Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>]

Any drop at all is sufficient for drip, but to get standard pressure you'd
need about a 40-foot drop. Remember, large animals would empty a tank that
size in no time. 

My only suggestion for reseeding sandy ground is cover it with damp
finished compost first, and use seed that will surface germinate.  Keep it
damp, perhaps covered with some kind of fabric a few days. 

Root cellars generally need to be down in the ground, like a storm shelter,
with airtight covers. I can't say if that would stay cool enough in your
summer, but I'm sure the cover itself would need shading. And only open it
at night maybe?


paul tradingpost@lobo.net
listowner

Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes. 
--Henry David Thoreau 

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 7/21/2006 at 2:04 PM Dianne Palmer-Quay wrote:

>My DH and I are debating the how-to's of a rainwater collection system. 
>We
>are thinking of setting up a 1000 gal above ground tank (bought used, I
>hope) to hold roof run-off.  The tank would be about 3 ft higher than the
>closest (which is also the highest) point of the garden. We are looking
for
>resources on shunting the first few gallons to keep the water cleaner and
>how to calculate if the drop is great enough to run a t-tape drip
>irrigation system and if algae growth is going to be a big problem.  Any
>input?  This would be to water 1000 sq ft of vegetable beds and a few
fruit
>trees and small fruits.  It could possibly also be used for animal
>watering.  I have another 2000 sq ft of garden at another location on a
>well, but I am on city water at home.
>
>I am also looking for a lazy way to reseed ground after a chicken tractor
>moves on.  The chickens are on very sandy ground and broadcasting seed
>(even if rain is expected) does not seem to work (or maybe birds come and
>eat it - this is also borrowed ground so I don't observe it daily).  Any
>ideas?  Does anyone know if sheep can be used to "plant" broadcasted seed
>by stepping on it with their pointy hooves as they browse? I saw a passing
>comment on this somewhere and I wondered if it was true.
>
>Finally, does anyone know anything about root cellar type storage in the
>South?  My crawl space is about 74 degrees now (outside highs are the
upper
>90's) which is where I am storing the surplus potatoes and winter squash
>from this year's garden.  But that temperature is too warm (according to
>the books).  Any ideas how I could create a cooler space without a
>refrigeration device?
>
>I have a 1.25 acre shaded yard with a garden, a few blue-, black-, rasp-
>and gooseberry bushes, several grapes (I need to make jam this weekend),
>several fruit trees, two Angora rabbits (my teenage dd is a
handspinner)and
>a dog.  Soon we will be adding two Shetland sheep wethers (for the same
dd)
>and hopefully a dairy goat (for me).  We also raise about 100 broilers a
>year for ourselves and friends.  On borrowed (and sunnier)land I have a
>larger garden plot and two chicken tractors of a dozen hens each (my
>teenaged ds' business).  I am pleased with my progress in vegetable
>gardening - now I need to learn how to really handle fruits.  I have been
>gardening here in this sand over clay soil for 6 years and the soil is
>looking good in much of the garden, but I want to get more efficient at
>using cover crops and green manures (and how to use a scythe!). 
>
>Dianne in SC
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