permaculture

[Scott Pittman <pci@permaculture-inst.org>]

> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Today's Topics:
>
>   1. Re: dealing with hard ground (Shane Perry)
>   
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Subject:
> Re: [permaculture] dealing with hard ground
> From:
> Shane Perry <rymnel@gmail.com>
> Date:
> Thu, 15 Sep 2005 08:51:49 -0400
> To:
> permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
>
> To:
> permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
>
>
> I've been seeing those all over the place where I live.  Up to this 
> point I've avoided them because I didn't want whatever fescue that was 
> growing in the field dominating my garden.  Have you tried this 
> yourself?  I'm curious as to weed issues that arise from using hay as 
> a sheet mulching compound.  Sorry if this is a noob question.
>
> Shane
While agreeing in principal to all the advise that you have been 
receiving, the devil is in the details.

1. The source of your manure is important, not from feedlots (full of 
salts), not from poultry operations that use antibiotics in feed, horse 
manure is full of seeds of whatever they are fed on and those seeds are 
ready to germinate as soon as the opportunity arises, so compost first 
and be sure that temperature reaches 160 - 180 degrees F.  To avoid seed 
use cow, poultry, or sheep manure.

2.  Straw is great for mulch but you will get the errant seed from the 
pulse crop.  Straw is not hay!  Hay can be full of grass seed or alfalfa 
seed and other plants not easily dealt with in the garden situation, 
again compost is a solution.

3.  I have had very good success with a product called Nitron, which is 
manufacatured in Arkansas and is the secret formula of Joe Finger but 
seems to be a fermented enzyme product that works wonders in 
flocculating clay soils, which seems to be your problem - deflocculated 
soil, which can happen with high water tables.  Spray on the Nitron to 
dampen the soil then wait a couple of days and work the loosened surface 
and then spray again with a back pack sprayer.  The second application 
should produce a few inches of loose soil which you can then plant with 
dikon, buckwheat, or hairy vetch to add organic material and use root 
power to further loosen the soil.

4.  Now get into the mulch heavily and innoculate with worms - they seem 
to thrive on the sugars in the glue that holds the laminates together in 
cardboard.  It is also amazing how useful a little molasses/water spray 
is for inhancing the activity of both fungi and microbes.

Good luck,

Scott Pittman