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Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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  • From: "TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>
  • To: emitch@att.net, livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] How do you start?
  • Date: Fri, 04 Apr 2008 08:05:36 -0600


One more point. While beds may not be raised or framed, depending on soil
or climate, beds need to be permanent. The point is to keep beds where they
are and aisles walked on and beds not walked on. If they're not raised, it
may help to put stakes at the corners to mark them. Whether we're tilling
or digging or not, we don't need the extra labor of working the soil in the
aisles, and don't need compaction in the beds. Compaction is the enemy of
healthy root growth.

paul tradingpost@lobo.net

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

On 4/3/2008 at 10:07 PM E. E. Mitchamore Jr wrote:

>A good summary. I'd add that three or four raised permanent beds makes
>it easy to rotate crop families. My garden is small, but it's working
>well for me. When a crop is finished, I cut it off, leaving the roots in
>the soil, toss the top in the paths, and plant the new plants in between
>the old roots. Not much work.
>
>E. E. "Mitch" Mitchamore
>www.hillcountrynatives.biz
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: TradingPostPaul
> To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
> Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2008 9:49 PM
> Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] How do you start?
>
>
>
> Ok, now we're getting somewhere. Lasagna gardens are for small plots and
> they do take more time to develop topsoil than I have to waste. Double
> digging is impossible where I am due to thin topsoil and hard clay
>beneath,
> so it's more efficient to build up soil in framed beds. Beds don't
>usually
> need framing in most soils tho.
>
> The double digging championed by Jeavons at Ecology Action
> http://www.growbiointensive.org/ IMHO is usually unnecessary. Jeavons
and
> Chadwick before him had volunteer students to help dig and turned
>worthless
> subsoil into a lush garden. Now if I had nothing but subsoil to work
with
> I'd go somewhere else and leave the stunts to the experts. I have to
> produce for market and I have to hold costs down, including my own labor
> with no power machinery.
>
> That said, growing in beds (they call Biointensive) is far more
efficient
> and productive, and organic soil building and succession/double cropping
> with season extension can easily quadruple production for home or market
> growing. Once beds are in place use mulch to conserve moisture, reduce
> irrigation and weeding, moderate soil temperature, and discourage bugs
by
> reducing moisture and heat stress on plants. Allow organic matter to
turn
> into valuable humus by not tilling or cultivating. The mulch cover helps
> protect the microbial life and earthworms that build and till soil for
>you.
> Constant tilling oxidizes soil carbon and you cannot build up humus
>levels
> if you do it. No-till sequesters carbon in the soil and reduces
>outgassing
> of CO2. Do contact Ken Hargescheimer on no-till.
>
> Actually no-till can be very different in important ways. If you don't
>need
> to till then you don't have to move mulch around; just add some here and
> there as needed. Further, you don't have to move drip lines to till, and
>if
> they lie on top of the mulch then you don't have the aggravation of
> clearing clogged lines. All told this can save at least half the work of
> growing. No small accomplishment.
>
>
> This all works for me and I have no green thumb. No bug damage, no
>sprays,
> no crop failures, no excuses.
>
> paul tradingpost@lobo.net
>
>
> *********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********
>
> On 4/3/2008 at 8:56 PM Pumpkin Lady wrote:
>
> >TamesonOB wrote:
> >> try Lasagna gardening by Patricia Lanza. Also if you google Lasagna
> >> gardening you'll come up w/ many hits - quite a few how-to.
> >
> >Thank you but Lasagna gardening is exactly what I don't want, that's
>why
> >I said that and double digging were what I could find associated with
> >the term. I don't want tiny beds with cardboard or newspaper and
> >compost/mulch on top of it. If that's required, I ain't doing it.
>That's
> >pretty much what I have seen associated with lasagna gardening.
> >
> >I'm also not willing to double dig.
> >
> >I was thinking I had seen people talking like they didn't do either,
>but
> >not recently and I am not sure how to search archives here. I can
>figure
> >out how to read them, just not how to search for stuff inside
> specifically.
> >
> >Morgan
> >
> >
>
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