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livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] No till and market gardening (was tractors?)

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Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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  • From: Liz <liz@allslash.org>
  • To: Healthy soil and sustainable growing <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] No till and market gardening (was tractors?)
  • Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2008 10:28:54 -0400

At 12:21 AM 6/9/2008, you wrote:

What I have found to be the most effective in loosening my soil without
tillage has been planting cover crops. The roots do the loosening. I don't
even turn my cover crops in anymore. Instead I just cut them down, cutting
from the top down to cut them into smaller pieces and then cover that with
some straw. In fact, I just pulled some mulch back today so I could sow some
seeds and the cover crops had completely vanished. The soil was much softer
in these beds than in areas where I haven't cover cropped regularly.

I've had really good results with daikon and other large root vegetables. I was afraid they wouldn't develop well because the soil was so hard, but they surprised me.

What cover crops are you using?

Liz in SW VA
http://life-as-a-spectator-sport.com






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