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  • From: mtncats@planetcomm.net
  • To: "Healthy soil and sustainable growing" <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Re amino acids, corn gluten, soybean meal
  • Date: Fri, 26 May 2006 14:31:57 -0400

Hi Amanda (with a melody),

If your goat-owning friend would go for it, a firmly anchored chain will keep
a goat from wandering off. Leaves you with the responsibility of moving the
anchor to get a new radius of mowing. And bonus fertilizing!

A potential drawback, maybe not a problem there (certainly is here), would be
creating an attraction for neighborhood dogs. If pack-forming doesn't happen
there, not an issue. I have a solution, but the irresponsible dogs' owners
aren't appreciative. Which isn't a problem for me- and does tend to make
them (the owners) more considerate. Guard dogs are the norm here, fences
inadequate.

You might try a test hole to see just what you're up against. On top of this
mountain I knew there was no soil to speak of, just decomposing rock. Rock
was fine for burying my house, not so great for gardening. Went to the
bottom of the mountain and dug up the best-looking dirt I could find. Not
originally much, but few yrs later it's very good. Much smaller than
field-sized.

For poison ivy, I've succumbed to herbicide temptation. I presume you know
that bush-hogging is temporary. Blackberries uproot pretty gracefully after
a rain. Loosens up the soil in the process. Privet might be more of a
challenge. I've been converting my blackberry patches to raspberries and
something else that I need to find out what it is. Similar to a raspberry.

What's your goal for the field?

Tom (in central Va)

On 5/25/06 at 10:37 PM Amanda Peck wrote:

>I've got a large and neglected field up the hill, just got some of the
>privet and blackberries bush-hogged.
>
>Next task may be a huge stand of poison ivy, surrounding a wet-weather
>pond.
>
>Would corn gluten help and--to keep on topic--help build the probably
>miserable soil up there?
>
>My first thought turned out to be a bit unpractical--a friend has the
>goats,
>would be very happy to bring them over, but no electricity up there,
>haven't
>found (affordable or not, actually) a solar electric fence that's listed
>for
>goats.
>
>I'm open to suggestion. Black plastic covered by bark mulch might get
>what's not in the pond or surrounded by hackberry trees.





  • [Livingontheland] Re amino acids, corn gluten, soybean meal, mtncats, 05/26/2006

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