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livingontheland - [Livingontheland] Covering the soil (was: A couple questions)

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  • From: Harvey Ussery <huboxwood@earthlink.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Covering the soil (was: A couple questions)
  • Date: Wed, 01 Nov 2006 20:13:41 -0500

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? ~Uriel

My answer is to cover the soil with whatever you got--any time, all the time. Be an opportunist. This fall I've done better than ever before about planting cover crops just as soon as I took the last crop off, and now I have beautiful covers all over the place. I used a little straw to help with germination, but none of the beds are thickly mulched with purchased straw. Some of those cover crops, BTW, will winter-kill--a mulch grown in place come next spring.

I'm able to get a supply of the big round bales, spoiled and several years old, but cheap and thus great for rolling out real thick. Last year I put couple dozen chooks on such a mulched plot, and over the winter the shredded it into fine, easily applied mulch--fantastic stuff, and they did all the work.

I no longer allow cardboard or newspaper to leave the place--I use both for various mulching needs.

I'm decreasing the amount of space I waste on "lawn" all the time, but I still have some, and I still mow, so all those clippings mulch other areas. (Clippings are great for covering the cardboard and newspaper.)

Yes, if you have the space for it, growing a separate area as a "fertility patch" or source of mulch/compost materials is a great idea. I don't have the space in my garden, but I do use my pasture as a source of cuttings for mulch, especially in the spring when the pasture is fast-growing and easy to cut. (I much prefer to cut with a scythe for this purpose, rather than a power mower.)

Fall leaves, pony poop, chips from tree companies (in certain applications), boughs from an evergreen you've trimmed or cut down--anything and everything. If it's non-toxic, organic, and will decompose, it's a great cover for soil.

~Harvey

--
Harvey in northern VA
www.themodernhomestead.us




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