Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] No-Till for Diversified Vegetable Production?

market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Market Farming

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Bill & Izabella" <pureprairiefarm AT gmail.com>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] No-Till for Diversified Vegetable Production?
  • Date: Sat, 18 Dec 2010 08:39:37 -0600

Steve,

The pictures at Foundation are very impressive.

What is their source of nitrogen?  Fungi do amazing things,
as you noted, but they dont like nitrogen and those crops are very full.

Bill




On Thu, Dec 16, 2010 at 11:25 AM, Steve Diver <steved AT ipa.net> wrote:
John / Bill -

Here are two more key links, in my experience.

Mechanical roller-crimper methods for no-till cover crops via NCAT-ATTRA
http://attra.ncat.org/calendar/question.php/2006/05/08/where_can_i_find_information_about_the_m

The roller-crimper method will give you a killed or dying cover crop mulch
to transplant into.

Obviously this kind of system won't work for directed seeding of small-seeded
carrots and lettuce, but transplanting warm-season peppers, tomatoes, & melons
would match that kind of system.  

For the smaller scale market farm, the methods that Patrice Gros is using
at Foundation Farm are worth knowing about.   

Pics of No-Till Bed System at Foundation Farm, NW Arkansas
http://www.foundationfarm.com/farm_pics.htm

One key angle to keep in mind is that he lives in Northwest Arkansas in the Fescue
Belt.  It won't work with Devil's Grass, aka Bermuda Grass, and similar running
warm-season grasses.

Actually, if you go back through Eliot Coleman's old references and dig up
European farming books by Faber & Faber, the system called "surface cultivation"
is a good description of the no-till methods used at Foundation Farm.

When I visited Patrice's farm, the level of fertility displayed in growing crops
suggested the soil fungal network was still intact and functioning, plus the
heavy mulching helps.  They avoid scratching deeper than a few inches
and the soil has never been ripped or turned.

Steve Diver
Austin, TX






Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page