Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Marty Kraft <martyk@allspecies.org>]

On Dec 15, 2007, at 4:29 PM, Phil Bunch wrote:

Marty;

 

So what have been the results of this change in practice?

I'm pretty early in the no till cycle. Too early to tell much. I did not till last spring. Before that I did. This spring I prepared a number of beds by covering them with well decomposed leaf mold. Spring broccoli and cabbage froze during a late freeze. Eggplant and beets did well. I covered the eggplant with row cover and beat the flea beetles.

On other beds I just planted after raking and weeding. Instead of mounding for sweet potatoes, i just put the slips in slits in the soil I made with a shovel. That seemed to work pretty well but I wish my soil were looser. Some plants bore small potatoes. I will try to mulch more. Bush, soy and purple hulled beans did well. Had good luck with fall broccoli that I planted through a white clover cover crop from the fall before. Potatoes didn't produce much. Not sure why. I planted on top of the soil and covered with straw. Harliquins hit hard here this summer, especially at another garden I'm just developing. At this garden the harliquins didn't do much damage to the broccoli that seemed to radiate health. I think the soil is getting good here.

Heirloom tomatoes did the best they have done for me this year. I mulched thickly with straw and I think that prevented wilt. I tried the Julia Child variety because it was dedicated to her. Didn't get as many tomatoes as I would have liked from them. The yellow variety that I bought with the Julia Child did very well. Can't remember the name of the place I bought seeds but it was the only place I could get the Child tomato seed.

I tried chocolate peppers because they were the only organic seed I could get. I did not use plastic to heat the soil. I used lots of straw mulch. Got quite a few smallish peppers.

On all the above beds I fertilized with Bioform organic fertilizer.

I'm concerned that bindweed has gotten established in some beds and can't dig deep enough to get it out. I'm going to try to cover the soil with weed barrier and burn holes in it to plant transplants. Steve Diver mentioned that it could work for bermuda grass at my new garden and I'm hoping that I can starve out the the bindweed. I don't trust myself to be consistent enough to pull every sprig as it emerges and starve out the roots.

I am going to apply horse manure to the beds during the next warm spell and recover with straw. I'm not sure how much credence you should give my report. There are lots of other factors that I didn't note and my energies were split between this garden and another one that I am developing for a children's home.

Much to learn.

Marty in Kansas City

 

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From: livingontheland-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:livingontheland-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Marty Kraft
Sent: Saturday, December 15, 2007 2:14 PM
To: Healthy soil and sustainable growing
Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] NO-TILL FARMING OFFERS A QUICK FIX TOHELPWARD OFF HOST OF GLOBAL PROBLEMS

 

Dieter

 

It took me several years to convince myself that not tilling was okay. As Ken said the problem was in my head. I felt so comfortable tilling and uncomfortable when I didn't. I guess it was more emotional that in my head.

 

Marty

On Dec 15, 2007, at 2:16 PM, Dieter Brand wrote:

Ken, you wrote:

 

>The major problem farmer's have switching to organic,

>no-till is in their heads; not in the field.

 

Aren't you judging a little too harshly? In a parallel dialogue

with Phil, we have noted that there are climatic conditions

under which no-till will either not perform very well (cold climate),

or where no-till may not even be possible (dry climate).

But even in a temperate climate where there may be proven

methods of no-till farming, farmers are often under economic

stress that preclude any experimenting with new methods.

 

It is clear that ploughing has been ingrained in farmers since

ancient times, and that it can take something like a mental

revolution to convert to no-till. But I wouldn't underestimate

the intelligence of farmers, they know their responsibility in

running their business. No-till doesn't just mean to stop

ploughing.

 

Dieter Brand

Portugal

Ken Hargesheimer <minifarms2@yahoo.com> wrote:

The major problem farmer's have switching to organic, no-till is in their heads; not in the field.  I have faced that challenge in the USA and 12 foreign countries many times.

 

Ken Hargesheimer

 

I believe nobody would contest that "organic no-till" is best, but it isn't always easy to implement.  I think farmers need to be given technical assistance to make the difficult switch to organic no-till.

 

Dieter Brand

Portugal

 

 

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