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livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] [KC No-Till] Growing Veggies on a Former Parking Lot

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Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: kcnotill@googlegroups.com, livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] [KC No-Till] Growing Veggies on a Former Parking Lot
  • Date: Sat, 30 Apr 2011 21:46:06 -0600


In a nutshell: the seed mix is not the problem. You have to rely on the
terracing to keep your amendments where you put them or they'll get washed to
the bottom no matter what you spread on it. Also, tilling in some leaves
won't change anything - it takes a lot of organic matter and a lot longer -
I've learned some of this the hard way. And mycorrhiza will appear by itself
when the right plants appear. It won't do anything without certain plant life
there first. With that kind of lot you can only haul in topsoil from
somewhere else and put in permanent terraces. A lose-lose situation. Who's
paying?

paul tradingpost@lobo.net

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

On 4/29/2011 at 9:28 AM Marty Kraft wrote:

>Niles Home for Children has a lot at 1830 E 22nd Street, a block over
>from our current garden. It is on a southern slope and has been
>terraced. The lot is a mixture of gravel and clay with a little
>asphalt, brick, etc. It is very low in organic material. We are going
>to make it productive.
>
>Sunday from 12 to 3 we're inviting people to come and help. Please
>come with or without tools. Here is the plan.
>
>We have some donated compost, not nearly enough. We will spread that
>thinly as far as it goes. Then we have some leaves collected and
>donated by the Greensman last fall. Those will also be spread thinly.
>After spreading we will till that in shallowly. Yes I said TILL. I'm
>doing that to keep the compost and leaves from sliding off the slope
>and to form a seed bed for the cocktail of restorative plants we're
>going to plant. Just before seeding we will inoculate with mycorrhizal
>fungi to insure the health of the plants and to produce more organic
>mater. Finally we will drag a chain or board across the soil to cover
>the seeds and wait for rain.
>
>We will let this all grow till late fall when we will mow it and let
>it lay and go back into the soil. Next year we hope to grow veggies
>here.
>
>The seed cocktail includes rye, forage radish, Austrian winter pea,
>buckwheat, cow pea, purple hull peas and other southern peas, millet,
>sorghum, hairy vetch, and red clover. These plants will work in
>concert to restore the soil. There are a lot of lots in the city that
>could also be restored.
>
>Thanks
>
>Marty Kraft
>





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