permaculture

[David Muhl <dmuhl65@yahoo.com>]

Hi Sam,

Dieter offered some good suggestions for cover crops...ones that will give 
you a little nitrogen boost in your soil.  I couldn't tell if you were 
inquiring about cover crops or annual, raised bed crops(?).  I grew all of 
the crops you listed this past summer, although the beds we used weren't 
raised per say, just slightly mounded.  Although we added various nutritive 
amendments, the biggest factor (that I observed) which affected yield was 
soil structure/porosity/drainage issues.  We have quite a bit of clay in our 
fields and not a significant amount of humus/organic matter build-up, as we 
were only in our second season of production.

In poorly draining areas, we sometimes only got a few smallish potatoes, 
whereas other ares we would get 6 to 10 (medium to large ones) per plant.  
With carrots, poor drainage caused about 60% to rot right in the ground, but 
our better draining beds had almost no loss.  The beets were pretty tough, 
but germination was slower in the mucky areas, and certain weeds just 
out-competed them in the more distant areas of the farm that received less 
attention.

Not sure if that info is of use to you, but just in case...

David Muhl
Colorado

--- On Wed, 1/5/11, sam bucus <samm_bucus@yahoo.com> wrote:

> From: sam bucus <samm_bucus@yahoo.com>
> Subject: [permaculture] Vegetable crops to follow sod/grass
> To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
> Date: Wednesday, January 5, 2011, 2:47 AM
> Hi, 
> This spring i will be developing a property in Maine, zone
> 5, within a mile fo the coast, foggy, cool summer temps.
>  
> We will be starting from an overgrown field with weedy
> sod/grass/perennial "weeds". 
>  
> Our primary objective will be using cover crops to bring
> the weeds under control before implementing a permaculture
> plan with mostly tree/shrub crops. 
>  
> However, we will be doing a rather tradtional veggie plot
> using some regular old raised beds. Can anyone offer any
> advice on what crops would do best following sod? We are
> looking largely to do as many storage crops as we can
> (potatoes, winter squash, carrots, beets, etc.) but I have
> also read about a lot of problems from pests in addition to
> the unimproved soil. 
>  
> The soil is silty loam at 0-7 inches moving to silty clay
> at 65 inches. Its main restrictive feature is that it holds
> water quite late into the spring. According to a Kinsey Ag
> soil report
> the pH is 5.8, humus content 4.1%, and called for additions
> of protein meal, sulfur, rock phosphate, dolomite, potash
> sulfate, borax, manganese, copper and zinc sulfate.
>  
> Over the long run we have a good soil improvement program
> going. But does anyone have 
> any suggestions for putting in right after sod? 
>  
> Thanks, 
> Sam
> 
> 
>       
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