Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>]

Elizabeth, that's remarkable with your limitations. I should do more.

paul tradingpost@lobo.net

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

On 7/4/2008 at 6:55 PM Elizabeth B. wrote:

>I do alot of things peculiarly Mark and maybe some of the things I do
>might afford you a few ideas.
>
>I have a fair few but small "hills and valley's" to my land. I fill these
>areas with compost and whatever else I care to add to it and grow manure
>crops. Basically, you have small islands growing, aiding the soil and
>producing OM for your garden. Having critters, I can also dry and augment
>my winter hay. Great thing about these islands is that you can start one,
>harvest for the OM, plant a legume or other cover crop and leave it be.
>Just rotate the islands as you go. If you need to break up the ground a
>bit, after harvesting your OM, plant root crops such as carrot or beets.
>As Ken mentioned, sudan, buckwheat and oats are good cover crops.
>
>When knocking down  wheat or oats, I use a push with a grass catcher on
>it. Just add it to your garden beds or compost pile. Before the grass
>catcher, I mowed and hand raked. I broadscatter everything from OM to
>seeds for the pasture, usually with my hands or with a shovel when using
>either the wagon, the cart or the 4x4.
>
>I'm into the lasagna method as I also raise meat goats and poultry. The
>barn leavings, along with any berries I rake up, go into my raised beds
>first. The poultry coop leavings, I do a 1 to 3 part compost mix and it
>usually goes into a pasture I've taken out of rotation to rest. I have a
>chipper/shredder. I use this for downed trees. I toss the chips intot my
>beds and shredded pieces go into the compost pile. I don't plow it in, I
>just layer everything as I go along and let it compost on it's own.
>
>Like Paul, I use loose hay for top dress mulching. Hay is heavy when wet,
>it blow away. I add my compost as the final layer and either add seeds or
>transplant. I also grow a living privacy fence of both Dent and Sweet
>corn, Maxamillian sunflowers and Amaranth etc which also helps aid as a
>wind breaker.
>
>I've had to get pretty inventive when it comes to hauling because I'm
>wheelchair bound. For small jobs, I have both a wire mesh wagon and a
>bicycle cart that I use with my mobility chair. The wagon I pull using the
>handle and the bicycle cart gets attached to my chair using a "U" shaped
>bicycle lock. I also have a 21 Hp riding mower that uses a 4x4 and a 5x8
>trailer. I do have a truck that I use for picking up leaves and whatever
>other OM I can find. I use free plastic that is used when transporting
>mobile homes. Keeps the OM in place and not all over the truck. Also, when
>the OM get low enough, I can just pull it all off the truck bed.
>
>
>Elizabeth, Mid-south Texas
>Your neighbor in Aggie country
>