Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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

Here's just a small sample of my documentation on intensive, no-till
organic.
paul tradingpost@lobo.net
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... crop management systems that impair soil quality often result in
greater inputs of water, nutrients, pesticides, and/or energy for tillage
to maintain yields. .. In sustainable systems, the soil is viewed as a
fragile and living medium that must be protected and nurtured to ensure its
long-term productivity and stability. Methods to protect and enhance the
productivity of the soil include using cover crops, compost and/or manures,
reducing tillage, avoiding traffic on wet soils, and maintaining soil cover
with plants and/or mulches. Conditions in most California soils (warm,
irrigated, and tilled) do not favor the buildup of organic matter. Regular
additions of organic matter or the use of cover crops can increase soil
aggregate stability, soil tilth, and diversity of soil microbial life.
http://www.sarep.ucdavis.edu/concept.htm

To minimize the impact of drought, soil needs to capture the rainwater that
falls on it, store as much of that water as possible for future plant use,
and allow for plant roots to penetrate and proliferate. These conditions
can be achieved through management of organic matter, which can increase
water storage by 16,000 gallons per acre foot for each 1% organic matter.
Organic matter also increases the soil's ability to take in water during
rainfall events, assuring that more water will be stored. Ground cover also
increases the water infiltration rate while lowering soil water
evaporation. When all these factors are taken together the severity of
drought and the need for irrigation are greatly reduced.
http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/summaries/drought.html

Biointensive mini-farming techniques make it possible to grow food using 99
percent less energy in all forms - human and mechanical, 66 percent to 88
percent less water, and 50 percent to 100 percent less fertilizer, compared
to commercial agriculture. They also produce two to six times more food and
build the soil.
http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC42/Jeavons.htm

A common philosophy among sustainable agriculture practitioners is that a
"healthy" soil is a key component of sustainability; that is, a healthy
soil will produce healthy crop plants that have optimum vigor and are less
susceptible to pests. While many crops have key pests that attack even the
healthiest of plants, proper soil, water and nutrient management can help
prevent some pest problems brought on by crop stress or nutrient imbalance.
http://www.sarep.ucdavis.edu/concept.htm

French intensive" reflects the practice of 19th century French market
gardeners, who planted their carefully amended and cultivated beds using an
‘intensive’ spacing, so that plants touched each other when mature.
According to current Garden manager Orin Martin, the biodynamic/French
intensive method ". . . synthesized traditional horticulture practices and
observations from the Greek, Chinese and Roman cultures on through 19th
century French market gardeners - folk techniques with modern scientific
validity.
http://zzyx.ucsc.edu/casfs/about/fgstory.html

In the old fashioned vegetable patch, crops are lined up like batallions of
soldiers with ample pathways for the gardener between rows. In intensive
raised beds where soil is very rich and pathways unnecessary, the rows can
be more closely spaced. To save space, most of us have adopted equidistant
planting ... space the rows the same distance apart as plants within the
rows
Companion Planting for Gardeners, Anna Carr p.118, intercropping withIN
rows p. 118

The purpose of gardening intensively is to harvest the most produce
possible from a given space. More traditional gardens consist of long,
single rows of vegetables spaced widely apart. Much of the garden area is
taken by the space between the rows. An intensive garden minimizes wasted
space. The practice of intensive gardening is not just for those with
limited garden space; rather, an intensive garden concentrates your work
efforts to create an ideal plant environment, giving better yields
http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/envirohort/426-335/426-335.html#L3

For home gardening raised bed agriculture means: less work, less
irrigation, improved soil, higher yields and no poisons. For market
gardeners, mini-farmers and mini-ranchers it means all the above plus
profits (Ken Hargesheimer).
http://www.minifarms.com/rba.html

Chadwick was the first to show you could produce at least four times more
vegetables per acre with raised beds, close spacing, interplanting etc.,
High-Yield Gardening p. vii

Since a set amount of vegetables can be produced in a much smaller area
with permanent beds, most work can be done by hand without  the expense of
fossil fuels
Getting the Most from Your Garden p.12

The raised bed or growing bed is the basic unit of an intensive garden. A
system of beds allows you to concentrate soil preparation in smaller areas,
resulting in the efficient use of soil amendments and an ideal environment
for vegetable growth.
http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/envirohort/426-335/426-335.html#L3

Crop production costs fall substantially after the adoption of no- till.
Not only are soil preparation costs saved, but farm labour requirements
fall and the cost of weeding in most instances also lowers. On one of the
farms studied in Edelira, soil preparation for soybeans costed US$59/ ha
accounting for 24% of the total production costs. These costs were
eliminated under no- till. On the same farm, substantial savings (US$76/ha)
in the costs of weeding were realised under no- till compared to
conventional cultivation and annual farm labour requirements fell from 300
person-days to 239 person- days.  The study clearly demonstrates that the
financial performance of conventional cultivation systems is poor and that
in contrast no- till offers an almost instantaneous and dramatic
improvement. Not only do crop incomes rise but crop production costs are
significantly reduced. The order of magnitudes are illustrated below.
Conventional systems are calculated to be marginally economic when all
factors of production, including family labour, are costed at market rates.
In distinct contrast, the farming systems where no- till and green manure
crops have been introduced have shown a dramatic improvement, Paraguay
http://www.rolf-derpsch.com/notill.htm#9

The second most important element in an intensive organic garden is a close
planting pattern. Close planting shades the soil, keeping it cooler and
moister for good root growth, and discourages the growth of weeds. Instead
of planting in rows, use triangular or hexagonal spacing to maximize the
number of plants that can be fit into the bed (Figure 3). Make use of those
rounded edges. Also, consider intercropping. Carrots, for instance, can be
planted in the spaces between lettuce. The lettuce will shade the soil and
keep it moist, allowing for easier germination of the carrot seedlings.
Then, when the lettuce is harvested for the season, the carrots will grow
up and fill the space. Through intercropping, two or more crops can grow in
the same area of bed in a single season.
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1257.html

Intensive planting techniques are those intended to maximize yields of a
given planting area over the growing season. Besides increasing production,
intensive gardening can save time, space, energy, fertilizer and water.
Intensive techniques can solve drainage problems, enable use of
inhospitable sites, minimize soil compaction, *eliminate the need for power
equipment* and extend the length of the growing season. Intensive growing
techniques also transfer well to raised beds or containers adapted to
disabled gardeners. Careful planning is essential for successful intensive
gardening, which relies on high yield practices such as wide-row planting,
staggered planting, succession planting, interplanting and growing upward.
http://extension.unh.edu/Pubs/HGPubs/intvegar.pdf

With the interplanting system, vegetables are closely spaced together so
the leaves will come close to touching at maturity.  Thus, the leaves act
as a living mulch, shading the soil to reduce water evaporation and weed
growth.
http://www.clemson.edu/fairfield/local/mark/intensgard.htm

There is overwhelming evidence that plant mixtures support lower numbers of
pests than do pure stands. Intercropping also aids pest control efforts by
reducing the ability of the pest insects to recognize their host plants.
http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/intercrop.html#evenescal

Market gardeners can grow crops year-round with season extension
techniques. Cultural practices, plastic mulches, row covers, and low
tunnels provide growers with earlier, later, and higher-quality produce
that can capture more markets and demand higher prices.
http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/summaries/seasonext.html