Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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

Great! Composting what's on hand for next year is ideal if you can do it.
The wood chips will have the carbon or browns content, but they'll take
longer than one season to break down, even if you add plenty of nitrogen
material like grass clippings or green weeds in abundance. The humates
shouldn't be needed at all, esp with all the manure. Plastic cover can turn
the pile anaerobic and smelly if left on continually in mild weather, but
it might help keep it from hard freeze in winter. I'd hesitate to use
plastic at all.  Traditional composting for quick results is the Indore
Method, alternating thin layers of greens, browns, and soil, to three feet
high, and turning with a spade fork as it begins to cool, moving the
undigested outside material to the inside to heat up again. The most
nutrient-conserving method of handling manure is pit composting. 

I strongly recommend The Rodale Book of Composting
http://www.bookfinder.com/search/?author=&title=Rodale+Book+of+Composting&su
bmit=Begin+search&new_used=*&destination=us&currency=USD&mode=basic&st=sr&ac
=qr
or Rodale Press' Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening, several editions.  I
have shelves full of Rodale Press and a lot of back issues of OG&F, so I
can lay my hands on most anything along that line. 

paul tradingpost@lobo.net

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

On 8/3/2006 at 9:55 AM Laurie Ann Powell wrote:

>Thanks again, everyone, for the great information flying back and forth
>on this list! It's so helpful!
>
>I'm working on beds for next season with Materials On Hand, and would
>like suggestions on whether there is anything in particular that is way
>out of balance.
>
>I'm layering:
>
>Cardboard
>Feed Sacks
>Fresh Horse Manure
>Composted Goat Manure
>Wood Chips
>Last year's compost
>Leaf mould 
>Hu-more (a commercial product containing humate) 
>Plastic sheet over all
>
>Am I missing anything obvious for getting the best soil in the shortest
>time?
>
>Also, a Horsey question: I know and can testify personally that horse
>manure heavily reseeds the grass and weeds they eat.  Ours seems to
>actually digest very little of what she eats, which I've heard is
>"normal" but I wonder. I notice that ours eats a lot, poops a lot, and
>is never satisfied. How did horses work in ages past if they needed to
>eat so much?
>
>Is it possible that there is an enzyme shortage, just as most people
>have because of our pathetic food? Should I put making silage high on my
>priority list, for the sake of my horse, my garden and my goats, who
>have to share the pasture? Would it help?
>
>Thanks, 
>Laurie Ann
>
>
>
>
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