Hello, I have a rare type of soil that I am told is alkaline base(I haven't done tests yet). Serpentine is low in calcium, high in magnesium and has heavy metal concentration. It is also low in nitrogen.
It is also sporadically rocky with gravel. I can see
Hugelkultur as a great way to get around this. What are my options besides
hugelkultur? What about fruit
trees if I were to plant them in the ground? Also
should my next question be what would be a good cover crop to start off? What other type of questions should I be asking? (I'm new here, first post). I have 6 acres, two of it is wooded and slopped, and four flat acres. It looks to me that the four acres have not been used in quite some time but were for grazing. The surface of the old grazing
land is mostly washed away and covered in sage brushes. The wooded area has many species of
mushrooms. It is zoned 8b in Southern Oregon so I'm hoping it has a lot of potential.
I've found this explanation of Serpentine soil that might be able to help with the discussion.
http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/communities/serpentines/adaptations.shtml
Help please, Thanks!