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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jul 11, 2011 8:01:38 GMT -5
I don't till. Slashed green manures are simply left where they fall. I've given up on grasses (oats, rye and so on) as they're a pain if you leave them too long. I plant beans, cowpeas, buckwheat mid/late summer to die with the first killing frost and leave a cover over winter on beds I'm not using. Peas or fenugreek as winter cover. I dump mulch on them late winter/early spring which seems to kill them off. This year I'm trying sweet lupins on new beds as I've heard they have a good deep taproot. I'll slash them a few weeks before I need the bed. I want to encourage more clovers. That sounds so threatening to my traditional way of farming. Can you tell me more? How does one slash a garden? Tools? Technique? Timing? Does that mean that you slash instead of weed? How do you plant? Earthway seeder and/or planting into furrows are a thing of the past? |
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Post by mnjrutherford on Jul 11, 2011 9:48:18 GMT -5
You've certainly got my attention. We planted peas after the corn in the main corn patch last year. The intention being to feed nitrogen into the soil for this year's corn and thus reduce the need for "fertilizer" of the store bought variety. The corn where the peas were most dense did do better. We allowed the peas to simply die where they stood then planted over them. We did use the Earthway to lay down the corn... I can't remember if Mike tilled or not. I'm thinking he used the small tiller and tilled up JUST the row were the seed was to go down.
What about the perennial versions of grains from Tim Peters?
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Post by raymondo on Jul 11, 2011 17:01:30 GMT -5
I'm not a farmer so I don't have anywhere near the same amount of space under cultivation as you Joseph. I slash with an Asian hand sickle or occasionally a pair of shears, in other words, by hand. I over plant beds that I won't need for a while so that I can slash and leave the mulch to rot down a bit. I have the spce so timing is not really an issue. If it's still too thick or otherwise unplantable when I want to use the bed I move the mulch to another bed. Weeds get slashed too, except ones I don't want, like dandelion. These are dug out. I'm still experimenting with cover crops. I haven't yet tried any of the medics for example.
All of the above may change though because I am trying to build up enough so that I can start selling at market. I might find that these practices are simply unworkable at a larger scale.
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Post by DiggingDogFarm on Jul 11, 2011 17:15:37 GMT -5
I do similarly most of the time, but with winter rye....I cut it with an Austrian scythe and then mulch (near zero weeds).
Zero till most years......every four or five years I do loosen the soil and partially turn the rye with a broad fork.
~Dig
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Post by johno on Jul 11, 2011 18:03:31 GMT -5
You can't just plop a seedling in the ground here and expect it to grow - I have to plow or till, add organics, get rid of competing weeds, etc. in order to establish viable beds. But after that I've been doing minimum-till to aerate and incorporate more organics. Now I'm experimenting with cover crops. I've observed that annual rye is an incredible root producer, depositing tons of organics on its own, but it lasts rather a long time before dying in early summer. I think next year I'll use it more and plan to plant things in it (after a tight mowing) later than I ordinarily would. I think most of the heat-loving plants will do well with that plan, but keep in mind that I have nearly a 6 month season to play with.
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Post by DiggingDogFarm on Jul 11, 2011 18:11:56 GMT -5
You can't just plop a seedling in the ground here and expect it to grow - I have to plow or till, add organics, get rid of competing weeds, etc. in order to establish viable beds. But after that I've been doing minimum-till to aerate and incorporate more organics. Now I'm experimenting with cover crops. I've observed that annual rye is an incredible root producer, depositing tons of organics on its own, but it lasts rather a long time before dying in early summer. I think next year I'll use it more and plan to plant things in it (after a tight mowing) later than I ordinarily would. I think most of the heat-loving plants will do well with that plan, but keep in mind that I have nearly a 6 month season to play with. I should have said that beds do need to be established here as well...but after that it's basically no till...the rye does the 'tilling'. I am able to plant plots (1/4 acre) of small grains (oats, wheat and barley) by simply smothering the sod with a mulch for a few months....removing the mulch...scarring the surface and then broadcasting. ~Dig |
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Post by garnetmoth on Jul 11, 2011 18:39:24 GMT -5
Im still super tiny here at the house, but Ive let the self-seeding non-annoying things continue- Weve got a decent amount of plantain, blue-eyed grass in places, black medic, sedum.... I weed most of the new england asters, spurge, and what I think are sow thistle.
Dig a hole, plop in a pepper or tomato. Other areas Im still digging up a bit....
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Post by raymondo on Jul 12, 2011 5:11:00 GMT -5
I, too, have to dig a bed to start with, but only to start with. I did try sheet mulching straight onto the unworked ground once and planting into the mulch, with a little potting mix to get the seed started. It sort of worked, well, almost. I have very heavy clay. I don't know what would have happened had I persisted but I didn't. I dug the bed over, though I haven't dug it since.
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bertiefox
gardener
There's always tomorrow!
Posts: 236
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Post by bertiefox on Jul 12, 2011 6:05:10 GMT -5
I am an enthusiast for 'no till' (deep mulch)gardening but here are the problems:
1. On heavy clay soils they become compacted if never tilled even when you don't walk on them, so many crops grow poorly after a few years.
2. The mulches form a very fertile top layer. If you live in the country where there are lots of things seeding, they soon get a good grip in this layer, so weeding can remain a big problem unless you have so much mulch you can keep covering them up. Here willow seeds everywhere, even into pots of sterile compost which end up with hundreds of little willow trees growing by the end of the summer!
3. If your chickens are free range and can access the garden they LOVE the mulch and dig it up looking for insects, digging plants up as they go.
4. Sowing things like carrots and other fine seeds which you can't easily start off in modules or pots is a nightmare.
Having said that, using 'no till' by heavily mulching around established plants, especially brassicas, is a great way of keeping annual weeds at bay and conserving moisture in the ground in dry areas.
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Post by DiggingDogFarm on Jul 12, 2011 9:40:29 GMT -5
I am an enthusiast for 'no till' (deep mulch)gardening but here are the problems: 1. On heavy clay soils they become compacted if never tilled even when you don't walk on them, so many crops grow poorly after a few years. 2. The mulches form a very fertile top layer. If you live in the country where there are lots of things seeding, they soon get a good grip in this layer, so weeding can remain a big problem unless you have so much mulch you can keep covering them up. Here willow seeds everywhere, even into pots of sterile compost which end up with hundreds of little willow trees growing by the end of the summer! 3. If your chickens are free range and can access the garden they LOVE the mulch and dig it up looking for insects, digging plants up as they go. 4. Sowing things like carrots and other fine seeds which you can't easily start off in modules or pots is a nightmare. Having said that, using 'no till' by heavily mulching around established plants, especially brassicas, is a great way of keeping annual weeds at bay and conserving moisture in the ground in dry areas. The rye and oats that I use and the broad fork keep my heavy clay soils from getting compacted. I only use mulch that's seed free, or mostly seed free anyway. ;D In addition to leaves, grass clippings, newspaper and cardboard for mulch....I use reed canary grass stalks. I wait until autumn to mow it with a scythe so it's almost like oat or wheat straw. I never bring in straw or other mulch from other farms because of the possiblity of introducing nasty weeds like bindweed. I can't say that I've had a problem with fine seeds like carrots, but I do grow fat and stubby 'oxheart' carrots that are more appropriate for heavy clay soils than long thin carrots. My biggest problem has been voles, but lately I've been able to control then fairly well. ~Dig |
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Post by steev on Jul 12, 2011 10:35:22 GMT -5
How do you control voles?
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Post by DiggingDogFarm on Jul 12, 2011 11:05:09 GMT -5
How do you control voles? I've reached almost 100% control with a few tricks.... Remove anything that provides them shelter (other than the 'traps'). ;D Keeping the grass cut quite short around the beds makes it easier for the hawks to get them (there are a lota hawks here)...I also use relatively thin mulch...no deep mulch. Trapping...a regular unbaited mousetrap will work when placed perpendicular to their paths...they'll just run over it and SNAP! I also use a regular mousetrap under a one foot square piece of plywood baited with a small piece of apple! I have some 4'X4' pieces of rubberized roofing...it resembles a very thick rubber tarp. I place those in a few places. Voles will hide under them....my dogs flip them and munch on the voles. ;D ~Dig |
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Post by seedywen on Jul 12, 2011 18:58:04 GMT -5
DiggingDog,
Is your 1/4 acre in grain, for people or animals?
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Post by DiggingDogFarm on Jul 12, 2011 23:23:13 GMT -5
DiggingDog, Is your 1/4 acre in grain, for people or animals? Hi Seedywen, I've grown for both. The cultivars I've grown were appropriate for both animals (Chickens, Quail and Rabbits) and humans. I have nothing in the form of small grains growing now. Due to an illness, I'm not currently farming full time, but will get back to it if/when I'm able. ~Dig |
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spud
gopher
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Post by spud on Oct 2, 2011 16:07:21 GMT -5
I grew some mustard as a cover crop this year and it grew faster than the weeds, I would think cutting it and planting in it would be very beneficial. I have also grown buckwheat and fall cover crop mix from johnny's and have great results with it also. I'm lucky enough to get truckloads of free leaves so covercropping hasn't been all that neccessary for me. I have very loam soil and I don't know if I believe if soil get's compacted when covered with mulch. Earthworms loosen soil for me w/o tilling and I get long carrots w/o any deep tilling. One thing I would like to try is direct seeding w/o tilling via seed balls. Here is a clip on it. Seed balls can be very small and made like panning for gold. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptIttqU1H8Y |
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