Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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

Hey, that's a lot to tell! I don't envy such a big job but it could turn
out to be a model for other places. It's easy to understand about the
problem kids, but one wonders if they'd be any more cooperative in the
average suburb, hmm? A lot of kids hate vegetables until they taste real
ones, remember. Hope somebody there knows how to cook ;-) 

Sounds like you're headed for a remarkable achievement. You want to make
the soil so good that the plants just laugh at the pests. With your added
manure you may just have that. Healthy soil means resistant plants. I don't
know how much ca$h is available for the whole project, but I'd suggest
adding molasses or fish emulsion or alfalfa meal and something like bone
meal or greensand to the manure as it goes in the beds. The organic acids
in decay work on those insoluble minerals for plant use later, you know.
You get enough rain there to soak the mix and keep it cooking. I don't even
want to talk about bermuda grass, had it years ago in Texass and never got
rid of it. 

paul tradingpost@lobo.net

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 12/17/2007 at 9:38 AM Marty Kraft wrote:

>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
>