good feeling – to make a small corner more beautiful and better all the time,” says Jānis. Although Zane prefers not to look far into the future, but lives from day to day, she can imagine that this place will be called her home for many years to come. “I can totally imagine what I’m sitting on the stairs here and thinking about some day,” Zane says with a smile.
This summer, journalist Henrieta Verhoustinska is visiting the gardens of musicians, composers, painters, actors and other cultural figures to see what is growing in them, learn various practical tips and enjoy the summer in various Latvian cities. Gardening both calms the mind, makes you move, and provides healthy products – more on that in the program “Kultūrdobe” on Saturdays at 18:20.
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