Homestead mailing list

[Robert Walton <waltonrp AT gmail.com>]

> I have an excel spreadsheet that tells where things are, but you are
> right-a map in a permanent location would be good...I need to do that.
>

Either way works. Tags fall off stuff and I forget what it is.  Also,
I like to think that when I'm dead, someone around here might be happy
that they know what's planted where.


> BTW, Rob, that clover is beautiful.  If I might ask, how large is the
> field, how much did you plant, where did you get the seed, and how much
> did it cost?  Tilled? Disked? Hand broadcast? Drilled?

Here is what I did. It's about an acre and 1/3 or so.

For first crop after plowing it up and disking it off, broadcast oats
and crimson clover March 2008 and disked it in. For no lime and no
fertilizer, it grew OK. Clover bloomed. Oats made oats.

Goats ate that off. I ended up pasturing the field off to them last
summer. Because of the drought, I didn't bother to plant another cover
crop.

It was limed in August 2008

Come fall and rains, I decided to disk it up and plant back to a
winter cover crop. Luckily, I noticed that there was a good growth of
clover in the field. I decided to just leave it and see what happened.
Fenced goats out.

Clover grew all winter very slowly. Grew like crazy come spring.

I think I put down 15# of clover seed the first planting. What you saw
in the pictures is what came back from seed. Should make a nice plow
down. I do believe that the lime helped a lot. Field was at ph of 5.4
3 years ago before it was tilled. Haven't tested it this year.

Rob - Va