Discussion forum for environmentally-friendly alternatives to replace synthetic chemicals and fertilizers.
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#31 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Louisville, Kentucky (Zone 6B)
Posts: 89
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As for composts/manures, I already bought the Lowes branded compost/manure, and it's already applied. I'll hope for the best. Thanks for alerting me to the herbicide issue. |
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#32 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Louisville, Kentucky (Zone 6B)
Posts: 89
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Also, big thanks to everyone for all the ideas/advice. I'll keep it all under consideration as the growing season progresses.
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#33 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Laurinburg, North Carolina, zone 7
Posts: 3,207
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Don't forget to grow cover crops and till them in if you aren't using those gardens for something else over the winter. Cover crops can add lots of nitrogen and other nutrients to the soil!
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#34 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Louisville, Kentucky (Zone 6B)
Posts: 89
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#35 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Louisville, Kentucky (Zone 6B)
Posts: 89
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I've started using grass clippings as mulch, but a couple weeks after planting. It seems to be going well so far. I've been following the guidelines from this page: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/07007.html
I'll add a layer after each mowing until I have several inches. That should be a good nitrogen feeder and keep some weeds out. I probably won't need the newspaper or cardboard (crossing my fingers). |
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#36 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Laurinburg, North Carolina, zone 7
Posts: 3,207
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Cover crops really depend on where you live and if you need organic matter or nitrogen. Most places, fava beans, clover and rye grass are good. Vetch is good for some parts of the country.
Even unusual stuff like quinoa, amaranth and fenugreek can work. |
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#37 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: PNW
Posts: 4,743
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While this is slanted toward cover crops for use in no-till
farming, it does provide a good general guide to different kinds of cover crops: http://newfarm.rodaleinstitute.org/f...ll/chart.shtml This document from UCDavis provides an index to good descriptions of individual cover crops: http://www.sarep.ucdavis.edu/database/covercrops Down south, lots of farmers like crimson clover (kind of expensive seed, perhaps because of demand, and often out of stock in spring) and cowpeas or Austrian winter peas. A mix of winter rye and hairy vetch is popular with no-till tomato farmers, but it matures in late April and can be inconvenient where you want to plant crops earlier in spring. Bell beans (fava bean relative) may be a better choice where you need to cut it down earlier and either amend the soil with the top growth or leave it on top for mulch if using no-till methods. Here is a document on cover crops from U of Kentucky: http://www.ca.uky.edu/agc/pubs/id/id113/id113.htm
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#38 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: zone 5
Posts: 821
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Don't plant ANY cover crop until you have decided that you are up for dealing with it in the spring. Cover crops are great for those that are OK with tilling and have the mechanical means to deal with them, however they are a lot of work.
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#39 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Louisville, Kentucky (Zone 6B)
Posts: 89
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Yes, I don't think I want to re-till my garden.
However, if a crop can be broken back down into the soil by mowing with a mulch mower, would that be an option with any particular cover crop? |
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#40 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Connecticut
Posts: 252
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I agree with Bughunter 99. I am into cover crops and plant winter rye every Fall and turn/chop into the soil every spring. I do not use (by choice) a tiller and do it by hand. Although I think it is very important, It is absolutely one of the hardest most labor intensive things I do gardening.
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#41 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: PNW
Posts: 4,743
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I think a mulch mower would be good, if you do not have to do
too large an area. When I planted winter rye, I decided it was too much of a pain to turn the top growth all in. So I mowed it with a hedge trimmer (weedeater would work, too), raked the top growth off to the side, spread some compost over the stubble, and turned that over with a shovel. Then I raked the top growth back over the bed for summer mulch. (By the time it flowers in late April, winter rye is typically chest-high, so it needs to be cut down before trying to mulch it up finer. I tried putting it through a shredder green one time, it bound up the shredder like rope, and I had to disassemble it to get it all out of there. That might work if you let it dry out first. No-till farmers knock it down with a flail mower and just leave the top growth on top of the soil.) Not all cover crops have top growth that challenging to amend into the soil. Vetches and clovers are fairly easy to amend the soil with, and I expect that a mulching mower would have no problems with them.
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#42 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: zone 5
Posts: 821
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You'll want to make sure that you get it before it goes to seed.
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#43 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Oklahoma
Posts: 4,488
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Bag it when clearing crop residue so pathogens can be composted and killed or bag the grass clippings from the lawn for mulch and compost material. Mulch it when you want nutrients right where it sits. I also occasionally use the side blower to either let it dry a day and rake like hay, (if I DON'T want it to compost right away) or when I mow my paths between rows I blow the clippings into the beds. Here is a great clip on cover crops and how to know what to use and when. It is commercial scale, but the principles can be adapted. Innovative No-Till: Using Multi-Species Cover Crops to Improve Soil Health
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Scott AKA The Redbaron "Permaculture is a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted & thoughtful observation rather than protracted & thoughtless labour; & of looking at plants & animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a single-product system." Bill Mollison co-founder of permaculture |
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