New bed needed lasagna, sheet mulch, permaculture???

[Redbaron]

Originally Posted by zeroma

"Sequestered carbon".... just struck me in the heart. LOL just the word sequester leaves a bad taste in the mouths of a lot of us who are military...DoD related in someway.

Carbon sequestration is a big issue. There are many multi billion dollar projects and plans all being devised to try and deal with all the extra CO2 in the atmosphere from fossil fuels.

So far the only ideas even coming close to being able to sequester that huge amount of carbon in the atmosphere without bankrupting the whole World is organic agriculture. Just a 1% increase of humus in the arable topsoils of the World would sequester the entire last 12 years' net increase of carbon from Fossil Fuels. Add non-arable rangeland to that and you come up with numbers that say it could potentially sequester all the carbon ever produced by fossil fuels since the dawn of the industrial age in under 10 years. Nature might take 500-1000 years, but with careful management using biomimicry, we can do it far faster.

Of course you can never get everyone to agree to going organic. There is always someone against anything. And you would have a hard time restructuring the entire agricultural business environment anytime soon, simply because those with a vested interest are not going away without a fight. But nice to know if/when the real manure hits the fan, the solution is already well proven and available.

[dice]

A good document on summer cover crops:
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/hil/hil-37.html
(Kind of a semi-rocket-science approach, where there is a
lot of discussion of nitrogen management. The tables on
"mechanical kill" methods to avoid RoundUp et al are
particularly interesting.)

I would keep the ash chips out of the bed. Some ash species
have allelopathic effects similar to black walnut on other plant
species. Use them in paths between and around beds instead
of as a mulch directly in beds where you grow crops.

[efisakov]

I grow organically and add something to my soil every year. Egg shells, fish bones/heads, shrimp/lobster shell, pit moss, and more.

[zeroma]

Originally Posted by Redbaron

Carbon sequestration is a big issue. There are many multi billion dollar projects and plans all being devised to try and deal with all the extra CO2 in the atmosphere from fossil fuels.

So far the only ideas even coming close to being able to sequester that huge amount of carbon in the atmosphere without bankrupting the whole World is organic agriculture. Just a 1% increase of humus in the arable topsoils of the World would sequester the entire last 12 years' net increase of carbon from Fossil Fuels. Add non-arable rangeland to that and you come up with numbers that say it could potentially sequester all the carbon ever produced by fossil fuels since the dawn of the industrial age in under 10 years. Nature might take 500-1000 years, but with careful management using biomimicry, we can do it far faster.

Of course you can never get everyone to agree to going organic. There is always someone against anything. And you would have a hard time restructuring the entire agricultural business environment anytime soon, simply because those with a vested interest are not going away without a fight. But nice to know if/when the real manure hits the fan, the solution is already well proven and available.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequestration

I had to look up carbon sequestration. I was thinking of the "government" definition.

thanks for making me think...

[Redbaron]

Originally Posted by zeroma

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequestration

I had to look up carbon sequestration. I was thinking of the "government" definition.

thanks for making me think...

Thank you zeroma, I hadn't read the wiki article on Carbon sequestration. The section on agriculture is pretty light. In the next few weeks I may round up some references and rewrite that section! And link it to my wiki article I wrote on holistic management. I appreciate it.

[dice]

For a legume to mix with the oats for a summer cover crop,
you could use this stuff. It should winter-kill along with the
oats and not become a weed:
http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-7208-su..._alfalfa_seeds

I would use it about 1 part alfalfa seed to 3 parts oat seed,
so you should not need much of it to condition the soil in
one experimental bed of the size that you described.

Alternatives:
http://www.groworganic.com/non-dorma...coated-lb.html
http://www.groworganic.com/semi-dorm...coated-lb.html

These are unlike winter-dormant alfalfa, which will be there
permanently unless you take steps in spring to break off the top
growth from the roots. (Not that hard to do, but extra work
compared to the oats, which should all be laying there on top
of the soil as mulch by spring.)