Toxic in what way? For pets? Kids? Adults? Do you want to kill someone in some obscure way? Or are you worried about grazing sheep getting in? Or maybe are you worried about what to avoid?
For instance, there's a wild parsnip plant around here (Maine) that you could probably eat all you want an touch without any troubles. But if you get a little of the sap on you and then expose that area to the sun, you get terrible blisters! In theory cultivated parsnip plants have a similar trait at certain periods. I've recently met some people who claim an allergy to any nightshade family, but I've never experienced any issues. Rhubarb leaf is considered toxic, but how much do you need to consume?
87.32% of all statistics are made up on the spot. I know that for a fact.
Which reminds me, I once had someone I care about very much say during an argument, "don't use your facts and reasoning on me." Made me rethink how maybe I was using them as a weapon.
Back to Hugo's original question (which IS about plastic as Stefan uses in the permaculture orchard video), Stefan was using an exceptionally thick plastic mulch because it had a much longer lifetime than the usually used plasticulture. Stefan also pointed out that organic mulches didn't work for him and my experience is in line with his. If you need to mulch any sizable area (i.e. larger than a small garden), you will spend large amounts of money and time on the organic material mulches. The weeds will almost certainly penetrate the mulch in relatively short order and you will spend your time dealing with that problem. If you have a small orchard like Paul Gautschi (sp?) in the Back to Eden movie, then mulching with wood chips or other organic material will work well. I totally agree with others posts about the benefits of organics and the drawbacks to plastic.
The black plastic will definitely heat up the soil. If you can only find the thicker plastic in black, I'd suggest some sort of whitewashing (maybe a lime mixture?) to reflect the light up to the plants. I have had decent luck using landscape fabric on top of the soil for annual vegetable production. I burn holes in it for the plants and pull it up at the end of each season. I am on my fourth year of reusing the fabric and it has drastically reduced weeds and help plants grow in my relatively cooler climate. The weave of the fabric allows rain water and air to penetrate and the cover helps keep moisture from evaporating from the soil. Any time I have pulled back the fabric, the soil beneath is teaming with life. I do not recommend using the fabric underneath another mulch, but have it on top of the soil. As the plant canopy grows out, it shades the fabric and I think eventually the extra heat isn't an issue.
Would white plastic mulch help? I know that some plastic used in vegetable production is white on one side and black on the other. If the white side is up, it reflects the light and keeps the soil and roots cool. I don't know if it comes in the thickness as recommended by Stefan.
184.jpg - potato
174.jpg - spinach
175.jpg - brassica of some sort. Maybe radishes, kale, mustards, broccoli...hard to tell just from cotyledons. Send a pick when true leaves form
I'd think willows would do well. You can use willows for:
- fuel
- baskets
- floral arrangements
- natural form of aspirin
- willow water for rooting
- and a deer hedge
Will you be the pollinator? I grow several varieties of parthenocarpic cucumbers in my greenhouse, but they are not OP and the seed isn't cheap. If you end up doing a non-parthenocarpic variety indoors you will need to be the bee.
If you're not going to wear chaps, then might as well wear nothing. As a volunteer firefighter, I get used to the many many layers in my bunker gear offering some sort of protection. And clearly all those layers do nothing:
So, either increase your insurance plan or get some chaps. And after you've upped your insurance, buy an israeli tourniquet so you don't bleed-out in the woods. The femoral artery is only about an inch inside your inner thigh. Plenty of snuff videos on line showing people bleeding out in just a couple minutes from femoral injuries.
I don't think it is the seeds. They seeds probably got you as far as they are now. The little lettuce looks like it has disease, but the roots look decent though not very big. I've had stunted plants when the soil has been too damp and cool. Essentially the biology just isn't active enough to make the various nutrients available. The fact that you have fungus growing makes me think that the soil is too moist too consistently. It is hard to control that in the spring!
Lettuce and spinach you can reseed. I can't explain why the cucurbits are doing better. Maybe as larger seeds, they were planted a bit deeper and their initial roots found nutrients.
I'm sorry I can't be more help. I'd suggest reseeding the lettuce. You could put in something that germinates quickly like a brassica (e.g. radish, brocolli) and see if they continue having problems.
Gosh, that glass looks awfully nice. I'd think power-washing them would go a long way. Also, maybe try using TSP or some environmentally appropriate alternative. Vinegar and baking soda?
Mike McPherson wrote:I really appreciate all the help. I feel like a dolt not calling on the community sooner. Along this line of nutrient deficiency. We have have very hard water that is also treated with chloramine. I had been adding about 2 teaspoons of ascorbic acid which is buffered with calcium with the intent of complexing the chloramine. Am I unintentionally binding up the magnesium? If I recall from Dr Inghams soil food Web course, fungi are essential in the mobilization of non soluable calcium so if no fungi there is calcium binding up all the magnesium... If there are resources people can point me to for more information about soil chemistry that would be fantastic.
A. You're not a dolt. Welcome to gardening. If there weren't challenges like this and people like permies to help out, where would the fun be?
B. Don't overthink nutrient issues at the seedling stage. I think a good rule of thumb is to pot up after 30 days, otherwise provide a gentle and diverse feed such as fish emulsion 1X per week.
C. After you feed or try a corrective measure, look at the new growth. Tomatoes put on growth quickly once roots are going. You'll learn more by looking at the new growth than worrying about the cruddy looking older stuff.
I'm going to stick with my nutrient deficiency or ratio idea. I'm just stubborn. Given that the discoloration looks to be on the old growth and the yellow leaves with green veins, I'm still think magnesium issue. Perhaps having them outside exposed the soil to cooler temperatures and the leaves to brighter sunlight. Both of those can effect magnesium uptake. Here's a cool graphic:
I'm not an expert on tomato diseases, but to me it looks a bit more like maybe a nutrient issue. Maybe magnesium? Others may have to chime in. How long have they been in your pots? Is it a compost based potting soil? Are you feeding them with anything like fish emulsion? Or any other fertilizers? Sometimes it isn't really a deficiency, but just a balance of nutrients.
Cameron,
Glad to hear you've found some success. One thing I wanted to note is that you shouldn't discount the inputs you added in the first few years. All that organic matter and chicken manure you added may have taken a season or two to mineralize and biologically become available to plants. You probably helped create a lot of the building blocks for a good garden by encouraging the bacteria, fungus, nematodes, etc.
I'd love to see some pictures both of your past season and current success!
To answer your question about moving the drip tape, I'd say to avoid it. Drip tape isn't particularly rugged and 300' strip will be a hassle. Of course, it will depend on how many rows your are irrigating and how regularly. In the end, if you do decide you want to move it a lot, I would highly recommend building yourself some sort of drip tape rolling/winding tool. It will make the whole process much quicker. Here are some good pictures of a winder:
Roasted potatoes with rosemary, olive oil, and salt. Amazing.
Rosemary on focaccia with sea salt and olive oil.
Rosemary blossoms taste like butter and rosemary. I'd think someone could make a sort of savory jelly using the blossoms similar to sage blossom jelly. I haven't tried it with rosemary, but I bet it would make a great infused simple syrup.
I'm going to suggest something a little different. Sheet mulching is OK, but biology is a slow process, especially with the compaction I see from your pool and little feet. I'd suggest buying a broadfork and fork some growing areas. No need to fork paths. It will help break up the compaction, won't destroy whatever soil structure you have, and loosen soil for planting. I know that many people look at "tillage" as being the end of the world; however, in reality a primary tillage will make your garden be so much better the first season or two.
Best of luck. And the best time to start your garden is today!
How about plastic or landscape fabric on the surface? You could put it down for a season or so. Most grasses won't survive past a season. I have terrible quack grass in the spring and fall, and crab grass in the summer. Both seem to love any sort of organic mulch. I don't think you could get animals on it enough to knock it down. Landscape fabric has worked for me. I only wish I used it for the first year or two as my blueberries were getting established. The fabric will let rain through, warm the roots, and inhibit weed growth. If you want to plant in to it, I find it easiest to burn a hole with a plumbers propane torch. You can cut it to put it around an established tree, just make sure you use the torch to burn the edge to keep the weave from fraying.
I know it is plastic and bad. But you will spend more time, money, and fuel screwing around with grasses. Also, the fabric can be reused for other plantings. I may be a bit optimistic, but I hope to get 10 years out of my fabric pieces.
Best of luck and I look forward to the picture. Knowing your grass enemy is a great start!
From what I've learned about the Yeoman's plow in particular, it requires less horsepower than a typical subsoiler. So, in theory you could pull more shanks and thus have fewer passes over the soil to cause compaction.
The only two reasons I can think of making repeated sub-soiling are:
- as R Scott said, because the farmer caused compaction
- you may want to increase your depth of sub-soiling over time
I'm on heavy soil with thick clay just below soil. I could see something happening where over time the fine clay settles in to any area sub-soiled, so it's possible it might need a fresh pass. I don't really know for sure.
Dave Burton wrote:
Is it really just that simple? Would the subsoil plows be analogous to slicing cake with a knife? The cake is still there, just split into sections with a little breathing room inside.
Pretty much; however, different sub-soilers provide different action at the point. The replacement tip on the Yeoman's plow I know is designed to cut at an angle such that the soil is fractured horizontally away from the tip. So the whole soil above is sort of lifted and dropped slightly (as far as I have seen) yet doesn't turn the soil of destroy the biology.
And as John pointed out above, the idea isn't to subsoil on a regular basis. Instead, you find where your top soil ends or where you have compaction and break at that depth. Maybe next time you go a little deeper. I've subsoiled anywhere from as shallow as I could get it to as deep as I could go. I hope this helps.
Sub-soil tillage is not the same as tilling in soil or plowing. People in the permies world should be familiar with the concept of sub-soil tillage because of Yeoman's keyline plowing. The Yeoman's plow is essentially a cross between a chisel plow and a sub-soiler. In sub-soil tilling, you are trying to open up compacted areas below the top soil ("sub") level. By having a narrow shank there is very little disruption to the biology at the soil level.
Just running a piece of steel through the sub-soil level isn't going to help create soil on its own. That will open up areas for roots to extend, but one needs to also comine it with grazing or mowing. Grasses tend to grow roots when the tops are cut. That is how so much carbon is getting added to the soil and new soil is created.
Isn't wheatgrass just the cotyledons of wheat? I don't know if there are particular varieties that work well for wheatgrass. You can grow wheat fairly easily and then harvest the seed. Here's a good article on growing wheat: Is There a Place for Wheat in Your Garden?. What seed can be milled to flour, used for wheatgrass, or replanted for next year.
$10 for 10 potatoes is pretty expensive. You can also ask the garden supply place if you can just buy a 50# bag for a discount. Another benefit of buying seed potato is you can get varieties that you just can't find in the store. I love growing potatoes and I hope you enjoy your season! Best of luck!
I'd like to step back a bit...why 450 potatoes? Is it based on number of feet you want to plant? Are you aware that you can cut potatoes to about the size of an egg? Assuming your planting about one foot apart and at about 2 oz per potato seed/piece, that is about 56 pounds of potato. I think I can buy a 50# bag of conventional seed potato for about $23 and around $55 for oraganic from potato suppliers.
Personally, I'd avoid store potatoes. Not only might they be sprayed to prevent sprouting, also you have no level of assurance that they're free of disease. Certified seed potato is really the best way to go.
Brandon,
I think the marigolds and summer savory are a bit late to seed; however, maybe you can buy plants at a nursery. I think you can just hand pick a small garden. Or knock them off the plant in to a bucket of soapy water.
With any luck, the plants will also outgrow whatever is damaging the plant. Look at the growing point of the plant and watch for new growth. I'm sorry I can't be more help on this, but I'd like to hear how it goes.
Maybe bean leaf beetle? They tend to make little holes like the first picture. I wonder if the second picture is where they nibbled on it when the leaf was much smaller and more tender.
Why do you need to wait to use the horse manure? Just compost it now. Heck, it has already aged quite a bit. I'd just mix it with whatever you want to compost, get the pile hot (> 131 degrees) for 3-5 days and then turn it and do again. Get the whole pile hot for a few days and pathogens will be gone. Or if you don't want to turn the pile, make some sort of forced air system to aerate the bacteria: http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-a-forced-air-composting-system/.
If you're looking for more bulk, I'd try arborists. They may have loads and loads of wood chips you could add.
I'm not exactly sure what the limitations to your climate are, but I've had success growing popcorn here. It is a pretty long seasoned crop, so I start it in trays in my greenhouse because the soil is just cold for germination. The other trick is that it usually needs to dry. I just pick the ears and put the out in a dry area (I use a hay-loft.)
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