[permaculture] applying one-straw principles
Loren Davidson
listmail at lorendavidson.com
Wed Jun 15 15:09:11 EDT 2005
At 11:47 AM -0700 6/15/05, Stephanie Gerson wrote:
>hello folks,
>
>I'd like to experiment with Fukuoka's one-straw principles in my garden
>in Berkeley, California - and was wondering if anyone had any
>suggestions. I have spring crops bolting (unpicked radishes and turnips,
>lettuce, chard, mustard, and other greens) and wanted to simply toss some
>seeds in and then cut the bolting crops down as live mulch. Would this
>work? I Love gardening, but I'd like to try doing as little work as
>possible with the annuals I'm growing (at least, not tilling). Any
>advice?
Well, a lot would depend on your microclimate and plans for
irrigation. I've had some good luck with volunteer pole beans in
Oakland, and have some seeds I'd be happy to share. But you'd have to
have something for them to climb. And I *was* irrigating about once a
week last year, with lots of mulch around my plants.
I'd suggest the rest of the Three Sisters - squash, corn - but if
you're in the part of Berkeley that's foggy and cool most of the
summer, you'd have to pick your varieties very carefully, to get
something that will set fruit and mature in the cooler microclimate.
I'd definitely suggest larger seeds over smaller ones - they do
better in coarse mulch. And decide what your parameters are for
temperature and watering.
Strawberries are also working okay in my garden; you can put them in,
mulch them, and mostly leave 'em alone for a year or two. Just keep
the crowns above soil level.
If your place is cool enough, you could go for another seeding of
leafy vegetables that are a bit more heat-tolerant.
Just a few thoughts; drop me a note offlist if you're either
interested in those beans or want to discuss gardening with Pc
overtones here in the East Bay.
Loren
--
Loren Davidson listmail at lorendavidson.com
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