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  • From: Paul Cereghino <paul.cereghino@comcast.net>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] putting the garden to bed AND ANNUAL AG IN GENERAL
  • Date: Thu, 02 Nov 2006 21:13:06 -0800

Permaculture principles applied to row crop agriculture has been a conundrum for me. Permaculture intentionally focuses on perennial systems, but most temperate foods are provided by annual agriculture methods. Too much complexity can be a barrier to efficient application of clean cultivation methods. Permanent mulch methods have many weaknesses (cold spring soil, slugs). I've focused more on the placement of row crops and relationships to neighboring systems (chicken, crop, compost cycles), rather than what I do in the garden itself.

By contrast Fukuoka rough tilled, dumped mixed seeds, and developed through much trial and error self-designing vegetable forage systems in his orchards. A huge leap for the control freak in all of us. (Fukuoka said something about the rewards nature offers those embrace commitment and risk...) I once met a man with a big plot in a guerilla garden in Seattle who did a similar things.. he smiled a lot and talked about the animals he shared his food with. diffuse self-seeding systems where gardeners provide a low level of disturbance and seed dispersal are a really interesting angle to work on and a way to use up surplus seed. See The Natural Way of farming for some pretty mystical concepts about patterns in complex polycultures of annuals and biennials.

- Use spent garden as chicken forage (alignment of chicken and clean cultivation systems).
- Oats as cover crop dies down in winter leaving a mulch for the next year
- Typhon is a winter cover crop you can eat. Lots more for mild winter folks.
- Look for veg varieties that hold over underground.
- Consider undersowing into standing crops -- plant crimson clover under crops tin late summer. By the time you picking the last, - you fall cover crop is well established. (Elliot Coleman - The New Organic Grower).
- Favor some weeds... chickweed, purslane, are high vitamin perennial edibles that are nice to have in the seed bank.
- By all means if you have wet winters get living things in your garden over winter to avoid leaching of nitrogen!

In general those seeking advice might also introduce their location, rainfall patterns, soils, winter cold (USDA zone), latitude and any salient microclimate (slope, aspect, frost pocket).

Thats what pops out of my bag of tricks, curious about how others approach annual crops in dry summer, wet winter, maritime temperate climates.

Paul Cereghino
Olympia, WA




Lisa Rollens wrote:

Kathy, the only thing I can think of that is really worthwhile is planting a cover crop. It holds the nutrients all winter so they don't leach away and makes good growth in the spring that you can till in for organic matter and nitrogen. I planted wheat and hairy vetch this year. Hairy vetch is supposed to be particularly good to plant tomatoes in next spring. Unfortunately, it's probably too late to plant now...the seedlings, if they sprout on some of our warm days won't be big enough to make it thru the winter. I would encourage you to plan for green manure crops in the future. I am and will. In the past haven't really had the opportunity. Down here, in the Ozarks, with so much drought, sometimes they sprout early enough and sometimes they don't. This year it worked! I don't know when you start gardening, but you could plant clover on the snow and let it grow for quite a while before you till it in to plant warm season crops. Just some ideas....Lisa


----- Original Message ----- From: "Kathy Evans" <evansdk@earthlink.net>
To: "jedd" <jedd@progsoc.org>; "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Thursday, November 02, 2006 2:05 PM
Subject: Re: [permaculture] putting the garden to bed



Jedd, I usually pull up the annuals, sometimes putting them in the compost,
sometimes leaving them where they are, and put away the "stuff"....stakes
and cages. Sometimes I spread some of whatever I have lying around, chopped
up leaves and/or straw and even compost if I'm very ambitious, but I often
don't get to that until Feb. or March. I've read many different theories
about leaving or not leaving the dead stuff where it is. I don't turn over
the soil or anything. Thanks, Kathy

Kathy Evans
evansdk@earthlink.net




[Original Message]
From: jedd <jedd@progsoc.org>
To: <evansdk@earthlink.net>; permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Date: 11/3/2006 4:08:52 AM
Subject: Re: [permaculture] putting the garden to bed

On Thursday 02 November 2006 11:49 pm, Kathy Evans wrote:
] ... permacultury way that might be different from what I usually do?

What do you usually do?

Jedd.

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