Market Farming

[Thamnophis <thamnophis AT gmail.com>]

Have you looked at seeding with white clover? I haven't done so but
would be interested to hear of others opinions/experiences.

My thought was to seed the drought resistant (New Zealand?) white
clover variety and shifting the rows every couple years so that the
vegetable rows are planted where the clover was turned under the
fall/spring before.

Joe
Boone, IA
Zone 5a

On 2/21/11, Cameron Pedersen <campedersen AT gmail.com> wrote:
> We are looking for the most suitable way, at our scale of about 3 cultivated
> acres, to control weeds in the pathways between raised plastic mulch beds.
> For several reasons, we don't want to cultivate, which leaves us (as we see
> it) with 2 options: seeding the pathways with grass and mowing several times
> in the summer, or mulching once with straw or hay. Last year, we tried
> seeding grass, but because of the hot/dry summer much of it didn't germinate
> (but the weeds still did!) We are going to try seeding some rows again this
> year, but also wanted to give mulching a try. However, the expense and time
> of mulching 15000+ row feet by hand seems somewhat daunting! One of those
> nifty mulching implements would be great, but at our scale I'm not sure it
> would be cost effective. Last year, straw was going for $150+/ton around
> here.
>
> Does anyone have any experience with mulching pathways on a small market
> farm scale? Any tips or suggestions?
>
> Thanks!
> Cameron
>
> --
> Bending Bridge Farm
> www.bendingbridgefarm.com
>