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Subject: Market Farming
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- From: "rbuck" <rbuck AT pacifier.com>
- To: <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
- Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Garden covering
- Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2010 13:03:28 -0700
Thanks for the comment
Richard. I have 7-1/2 acres in SW
Washington state not too far from My thought was to apply the
plastic by hand in such a way that it covers the paths between the beds as well
as the beds themselves but so that I can lay the plastic back for periods of
time during the winter to allow some rain to get into the soil. Perhaps
by overlapping the plastic in the middle of each bed. Hopefully pulling
the plastic back on occasion would allow aeration of the soil. The
plastic over the pathways would not be pulled back at all and, hopefully, would
keep the pathways pretty dry so I could drive my tractor on it in early spring.
My intent is that the plastic would stay in place during the growing season as
well. Many farmers here use black plastic mulch in the summer and punch
holes in it for planting. My thought was to overlap the plastic in a way
that would allow it to be pulled back where I wanted to plant. I’ve
seen this done successfully in another garden here in On Tue, 12 Oct 2010 08:08:19
-0400 Richard Robinson hopestill1 AT gmail.com
wrote: >Wow--where are you? > >I would worry first
about where all that water is going if it's not sinking into the soil as it's
doing now. That's an enormous amount of runoff to end up somewhere else.
Offhand, I'd guess the biggest impacts on the soil itself would be on depriving
the soil of oxygen due to the long-term plastic covering, and perhaps a change
in the soil biota to a drier-loving mix. I'd be less concerned about the second,
more about the first, I think. If you are laying the plastic by hand, you might
consider placing it later in the winter--the water that falls early in the wet
season is going to percolate out over time anyway, so diverting it may not be
very important in the drying out process. And if you are laying it by tractor,
how will you get the tractor in there along the uncovered and wet edges, in
order to remove it in the spring? Richard Robinson >>On Sun, Oct 10, 2010
at 1:32 PM, rbuck <rbuck AT pacifier.com> wrote: >> Hi folks, >> >> >> >> I live in an area
that gets 60-100? of rain between early Oct and late >> June.? My soil is
heavy clay loam.? I?d like to be able to get onto my >> garden with a
tractor in late fall and early spring in order to work >> the soil but I?m
concerned about compaction and other problems working >> wet clay.? I had
thought to cover the ground with black polyethylene >> plastic to divert
the water during the winter but I?m wondering if >> there are downsides
to doing so.? Would this negatively impact the >> biota in the soil
or cause salt build up?? Could there be a negative >> chemical
interaction between the soil and plastic where contact is made? >> >> >> >> Any thoughts or
advice would be appreciated. >> >> >> >> Best regards, >> >> |
-
[Market-farming] Garden covering,
rbuck, 10/10/2010
-
Re: [Market-farming] Garden covering,
Richard Robinson, 10/12/2010
-
Re: [Market-farming] Garden covering,
waldenfarm, 10/14/2010
-
[Market-farming] Harvesting Bok Choy,
Jay Sleichter, 10/14/2010
-
Re: [Market-farming] wood boiler,
maury sheets, 10/14/2010
-
Re: [Market-farming] wood boiler,
Rob Wallbridge, 10/14/2010
- Re: [Market-farming] wood boiler, maury sheets, 10/15/2010
-
Re: [Market-farming] wood boiler,
Rob Wallbridge, 10/14/2010
- Re: [Market-farming] Harvesting Bok Choy, Allan.Balliett, 10/14/2010
-
Re: [Market-farming] wood boiler,
maury sheets, 10/14/2010
-
[Market-farming] Harvesting Bok Choy,
Jay Sleichter, 10/14/2010
-
Re: [Market-farming] Garden covering,
waldenfarm, 10/14/2010
- <Possible follow-up(s)>
- Re: [Market-farming] Garden covering, rbuck, 10/14/2010
- Re: [Market-farming] Garden covering, Mac, 10/15/2010
-
Re: [Market-farming] Garden covering,
Richard Robinson, 10/12/2010
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