Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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

Cover crops can take less work than compost, I agree. But the question of
which is better, I think, depends on what you need for what purpose. I
don't have time this year for cover crops, and manure is available nearby
and it's free. It's already there and if I don't use it then it's wasted. I
had vetch mixed with buckwheat but the rabbits dined on it during the dry
months. The beauty of buckwheat is it'll be winter killed where vetch would
have to be mowed for most plantings. I'm also mulching with aged manure,
and a foot of snow melting on the mulched beds won't hurt either. 

paul tradingpost@lobo.net

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

On 2/9/2007 at 7:04 PM Dieter Brand wrote:

>Gloria, Ken,
>I absolutely agree, increasing the organic component in soil is the key to

>success. Regarding the ways of doing this, direct methods are better than 
>indirect ones since they involve fewer losses in terms of labour and 
>nutrients and therefore reduce emissions; e.g., compost is better than 
>manure, cover crops and mulch are better than compost. This may be further

>fine-tuned by the selection of cover crops, for example vetch with rye,
>and 
>the use of mulch, for example covering a green mulch with a shredded woody

>mulch.
>
>Regards,
>
>Dieter Brand, Portugal
>
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