Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Marty Kraft <martyk@allspecies.org>]

Paul

There's not much to tell. The garden consists of thirty 4X30 ft beds.  
I started working on this lot this last March. The soil looks like it  
might have been a gravel parking lot in some places. I keep  
unearthing pieces of concrete, asphalt and limestone. When I came,  
half of the then 22 beds had been tilled last fall. Suddenly one day  
a guy showed up with a tractor and tilled the half I hadn't staked  
out, so no-till started last fall and this spring. This fall I'm  
putting in ten more beds on untilled bermuda grass that I tried to  
kill during the summer with corrugated cardboard and straw. I killed  
a lot of the grass but...?   I'm digging 18 inch aisles between the  
beds and putting 6-8 inches of the soil on the adjacent beds. I will  
continue this process on all the previously existing beds creating   
well marked raised beds. I've got three big piles of horse manure  
cooking which will go on the beds to be covered by straw, "soon".

We raise all the usual vegetables. We have a native prairie plant bed  
and a couple of corners where I'm creating thickets of native trees  
and shrubs where these urban kids can see some nature. I'm going to  
put in some strawberries, asparagus, rhubarb, and...? this spring.  
Also I want to put in a wide variety of berry bushes and fruit trees.  
I want there to be something there for the kids to pick and eat all  
the time.

There is no way of enlarging the garden so that it might feed those  
kids who are residential here. Wish that was possible. The garden is  
more therapeutic and educational than calorie supplying. The kids  
volunteer to help when they want to so I have to coax them to help.  
These kids have not had a "good" start in life and are not the most  
cooperative. Sometimes I just let them horse around when they come  
out, to let them have some elbow room and conversation. Don't get a  
lot of work out of them most of the time. Occasionally I have a kid  
who knows how to work and likes it out there.

There is a school at the home with four classes of about ten kids  
each. There is a teacher and a paraprofessional for each class. After  
the holidays we're going to build a light stand for each class that  
will hold four flats. We are going to try to start all the vegetable  
and flower plants inside then put them out in the garden and grounds.  
My hope is that with me making regular visits to the classes and the  
kids regularly watering the plants that interest will wax with the  
increasing daylight and they'll be begging for garden duty.

I'm always looking for classroom tricks and things to try. Last time  
we built a scaffold for gourds out of assorted branches. The wind  
knocked it over. Next we are going to help thin a neighbor's bamboo  
and build a stronger structure with baling wire, learning about the  
power of triangles and construction. The kids loved the snap peas  
last spring, heading straight for the beds when they came out.  
Tomatoes did well. We brought out salt and I cut slices with my  
pocket knife. Those are good times I hope they'll remember.  
Watermelon went well too.

Harliquin bugs sapped the strength of the cabbage, collards, broccoli  
and mustard greens. They were lots of fun. Couldn't seem to get the  
better of them. I'm going to try a trap crop and some form of  
tactical nuke in the spring. And mind you I'm a vegetarian who  
doesn't like to kill things. I want to make the soil so good that the  
plants just laugh at the pests. I hope.

I think my best bet with the garden and with the kids is to create  
the most beautiful and healthful conditions and hope to be there to  
guide the process some. It is really worthwhile work with plenty of  
mystery to confound my clever plans. Lots of letting go is necessary.

Thanks for asking. It's good for me to review.

Marty


On Dec 16, 2007, at 11:24 AM, TradingPostPaul wrote:

> Well, we're all learning, Marty. About the childrens' home garden,  
> can you
> tell us more? I've wondered why more institutions of all kinds  
> haven't had
> their own gardens all along. There are reports of prisons starting  
> gardens
> (which gives them something to do in the outdoors) and claims that  
> inmate
> problems go down as a result. My folks were associated with a  
> childrens'
> home for years. There was gardening back in the '30s or '40s I  
> think but it
> was history when I came along. It seems like a most useful skill  
> for kids
> and gives them exercise and fresh air. Not to mention decent food  
> they can
> be proud of.
>
> paul tradingpost@lobo.net
>
> *********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********
>
> On 12/16/2007 at 10:45 AM Marty Kraft wrote:
>
> >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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