permaculture

[swrpi@igc.apc.org]

At 05:56 PM 11/22/97 -0800, Permaculture West wrote:
I invite people to
>share their strategies for cultivating the garden beneath the soil.
>
>                                                               Regards,
>                                                               Kirk Hanson
>
One of my favorite techniques for increasing soil fauna is using dikon
radish as a deep breaking plow and letting it go to seed.  I don't harvest
but a few of these big rooted vegetables and leave most to decompose and
form large pockets in the soil.  This is particularly good on clayey soils
with little percolation.  A couple of years and the soil is soft and full of
micro organisms.

I also use a product called Nitron which is a yeasty smelling solution which
is supposed to add beneficial enzymes to the soil to increase microbial
activity. I have used it on hard pan created by construction traffic and in
a few weeks am able to rototill or shovel down some six inches - where
before I couldn't open the soil with a pick.  

The problem with the alkaline/clay soils in New Mexico and other parts of
the Southwest is that the cover crops such as alfalfa, vetch, cowpea, etc
can't penetrate to a depth to get good aeration and water penetration.
Without aeration the nitrogen fixation is minimal.  I have been more
successful planting dikon, or cow turnips first and then follow with
nitrogineous ground covers.  

This year we are covering our field with leaves from our trees - many are
black locusts which means some nitrogen - and hoping for a wet winter which
will help the decomposition process. We used this technique in our garden
for the past three years and the worm population has exploded.   
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<swrpi@igc.apc.org>
Permaculture Institute
Scott & Arina Pittman 
PO Box 3702
Pojoaque, NM 87501

Ingenio Patet Campus