Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Best groundcover for (home) orchard

nafex@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: list@ginda.us
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Best groundcover for (home) orchard
  • Date: Sun, 25 Apr 2004 16:14:17 -0400

I had trouble with dutch clover being juicy in wet years - I had it interplanted with my lawn, and it clogged the mower if I let it get too lush. The lawn seems to have taken over, and I sort of miss the clover, despite the problems.

But I have to ask - why do you need to mow every week or two? The part of my lawn that I don't fertilize only gets mowed 4-5 times per year (and looks surprisingly lawn-like). In an orchard, where you don't need to keep the neighbors happy with a nice lawn, I wouldn't think you'd need to mow all that often - you just need a mower that can cut really high.

Ginda

On Apr 24, 2004, at 5:41 PM, Lon J. Rombough wrote:

Comfrey is a great soil builder, but it's not good in the orchard.  It brings up minerals from deep in the soil and really loosens hard, clay soils, but it's so juicy it's a mess to mow.  Best use I ever saw of it was by a woman who had two acres separate from the orchard.  She cut it regularly with a sickle bar mower and put it in the orchard as mulch.  Her peaches and nectarines were the best I've ever tasted anywhere.
-Lon Rombough





Not using chemical herbicides or mechanical tilling,
I'm not going to be able to keep the ground bare.  
What would be a good groundcover?  Does dutch clover
or subterranean clover add too much N for the pears
and apples?  vetch?  How about comfrey - that uses up
N and is deep rooted, does it compete with the trees?

Is "orchard grass" as difficult to keep under control
as the grass and weed mix we have now?  We have to mow

every week or two, which is way too much work.

Lisa in Ashland Oregon
USDA Z7 - Sunset Z7 - 1800' - 19" annual rainfall


 
  
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Photos: High-quality 4x6 digital prints for 25¢
http://photos.yahoo.com/ph/print_splash
_______________________________________________
nafex mailing list
nafex@lists.ibiblio.org

**YOU MUST BE SUBSCRIBED TO POST!**
All other messages are discarded.
No exceptions.  
----
To subscribe or unsubscribe, go to the bottom of this page (also can be used to change other email options):
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/nafex

File attachments are NOT stripped by this list
TAKE STEPS TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM COMPUTER VIRUSES!
Please do not send binary files.
Use plain text ONLY in emails!

Message archives are here:
https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/nafex

NAFEX web site:   http://www.nafex.org/



_______________________________________________
nafex mailing list
nafex@lists.ibiblio.org

**YOU MUST BE SUBSCRIBED TO POST!**
All other messages are discarded.
No exceptions.
----
To subscribe or unsubscribe, go to the bottom of this page (also can be used to change other email options):
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/nafex

File attachments are NOT stripped by this list
TAKE STEPS TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM COMPUTER VIRUSES!
Please do not send binary files.
Use plain text ONLY in emails!

Message archives are here:
https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/nafex

NAFEX web site: http://www.nafex.org/



Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page