Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Liz <liz@allslash.org>]

At 12:25 AM 6/11/2008, you wrote:
> Hi Liz,
>
> I use a mixture of fava beans, winter rye, winter pea and crimson clover as
> a cover crop. I haven't experimented much but I have heard that daikon is
> great for breaking up and adding organic matter to the soil. Apparently,
> Masanobu Fukuoka would plant daikon for this purpose and let them get huge.
> The decomposing roots would then leave large pockets of organic matter deep
> down in the soil.

Yes, that's what I found. I planted them originally just to eat, but 
late in the summer that year I was away from home for an extended 
period and some of them got really huge. When I pulled them up, I was 
amazed at how loose and humus-y the soil was.

> Often when I plant my cover crops other weeds and self seeding starts from
> my garden come up too. I just leave these and allow them to act as a cover
> also. Cardoon has a deep tap root and borage produces a lot of green matter.
> I treat them all the same and cut them down as they begin to flower in the
> spring.

I planted cardoon one year too, but wasn't as happy with how well it 
did in the concrete soil here. The daikon seemed to handle it better. 
Maybe I could plant daikon first, and then cardoon the next year, and 
after that it would fit to plant the other vegetables :-)

Good to know about borage. Bees love it too. And it makes great tea.

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