Market Farming

[SCook21809 AT aol.com]

<<  Just what are you warning against?  If its helpful for perenials, what is 
your concern with it when using it in the garden on your annuals? >>

    Soil Life!  If you believe that soil is a lifeless and benign substrate 
that grows plants when there is a chemical balance between the nitrogen, 
calcium, potassium, etc., then my caution is meaningless for your paradigm.  
Growers often disagree on methodologies based on their world views.
    I believe that plants are not fed by the soil.  They are fed by the 
activities of bacteria, fungi, and micro critters living in the soil.  In my 
mind, the reason a healthy soil doesn't have pest problems is because there 
are so many life forms in the soil eating the pests, they cannot compete.  
Plants manufacture sugars, hormones and chemicals which attract certain 
synergetic life forms to their rhizophere so that they can exchange nutrients.
    Annuals thrive best in bacterially mediated soils.  Perennials prosper 
best in fungally mediated soils.  Brasicas give off root exudates that 
actually kill fungi because they grow so much better in bacterially dominated 
soils.  As such, I always follow my broccoli by potatoes because I know there 
are no fungal pathogens in that soil.  
     It would be like me walking from New York to LA for a bacteria to move 
1\4 inch.  On the other hand, many fungi are capable of growing hypha, which 
are long threadlike filaments extending up to ten feet, that transport 
nutrients to plant roots in exchange for exudates.  Perennial roots are 
around long enough to establish a long-term symbiotic relationship with 
fungi.  Annuals are not.  
    By mulching the soil surface I encourage fungal growth in the soil.  By 
lightly mixing compost and green manure into the soil I am supporting the 
soil bacteria.  I can still mulch after the tilling in order to protect the 
soil from solarization and to retain moisture.  But over time, if I just 
plant through mulches my annuals will become less productive and resistant to 
disease.

Art Biggert
Ocean Sky Farm
Bainbridge Island, WA