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livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] PERMANENT BEDS

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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] PERMANENT BEDS
  • Date: Sat, 05 Jul 2008 20:55:08 -0400

At 11:10 AM 7/5/2008, you wrote:

PERMANENT BEDS

"To minimize the impact of drought, soil needs to capture the rainwater that falls on it, store as much of that water as possible for future plant use, and allow for plant roots to penetrate and proliferate. These conditions can be achieved through management of organic matter, which can increase water storage by 16,000 gallons per acre foot for each 1% organic matter. Organic matter also increases the soil's ability to take in water during rainfall events, assuring that more water will be stored. Ground cover also increases the water infiltration rate while lowering soil water evaporation. When all these factors are taken together the severity of drought and the need for irrigation are greatly reduced."

Just a personal story about permanent beds: I used to have a much larger garden, but my work was so time-consuming for several years that I cut way back, and part of the garden area got completely overgrown. I began renewing the neglected section this year, and converting the old ground level beds to raised beds. Last weekend I made it down to the area that had not had anything planted in it for about five years. I didn't remember exactly where the beds and paths had been, but I stuck my shovel in approximately where I thought was the right place, just to loosen the soil a bit, and to my amazement, it went in almost the entire length of the blade. So I went along poking my shovel into the ground and pretty soon had found the outline of one of the old beds. All around it was the concrete-with-hardpan that's typical of most of the "soil" here, but that 16 foot by 30 inch rectangle was soft, dark brown instead of red, and filled with OM and worms. I knew that good soil didn't just disappear if it was neglected for a while, because this isn't the first garden I've renewed. But it's the first place where the unimproved soil is as awful as it is here. So there's proof, if anyone needed it, that taking care of the soil will give you long lasting rewards.

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




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