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livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] What to do when the mulch runs out?

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Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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  • From: "E. E. Mitchamore Jr" <emitch@att.net>
  • To: "Healthy soil and sustainable growing" <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] What to do when the mulch runs out?
  • Date: Thu, 31 May 2007 19:09:40 -0500

Comfrey is often recommended for the reasons you mention.  However, I've been wondering whether it will perform as desired on my 6" of clay over 500' of limestone.  Will Comfrey roots find the cracks in the rock like natives do?  I don't know where you go to learn this kind of stuff.
 
E. E. "Mitch" Mitchamore
 
Trying not to be guilty of Hubris, but
Certainly guilty of Ignorance.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2007 11:42 AM
Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] What to do when the mulch runs out?

> When you don't bring organic matter in, but produce it on site, how do you assure that all the minerals are present and being replenished in sufficient quantity?  Periodic soil tests?
>
> E. E. "Mitch" Mitchamore

Grow lots of comfrey (and other dynamic accumulators--but comfrey is one
of the best). Comfrey's roots grow 8-10 feet into the soil, tapping into
reserves of minerals that may not even be present in the top of the soil
profile, and making those minerals available to more shallow-rooted plants.

I am propagating comfrey to the maximum I have the time to do so (it's
extremely easy to propagate)--I have far more of it now than a couple of
years ago, when I started the big push to fit it in along the borders,
under fruit and nut trees, out on the poultry pasture (where the birds
can self-harvest it), in every nook and cranny. A couple of days ago I
harvested a dozen wheelbarrow loads or more to mulch my potatoes.

~Harvey
--
Harvey in northern Va
www.themodernhomestead.us

"Earth's plant communities have been doing their job for at least 500
million years; only extreme hubris would lead us to believe we could do
a better job through an agricultural science not even one hundred years
old."  ~Stephen Harrod Buhner, The Lost Language of Plants
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