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  • From: "Elizabeth Pike" <pike AT always-online.com>
  • To: "market farming" <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Help with mulch
  • Date: Sat, 29 Jan 2000 10:47:32 -0500


I agree Lucy. The mulch really needs to complement whatever crop under
which it is being used. I have no way to dispose of plastic, and to be
certified (which is pending), I must have the certification committee's
approval for whatever I use, & cannot use any plastic that's PVC-which
virtually eliminates most anything to which I have easy access. The green
manures have improved my soil so much, I'd much rather use these wherever I
can. I've had no soil borne disease problems, though weather related
blights are still a huge problem. I underplant peppers & tomatos with dwarf
white clover, which here in the heat goes dormant in July, then I slip
corrugated cardboard under & around the plants, & keep it there until the
end of August.

I do use straw under potatos & will experiment this year with something I
discovered last year. I sowed several patches of sweet alyssum which I use
to attract & harbor beneficials throughout the garden. Volunteer potatos
grew up through one patch & none were attacked by potato beetles. Whether
the beetles were confused by the alyssum or attacked by lady beetles I don't
know. I will experiment again this year.

Which all goes to show, Ruth, farming is part science, part luck, which in
the end equals pure magic!

Liz Pike
Morningstar Gardens
Pollocksville, North Carolina




  • Re: Help with mulch, Elizabeth Pike, 01/29/2000

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