Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["mcoldiron" <mcoldiron@crcom.net>]

Sorry I got the Subject wrong on the last post.

Paul, let's talk about mulch a little.  You say don't use wood chips and 
don't plow mulch in at the end of the season.  Is there something wrong with 
wood chips?  Why not plow mulch in at the end of the season?  How can you 
use hay with all the seeds?  Won't you just get a lot of hay growing in your 
garden?  I can see straw maybe, but that's not available that I can find. 
When you say yours doesn't blow away, how is that possible?  Does yours 
comes from round bales?  Do you water it in such that it makes a mat?  Is 
your garden protected from the wind?

You say - do it small and then work up.  I agree to some extent, but a lot 
of the problems I run into only show up when going larger.  To me the 
purpose of trying something is to find the problems to see if they can be 
worked out.  Anyone can grow an organic garden if it's small enough.  Larger 
gives rise to questions like "Where do I get this much hay?" and "How do I 
haul it?" and "Now that I have it, how do I spread it around?" and "What do 
I do with all that hay at the end of the season, plow it under?" you get the 
picture.  Larger brings up the "real" questions.

TxBeeFarmer (Mark)
West Texas Zone 7b


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
To: <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Thursday, July 03, 2008 12:07 AM
Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] pickup trucks?


> Ken is right that the principles are the same. Trying to reduce tillage is 
> a good start. I'd add this: your climate is not suitable for some crops, 
> and even if you can manage to grow them it'll be unprofitable. Hauling 
> water costs too much. Forget wood chips, and you don't plow under your 
> mulch whatever it is. BTW I'm using loose, spoiled hay and it does not 
> blow away, even with our frequent 50 mph winds. Dryland farming probably 
> won't help you; our winds just blow loose dust into the next county. The 
> last thing you want is to lose what topsoil you have.
>
> Mark, I don't know how much land you're trying to work into organic 
> vegetables. Best to start small and make small mistakes. By small I don't 
> mean a few acres. I mean a few square feet. When you learn to grow in a 
> postage stamp garden then you learn what it takes to grow in a larger 
> area. How large? I make a good sideline income market growing on one sixth 
> of an acre. And I have a much higher gross and net, per square foot, than 
> most any large farmer. If you're younger and have more startup capital 
> then you may be able to work it into a full time income.
>
> There are a few rules of thumb we've worked out and verified in practice 
> ourselves. Retail, like growers markets for example, or farmstands. 
> Wholesale puts you at the mercy of the middleman who pits one grower 
> against another to pay him the lowest price. Grow what will sell locally, 
> grow what people normally buy in the store, not what you think you'd like 
> to grow. Not globe artichokes. Limit yourself to higher value crops for 
> the ground space they require and the labor they need. Not watermelons. 
> Grow in permanent beds (not necessarily raised or framed) with permanent 
> aisles to walk on, and plant intensively as explained in books on that 
> I've mentioned before. With smaller root crops you get far more production 
> per square foot than with wide tractor rows. With larger plants you don't 
> get the same increase, but by growing in permanent beds you still make the 
> gains from not compacting the soil by walking on it. I do this and it just 
> a better way from every standpoint. I can go
> into a lot more detail on these methods with documentation, including 
> mulch issues.
>
> Now, crop selection is up to you, and whether you will double crop, 
> irrigate some way, and so forth. How you extend your growing season is up 
> to you, whether you grow starts or buy them, spend for low tunnels or hoop 
> houses, and so forth. Your aim will be to hold down costs relative to your 
> total gross income, obviously, because the difference is your pay. This is 
> just a broad outline. BTW none of these methods are original; they've all 
> been done and described in many places for many years.
>
>
> paul tradingpost@lobo.net
>
> *********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********
>
> On 7/2/2008 at 3:19 PM mcoldiron wrote:
>
> > I'm trying to move toward organic vegetable farming as much as possible.
> > I
> > still till the soil like a regular farmer, but am trying to find a way not
> > to do it so much and conserve water.  I live in a very hot and arid part
> > of
> > west Texas with an annual rainfall of 18 inches or less.  The soil is a
> > sandy loam.  Due to the unpredictable rain here I want to try using mulch
> > and drip irrigation.  The well water isn't good, so it'll have to be
> > hauled
> > in.
> >
> > I have questions about mulch?  It's so windy here until the end of June,
> > that anything other than wood chips will just blow away.  Can I use wood
> > chips for mulch?  If so, what will that do when I plow them under each
> > year?
> > Will their decomposition tie up the Nitrogen so I can't grow anything for
> > a
> > year or two?  What about planting, won't the chips interfere with the
> > planter?  Sure could use some very basic "been there done that" advice.
> >
> > Thanks
> > TxBeeFarmer (Mark)
> > West Texas Zone 7b
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Livingontheland mailing list
> Livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/livingontheland


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG.
Version: 8.0.101 / Virus Database: 270.4.4/1531 - Release Date: 7/2/2008 
7:02 PM