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permaculture - Re: [permaculture] Lupines and their uses.

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  • From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <venaurafarm@bellsouth.net>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Lupines and their uses.
  • Date: Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:32:22 -0500

Dieter Brand wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
> in the South of Portugal, yellow lupines (with yellow flowers) are grown for N-fixing and white lupines are grown for eating. Both are sown in October or November as soon as there is enough soil humidity after the dry season. The small (black and white) seeds of the yellow lupines can be broadcast into the stubble without too much losses, even though farmers usually plough before sowing. The white lupines (with > larger white seeds) need to be covered by soil or they will be eaten by worms. Both can be cut for mulching or ploughed under as green manure at flowering in May. For harvesting the seeds, you need to wait until about July. The white lupine seeds are pickled and eaten as a light snack when drinking beer. Fava beans are also grown in the same time period. Fava beens need to be sown deeper than white lupines (1 to 2 inches) or else black birds and craws will pull them from the soil when > germinating.
>>>>>>>>>>>>

Fascinating, Dieter. You have some voracious predators over there where you are, seed eating worms and avian seedling snatchers.

Somehow I wound up in South American countries with references to lupine varieties, their uses and local cultivation practices. They seemed to be an exceptional nitrogen fixer and maybe equally good as soil builders. I wrote up a short forum post about this years ago, will see if I can find it. I was thinking about alley cropping systems to build populations of perennial crops returning each year intercropped with annuals and various clovers, i.e. mellilotus alba, tall sweet clover, yellow and white varieties. Growing in an orchard, tree or berry this could be a good scheme for maintenance of fertility, weed control, soil quality building, depth of tilth and water reservoir the tree or berry crops could tap into. I will probably try this with a bunch of blueberry plants I need to set out. I was also thinking about the potential this sort of system offers to build colonies of nitrogen fixing bacteria in the soil that match the various host plants growing in the alley. It is not taken for granted that adequate populations of these microbes exist when and where you need them.

LL




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