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livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] A couple questions

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Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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  • From: "TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] A couple questions
  • Date: Tue, 31 Oct 2006 10:59:47 -0700


Ok, don't buy straw. We picked up some spoiled bales the other day that had
been out in the weather for years and forgotten. Nobody can sell that
stuff. If the mulch is deep enough the weed seeds won't find the dirt
underneath, or if they do they'll die for lack of sun before they grow
through the mulch.

Think twice about perennial anything, if you don't want it filling your
beds next spring. Buckwheat adds as much nitrogen and root mass and it's
fast growing and annual. Plus you get the buckwheat berries. It's not a
grain at all. Ever had buckwheat pancakes? If you pile your chokes in dirt
someplace that's where they'll grow. Speaking of which, we've been too busy
to get ours in the ground this fall.

paul tradingpost@lobo.net

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

On 10/31/2006 at 9:30 AM uriel@nasalam.org wrote:

>We've had a few days of really beautiful weather here in the Ozarks
>and it's been a great time to be out in the garden putting it to sleep
>for the winter. The corn and amaranth stalks are cut down and
>chopped up, the bean poles taken down and the dead vines spread out
>over the beds, and everything covered with a thick layer of straw.
>This morning as I was spreading straw I was thinking about this as
>part of the no-till philosophy of never leaving the soil bare. I
>understand the reasoning -- that's why I'm putting on the straw! But
>it raises a question in my mind. What do we do when the price of oil
>causes straw to be so expensive as to be prohibitive? Isn't there a
>better way to be approaching this idea of keeping the soil covered?
>I'm thinking of trying a few beds sowed with a perennial clover next
>year to see how that works. Have many of you had experience with this?
>
>A second question that's less speculative. I have quite a few
>jerusalem artichokes and I want a couple permanent beds of them. But
>where they are now is not where I want them to be eventually. As
>anyone who's grown them knows it seems impossible to get them all dug,
>but it would be easier now when the stalks are still up and the
>ground's not frozen. Does anyone know whether it's feasible to dig
>them now and then put them in a pile somewhere and cover with dirt for
>the winter?
>
>Thanks,
>Uriel
>
>
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