Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["John Smith" <mikakigr@gmail.com>]

I think it means hens or chickens, I have had to guess it from context. Other things which are not part of my version of English and tend to be used by the people who talk about  chooks are cukes and zukes which are cucumbers and zucchini respectively, lol.

On 11/1/06, Barbara Fischer <cen12205@centurytel.net> wrote:

What are chooks????   LOL

Barbara
----- Original Message -----
From: "Harvey Ussery" <huboxwood@earthlink.net>
To: < livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Wednesday, November 01, 2006 7:13 PM
Subject: [Livingontheland] Covering the soil (was: A couple questions)


> > 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
> _______________________________________________
> Livingontheland mailing list
> Livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/livingontheland
>

_______________________________________________
Livingontheland mailing list
Livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/livingontheland