Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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

I went straight to the garden section
http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Organic-Gardening-Soil-Basics.html


And then 2: Increasing Humus, 3: Maximizing Use of Cover Crops, 4: Avoid
Bare Ground, Minimize Tillage.

A few quotes:

"Plants growing closely in wide beds shade the soil, keeping it cool and
moist."

"I strongly urge the use of deep, heavy-rooted cover crops, liming, and
other means discussed above to loosen the soil at depth as soon as
possible, rather than fight with a noisy, vibrating, stinking tiller even
one season."

"... there can be as well an oxidative erosion of the humus content of the
soil by excess tilling. When we turn over the soil, we over-expose it to
oxygen, which combines with the humus and breaks it down more rapidly."

I might add, wide bed planting, raised or level, with close, optimum
planting, can easily double production over single file tractor rows. Then
succession planting and interplanting (which is mentioned) can double
production again. Adding season extension techniques (which is also
mentioned) can increase production even beyond four times single row
planting. 

The mulching and close planting also suppresses weeds and cuts weeding
time. And mixing different plants together reduces losses to pests. No
chemicals needed.

And I would add, when all these things are combined, labor and input costs
drop drastically per unit of food produced. This has enormous implications.


paul tradingpost@lobo.net

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

On 2/13/2007 at 10:07 PM Harvey Ussery wrote:

>Hi All,
>
>I haven't been so active on the list for awhile because I've been 
>working on a big update of my website www.themodernhomestead.us (as 
>always, note especially the "dot us" *not* "dot com"). It is now on the 
>server, so please check it out, and pass on the url if you find the 
>contents useful.
>
>The site is a bit rough still (e.g. I know about the doubled "search" 
>box and "top of page" link on a few pages), and severely Plain Jane, but 
>it has a lot of new content, new topic areas, even a blog-type page off 
>in one corner ("Musings from the Back Porch"). Of particular note re new 
>content: My presentation at PASA last year "Achieving Food Independence 
>on the Modern Homestead," subsequently published in three installments 
>in Countryside Magazine, is now the "flagship article" for the website. 
>Also, I have included all the articles I published last year in Backyard 
>Poultry.
>
>A couple of other important changes: The site finally offers a search 
>function (search box on every page) which seems to be working slick as a 
>whistle. And, in order to block a crushing load of spam, I no longer 
>have a direct email link on the pages--instead, there is a Contact form 
>to fill out if the visitor wants to be in touch.
>
>I promised images to relieve the tedium of an all-text format. Images 
>are indeed there, but I felt I couldn't delay the update until I 
>completed populating all the pages. So I started with the articles where 
>the pix are most essential (e.g. the butchering article), sprinkled as 
>many more as I had time for here and there, and added just a bit for eye 
>candy. More to come.
>
>Please let me know if you have feedback. Thanks.
>
>~Harvey in northern VA
>www.themodernhomestead.us
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