Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Angus MacLeod <afionnmc@yahoo.ca>]

I'm in eastern Canada and I grow the usual crops for this area: carrots, turnips, potatoes, etc. I have a good crop of tomatoes in cold frames every year, trying peppers with somewhat less luck, trying to expand the growing season, and recently read about hugelkultur. Having the remains of an old barn on hand and a ready made hole to start with, I thought it would be easier to bury the old timbers in a hugel pile than to dispose of them in other ways. I've done that this fall, and was wondering if anyone had a few years experience with the method.

I'm lucky to live on an old farm that has never had anything unnatural sprayed on it, or near it, fertile ground but rocky and hilly. I'm building toward being self sufficient in veggies and several fruits, but doing all the work by hand so it's a slow process. Very enjoyable though!

-Aonghas ( Gaelic for Angus )

--- On Tue, 11/17/09, Tradingpost <tradingpost@lobo.net> wrote:

From: Tradingpost <tradingpost@lobo.net>
Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Wood does belong in the soil?
To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
Received: Tuesday, November 17, 2009, 9:40 PM

Welcome, Angus, and what do you do with growing in your climate?

paul tradingpost@lobo.net

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

On 11/17/2009 at 6:14 PM Angus MacLeod wrote:

>Has anyone tried hugelkultur? It uses big pieces of wood in various
>stages of decay and, according to what I've read, promises a payoff for
>many years to come.
>
>--- On Tue, 11/17/09, Harvey Ussery <harvey@themodernhomestead.us> wrote:
>
>From: Harvey Ussery <harvey@themodernhomestead.us>
>Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Wood does belong in the soil?
>To: "Healthy soil and sustainable growing"
><livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
>Received: Tuesday, November 17, 2009, 11:25 AM
>
>> Well, I started this list to learn more, to have my views challenged
>> or improved, as well as to spread what's out there on the Internet.
>> You guys have tossed out the conventional wisdom on wood in soil and
>> apparently your results speak for themselves. Good. My limitation is,
>> (at my age) I have to plan in terms of soil building for *this market
>> season* - not the following seasons. Which means fast composting. That
>> is, learning and passing on techniques many people can do to get
>> growing right now, typically with little space and funds, as food
>> hazards multiply and unemployment keeps spreading.  ~Paul
>
>Of course wood ready to return to its "home" belongs in/on the soil. Why
>do you suppose Somebody gave fungi a place in the world? But there are
>practical considerations, especially as you noted re the extended
>breakdown.
>
>Don't know if anybody's suggested it in this thread, Paul, but if you
>don't have time for any composting process that doesn't pay off *this*
>market season, and if you don't have the space to devote to the slower
>breakdown of ligneous materials, consider this: Surely you provide paths
>to work the garden. If these paths are permanent, you could cover them
>with as much wood chips as you can get your hands on. All the benefits
>of mulching, doesn't matter how long decomposition takes, but once it
>does, just scoop up the resulting "compost" and spread into adjacent beds.
>
>Another likely benefit (speculating here): Big boost in mycorrhizal
>fungi, which partner with many crop species.
>
>~Harvey
>
>--
>Harvey in northern Virginia
>www.themodernhomestead.us
>
>A person dependent on somebody else for everything from potatoes to
>opinions may declare that he is a free man, and his government may issue a
>certificate granting him his freedom, but he will not be free. He is that
>variety of specialist known as a consumer, which means that he is the
>abject dependent of producers. How can he be free if he can do nothing for
>himself? What is the First Amendment to him whose mouth is stuck to the
>tit of the "affluent society"?  ~Wendell Berry
>


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