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["Lynda" <lurine AT com-pair.net>]

I'm in one of the unfertile areas.  Between pine trees and the acid and no 
soil and rocks, without composting 24/7 you wouldn't be able to grow 
anything except star thistle!

Down where I spent a lot of years is one of those "black soil" areas.  In 
Sonoma County, CA, Rohnert Park to be exact.  Unfortunately, the only thing 
growing on it now is houses.

Back in the day, it was a seed farm.  Even now, the soil, even in the god 
awful wall to wall "little boxes made of ticky tacky" the yards grow 
phenominal gardens.  In old ariel maps you could see the "black" soil that 
was surrounded by "normal" soil.

99.9% of Sonoma County is what the locals call "boot sucking" red clay.  The 
Crane farms are on the edge of the black soil (they invented the Crane 
melon).  Luther Burbank farmed on the edge of this also.  Absolutely 
marvelous soil!

Lynda
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Frank Fries" <frank.fries AT imagewireless.ca>


> There have been a number of comments that suggest that some of you live in
> areas where the soil is not very fertile.  I think it was James who
> mentioned in a reply to Ivy, that it would take a number of years to get 
> the
> soil built up to bring a garden up to production.
>
> In my area, if you break some land (break up the sod/grass), the soil is
> fertile.  You will just have to work to keep the grass from taking the 
> land
> back for the first couple of years.  To maintain the fertility over time 
> you
> do need to keep putting back the nutrients you use (keep adding organic
> matter back).
>
> I know that in some areas, that initial fertility is not a "gimme".
>
> Have any of you read anything on the internet about "terra preta" soils ?
>
> These were soils discovered in man made patches in S.America, that are
> dramatically more fertile than the areas around them.   They were created
> thousands of years ago and remain fertile now.  Some soil scientists are
> formally studying this and many "amateurs" are experimenting with trying 
> to
> recreate the same thing.  It appears that the reason it works "may" be
> related to the beneficial environment created for soil micro-organisms (or
> maybe not).
>
> You may find it quite interesting - if interested do a quick google.
>
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