Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Laura McKenzie" <laurabrownmckenzie@worldnet.att.net>]

  I have spots in my yard where nothing will grow. Not even Bermuda or 
weeds.  Except for wiregrass/Bermuda, we welcome weeds because I need all 
the green stuff I can get for compost and for mulch.  Mint runs rampant 
around the beds.  I pull it up and use it to mulch.  The stems last a long 
time on the ground even though the leaves degrade fast.

  Ground ivy is one weed I have a love/hate relationship with. Ground ivy 
seems to keep the Bermuda at bay but its very invasive in my garden.  And it 
doesn't compost easily.  But a stirrup hoe and persistence usually gets rid 
of it.  The soil where ground ivy has grown for a while is much softer and 
darker and healthier.  It does a good job of optimizing its own soil.

    There is some sort of very tall annual grass that grows in the worst 
heat of our Alabama summer.  I don't know what it is but its most welcome as 
it grows fast and pulls out of the ground super easily.  August is when our 
lawn slows down due to drought nearly every year.  I have only the mint and 
the annual grass to pull for mulch most summers.

    This year, as a Bermuda preventative I have annual rye growing around 
the borders of all of my raised beds.  Once I pull it out, in will go 
buckwheat.  In August, if July hasn't been too terribly dry, buckwheat is 
another mulch contributor.

 And I always leave a bit of weeds here and there for the beneficials and 
the bees.

Laura
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Laura's Homeschooling, Garden, and Genealogy Site
is found here: http://home.att.net/~ekyorigins
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