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  • From: Dieter Brand <diebrand@yahoo.com>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Organic no-till for dry-land farming?
  • Date: Sun, 3 Jun 2007 01:32:03 -0700 (PDT)

Lawrence,

I agree about the importance of increasing soil organic matter, and I think
the best way of achieving this is by using cover crops and mulching in a
no-till system.

I don’t agree about raised beds, at least not in the way these where first
conceived in the temperate regions of central and northern Europe, where
dark deep soil will take about any abuse without buckling. I wouldn’t use
raised beds in a hot climate where humus in the fragile top soil is
depleted
much more rapidly due to the high temperatures.

The problem with raised beds is: you disrupt the organic web in the soil
and risk inverting aerobic and anaerobic soil layers when you first set
them up, then you burry woody and green plant residues in the soil where
they cannot decompose by an aerobic process, as in nature, but risk
producing substances that can even be toxic to roots, finally you disrupt
the capillary channels that supply water from the subsoil to replenish the
water film of particles in the topsoil, which means that the upper soil
crust
of your raised bed will dry out rapidly and needs constant watering.
Finally, raised beds dry out easily because they have more exposed
surface area, it is also difficult to protect the vertical or sloping sides
with either vegetation of mulch.

People around here build artificial lakes with a bulldozer. I have so far
resisted this because where a bulldozer has ripped open the soil
nothing will grow for another 10 years. Instead I have started collected
stones, wooden logs, etc. to build a multitude of little barriers across
the water lines and around the growing areas. An undisturbed soil
is the best water storage means.

If I say no-till, I also mean no-dig. Anyway, this is fairly easy to achieve
in an irrigated area by mulching and cover cropping.

Since I started no-till 3 years ago I have been able to reduce irrigation
by about 80 %. Last August, I was down to about 1/2 litre per square
meter a day. Among all the water saving means, no-till with mulch
and/or cover crops is the most effective.

I’m not particularly keen on Fado, at least not before my first bottle
of red wine, just kidding, these are only distant memories of my ill
spent youth, now I hardly drink more than a glass for dinner.

Dieter Brand
Portugal

"Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lfl@intrex.net> wrote:
Hello Dieter:

I have a similar problem with dry soil and increasingly more frequest
periods of drought. Adding organic matter to my soil, making tall raised beds
with the rows between filled with compost and mulch will go a long way
toward conserving moisture and making it possible to grow crops.
If you don't want to plow then hand dig your beds. Can you build ponds or
other water catchments
to contain rainfall during the wet months for use during the summer by
pumping them out onto the gardens?
Bellota tools in the Basque region in Spain and another, similar (forged hand
tools) tool company in Portugal
make excellent gardening hand tools, perfect for your gardening tasks.
http://market-farming.com/gardening-hand-tools.faq

Do you like Fado? Maritza, Amalia Rodriguez? Flamenco?

Cheers,






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