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| Message | Posted on | Last post by |
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| [+] masanobu fukuoka » A List of Dynamic Accumulators (Go to) | john grierson | |
| [+] soil » Making potting soil from wood chips (Go to) | Brad Mayeux | |
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my take is that it would need some perlite or sand as an addition.
the particle size would be better than rock-dust. in fact, i would use sugar-sand (large particles) it would take a little time for microbes to start to pull nutrients, but not long. ive been using a lot of sand lately in my mix and am pretty happy with it and yeah, wood-chips that are not properly composted can lead to a N deficiency adding N can help, but better to have them composted well. also, my experience with coffee-grounds is that they need to be turned, sifted and dried if not, they can get gooey and anaerobic. adding sand, or something to keep a bit of air pockets in the media helps a lot. mix well... |
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| [+] soil » Could I make absolutely FREE quality potting mix from what's around? (Go to) | Brad Mayeux | |
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i like using %20 local soil.
most of it i use has had lots of organic material in it over a period of a few years and the underlying soil is fine sand with a little silt+clay. sugar sand (large particle sand) like most beach sand, is excellent IMO, its a great size for roots. i would make sure its washed if it came from a salt-water beach. composted leaf mulch is excellent, feeds the plants, and adds lots of microorganisms... i get 100lb of coffee grounds from starbucks every couple of weeks. (sometimes they will save it for you, if you ask nice), or just stop by often. used-coffee-grounds (UCG) usually need to be dried, if not fully composted (best) %20 max on the UCG (%10 to %15 is better IMO) lava rock on the bottom of containers helps drainage... the roots will actually hold on to the rocks getting into the pores. i use lava rock and leaf mulch on the top also to prevent water loss. |
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| [+] mulch » Planting in woodchips—what do you do for fertility? (Go to) | Eric Hanson | |
sorry, here , we refer to "sugar sand" as just a rough sand (large particles - like most beach sand) because most of the sand we get is river sand, which is small particles, closer to clay. the key is to mix in something, anything, to let air in. you could run hay through a chipper, or sticks and stems, or even use finely ground wood chips. the BEST compost i ever made was 1 bag of grass clippings, 1 bag of coffee grounds, 2 bags of wood-shavings. i got the shavings from a cabinet maker. the bags were 5ft tall 3ft wide, and finely shaved wood. the grass, coffee, urine, fish all turned into a beautiful compost. |
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| [+] mulch » Planting in woodchips—what do you do for fertility? (Go to) | Eric Hanson | |
ive tried to work with several bags of grass clippings at once before. i used a hard-rake to try and turn them not fun. almost impossible, and lots of work. if not turned often and thin, they can go anaerobic... bad microbes rain will filter down into your plants or whatever you put them on. best to lay them out thin, a couple inches at most. (depending on heat and moisture) and/or mix them with ANYTHING else. the difference in size will let air in. sand, wood-chips, gravel, hay etc... i get 70 to 100lb of coffee grounds at a time i throw 2 bags of slightly brown grass with a bag (80lb or so) of coffee mix well, add 20lb of sugar sand and wet with a mix of %20 urine and a little fish. turn daily for 2 weeks. use as top-dress compost. |
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| [+] plants » Root Pruning containers, experience (and ranking) (Go to) | S. Marshall | |
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i buy the cheap 3 and 7 gal containers 75cents i think for 7gal
i use a knife to make several slits through the sides. has been working well except they seem to need water a bit more often its summer now, and i am in New Orleans (90s temps) black containers can bake soil.... i often paint them white, and even double them up. or place several next to each other and mulch on top. |
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| [+] gardening for beginners » Should I buy Red Wigglers to populate my raised bed garden? (Go to) | Randy Sorensen | |
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i am in New Orleans (Zone 9) but they stay alive here. i have a few raised beds, and between the plants i keep cardboard on top and often wood-chips or dry-grass on top of the cardboard. under it, i often add food scraps, coffee grounds, dry grass etc... those worms will eat decomposing leaves and plant material also. but my food scraps (mostly fruit peels and veggies) + coffee grounds is a lot of food for them. i see them fairly often, and they are definitely red-wrigs. i even found one 4ft in the air, inside a decomposing sunflower stalk. it was 20ft from the beds. they are all over my yard now. i do a LOT of chop+drop though. but the cardboard is perfect to keep the moisture in and sun out. i just have to add another layer 2-3 times per year.
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| [+] fruit trees » Pawpaw trees question on shading (Asimina triloba, not papaya) (Go to) | Cheryl Garbe | |
thanks i am in New Orleans, so water isnt an issue. it rains a lot, and the water table is high. |
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| [+] fruit trees » Pawpaw trees question on shading (Asimina triloba, not papaya) (Go to) | Cheryl Garbe | |
good question. i look to nature, and figure after 3-5 years they will grow enough to start to peek above the canopy of other trees in the area. and i am guessing getting a little more and more sun the higher it gets. i have an area in my yard that gets 2-3 hrs of direct sun, and the rest of the day, shaded by the garage. i also have bamboo growing, so in summer it will be shaded a little more. the garage is about 8ft. i am hoping once the plants get that tall they will be OK. Redhawk ? and also hoping the will get that tall after 5 yrs. they are only about 3ft tall now (just got them in) https://www.justfruitsandexotics.com/JFE/product-category/fruit-trees/pawpaw/ 
also got a raisin tree and a CHE. 
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| [+] fruit trees » Pawpaw trees question on shading (Asimina triloba, not papaya) (Go to) | Cheryl Garbe | |
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i have some being delivered today actually.
i did a good bit of reading, and after 3-4 yrs old they should be able to handle full sun especially in your zone. though, im not sure i would plant them in a very dry area with full sun, unless you have irrigation. smaller plants should not get full sun and maybe only a couple of hours of direct sun per day over a couple of summers it can be increased to full sun (6hrs +) not sure how you would do that in an open field except maybe keep them in large pots for a year or 2. also... Pawpaw usually put out a VERY deep taproot. if you have to keep it in a container, it should be very deep. or, you can look into pruning the end of the tap-root.. im no expert on that, but it should stop it (the tap) from growing , and it normally doesnt hurt the plant, but, Pawpaw may be different, im not sure. i would ask a Pawpaw pro http://www.petersonpawpaws.com/CulturalAdvice.php http://www.pawpaw.kysu.edu/pawpaw/ppg.htm |
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| [+] toilet alternatives » coffee grounds (Go to) | Ken Zemach | |
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i got to know the people at Starbucks
for the last 3 or 4 years ive been getting grounds they save the large bags for me. i am guessing they are about 100lb each, and i usually go weekly. its hard to process that much as compost so, i throw it around, or mix it with sawdust and grass clippings as mulch. or, i mix it with sand and create a mound and wait 6 months to plant on it. if they are dry, they soak up minerals... i will use fish emulsion with iron and magnesium on the mound once or twice they will hold those nutrients, and the worms love em too. |
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| [+] trees » seeking a tree for poor conditions (Go to) | steve bossie | |
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i love Jujube
one not mentioned is Carob ? i think it might be a nitrogen fixer also ? most legumes are, but, not all. lots of other legumes too acacia... some have edible pods and leaves all are drought tolerant. |
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| [+] composting » could it be hydrophobic soil ? (Go to) | Brad Mayeux | |
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do you use organic / environment friendly soap ? vegetable oils do act as a surfactant. to me, the fastest way to improve sandy soil is a mix of fish and mollasses. added to compost tea. you want the correct microbes added to the soil crom the compost but, also something fo them to chew on. leaves, grass, etc... as mulch. they break down faster than wood chips make sure to get fish from an unheated source tht way the oils are still active. fish heads in a blender works just fine. wood chips are excellent, but a longer term solution. cover crops... radish, clover or other nitrogen fixers, rye grass (deep roots) tillage radish can have very deep roots i have 7 small pine trees to poke holes in the clay layer too. they also have mycorrhizal associations. i will chop them down when they get about 8ft tall. (and are in the way) the roots will rot and bring in erven more fungi. |
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| [+] composting » huge composting pit - now 1+ yrs old (also coffee ground composting) (Go to) | Brad Mayeux | |
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So a little over a year ago (best i remember) i had a pond in my yard and the plastic liner had broken. (its about 12ft by 8ft wide 4 or 5ft deep.) It was a mosquito nursery, and was a big problem. I finally cleaned it out to a bare dirt floor. a buddy of mine makes and sells organic fruit juices and he has 5 gallon buckets of mango, banana, citrus , beet, and other peels. i dumped about 40 of the 5gal buckets in the hole. i added 2 large bags of sawdust about 400lb of coffee groundes 5 or 6 bags of grass clippings various leaves, yard waste etc... unfortunately, i have a bad back, and mixing it was a problem. and.... mistake #1 was putting the peels (very wet, lots of rotting juices) in first. i did add a few small cardboard boxes at bottom, but, sawdust would have been better i just didnt have any at the time. i got it a week later. then i added grounds, grass, leaves, more grounds, cardboard, grounds, sawdust etc... till it was full. i put a couple of long 2x6 planks down to walk on it. and now i finally took them up and tested my weight. in most areas, it is fairly solid. in 1 spot i sunk about a foot down. i dug up a shovel full, and i was surprised to find dirt... ?#@!?> it was a very dark, very rich "mud" (it did rain recently, cool temps, and no sun to dry thing out) it is still about 4 to 6 inches low, so , i am still adding leaves, grounds etc... to it. it had sunk a little, but , not much. There are drier spots where the top couple of inches is excellent compost. but, that very well could be coffee grounds and grass clippings added 6 months ago. it seems the worms are churning things up also... which must be how i got soil in the mix. i get 100lb of coffee grounds every week or so from starbucks. i have used them in experiments of sorts. also, i can get 7ft tall bags of sawdust from a cabinet maker. this is like having finely ground wood chips. i once made a pile of semi-dried grounds, dry oak leaves and semi-dry grass clippings the oak leaves were small, and the grass clippings had been run-over twice. this produced the best compost i had ever seen, i could have sifted it though a pasta colander. i added a little sand and used it as seed-starting mix (great stuff) another one was sawdust, grass clippings and grounds. it made excellent worm food. and i use it as a mulch... it has to be used as a thin layer and mixed well as the grounds can form an impenetrable barrier to water. mixed well, with less % of grounds, can fix the issue also. i used this mix also to put UNDER cardboard to keep weeds down around fruit trees. the worms came up and went to town. the cardboard kept it moist and protected. i do wish i would have added some coarse sand, as it gets thick and sticky without much air. Brad |
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| [+] seeds and breeding » Breeding Localized Varieties of Sweet Potatoes (Go to) | Mark Reed | |
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so i live just outside New Orleans
i have a purple someone gave me, that i have let run and used as a ground cover also good for adding N to the soil and organic matter, since i let them rot in place not to mention they grow REALLY fast, and the leaves are great chop+drop too. i havent tried to hard to use them, since my preference is for a golden to orange flesh type. i like creamy testure, but also want to make french fries (i had some a while back, and they were SOOO good !!!) anyway, i would love to trade for some seed or, even for slips of a good variety that would work well in this area. moisture isnt a problem, as New Orleans is a very high rainfall city AND i am in the garden a lot, and tend to water anything that looks a little dry Obviously its a long season here. but, we do get light frost on occasion. Sometimes we go 2 or 3 years with no frost at all sometimes we get 2 or 3 a year but , rarely below 28F ish. (once a decade it may hit 24-25ish) i have POTATO MINT (Plectranthus esculentus) tubers i can trade lots of other stuff as well, mostly subtropical though. goji plants or ?? cheers Brad |
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| [+] soil » sea water and epsom salt (Go to) | s. lowe | |
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If the biology in the soil is right, you shouldnt have a problem with the plants getting minerals. bacteria and fungi break down rock, sand etc..., and organic matter is releasing minerals all the time also. im not opposed to adding things like kelp, which will break down and release lots of minerals fast but the biology certainly should not be ignored either. its the MOST important thing when it comes to the plant absorbing nutrients it needs. my practice is adding coffee grounds, grass clippings and leaves on top the soil with some wood chips on top of that this provides a great environment for worms. worms will work 24x7 to aerate the soil leaving holes packed with nutrients roots can use. best damn workers i got. if i really need a fast infusion (in poor soil) i add fish emulsion with a little molasses. or, a compost tea or worm tea with fish and molasses added. over time, adding leaves, grass clippings, compost etc... will create the right environment. no one fertilizes the forest, or adds seawater to it, and most trees do just fine. You should watch a few videos by Dr. Elaine Ingham Heres one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzthQyMaQaQ |
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| [+] soil » sea water and epsom salt (Go to) | s. lowe | |
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Most soils are not high in magnesium, and Epsom will wash through fairly quickly...
BUT... some soils are high in Mg, and low in calcium if so, Epsom will hurt you more than help. especially, if you use too much. it also has sulfer. if your soil is too acid, it can make it a little worse. that said, i have used it several time and it has greened up leaves on some plants especially in containers. iron also helped. soil test is best though. |
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| [+] bread » Using Feed Grain for Feeding Humans (Go to) | Thomas Braun | |
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I would never do it.
no telling the pesticides and herbicides used... those laws are radically different for human and for feed. not to mention GMO, higher use of roundup etc... if you do it, let us know in a few months if you survived. |
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| [+] forest garden » Using trees as arbor for grapes (Go to) | Faye Streiff | |
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by the way, this is a Muntingia Calabura (strawberry tree) that had died at 2 yrs old it got over 12ft, and i had cut it back like 5 times last summer. in January we got hit with 27F temps. lowest ive seen in 10yrs. it killed the plant (it started coming back in spring, but 20 days of rain finished the job) anyway, i let a passionflower , a grape tomato, and a watermelon climb it. (i planted 3 species to see which one i really wanted, and would kill one or 2 later on) the rain killed the watermelon (with a softball size fruit hanging on 5ft in the air) and the heat killed the tomato. now ive got a passionflower with lots of room to climb. glad i planted 3 species.  |
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| [+] forest garden » Using trees as arbor for grapes (Go to) | Faye Streiff | |
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i had planted 5 muscadines
2 by themselves, and another 3 together (within 5 ft of each other) in the 2 by themselves, i had let 1 grow up a new seedling mulberry that had volunteered itself. (about 6ft tall and growing) i planted a black locust next to it for it to climb next year. the other by itself is growing up a maple that also volunteered itself, about 8ft tall. in both cases i added 2 bamboo poles i had about 8 to 10ft tall and strung some heavy twine between them in 3 spots in a triangle fashion one twine at 4ft, another at 6ft another at 8ft. this gives the vine 3 levels, and the triangle shape, makes good use of sunlight. the other spot with 3 vines 5ft apart i had grown a couple of sunflowers around 7ft a 10ft mulberry, and a goldenrod (weed) i let grow to 8ft+ its kind of a mess, there was almost no planning, and the 2 times i tried to force a vine up a string to a sunflower, it didnt listen. they also grew so fast, the new growth just took over, and i couldnt tell what was something i wanted to keep, or not. the 3 vines are intertwined, at least to some extent. anyway, it was very easy... LOL not a lot of time spent in prep, design, or maintenance. (putting a few sunflower seeds in the ground, and running some twine = 20 mins all season) oh, i also hammered in a few large staples to my fence and ran some twine through that too. theres lots of healthy muscadine on those vines right now waiting to ripen.  3 vines grown together. sunflower plants hidden or rotted.  |
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| [+] berries » Nutritional value of mulberry fruits ? (Go to) | J Davis | |
yeah, probably the biggest benefit from mulberry are the antioxidants , im guessing mostly from anthocyanins. Antioxidant Activity of Mulberry Fruit Extracts https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3292034/ The Effects of Supplementary Mulberry Leaf (Morus alba) Extracts on the Trace Element Status (Fe, Zn and Cu) in Relation to Diabetes Management and Antioxidant Indices in Diabetic Rats https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5055558/ all of them https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/?term=mulberry |
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| [+] plants » Five Dollar Sale (Go to) | Gail Gardner | |
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Do you know if the Bearberry or serviceberry will fruit in zone 9 ?
also, what time of year does the Russian Mulberry fruit ? i have 3 types of Mulberry, but., they all fruit in spring (now) |
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| [+] berries » Goji berry (Go to) | May Lotito | |
i dont think its N they have a low requirement, often growing in sand. try magnesium (epsom salts + iron) the same thing happened to a few of mine when i transplanted them into 3yrds of soil i had bought that was high in organic material ( it was basically compost, but a lot was woody and not broken down all the way) it may have been robing nitrogen ? anyway, it corrected after a couple of months and some epsom + iron. i dont think its the iron. i had a guava with the same color leaves (purplish) i read they do that when they have trouble getting potassium when it gets cold, the PH changes, and my guavas leaves turn purple. Goji like alkaline soils maybe its PH ? if you have a lot of organic material in the soil Now i am thinking probably PH... |
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| [+] soil » What we need to know about Soil (Go to) | Nick Ritar | |
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after watching a lot of soil science videos
i have ascertained that bringing together the minerals with the microbes is a big key to soil health. (obviously, PH, structure, moisture are all very important) but microbes transform minerals into a usable form. iv e noticed this when i had some worm castings VERY high in microbal life. and i added diatomaceous earth to it. DE is like a powder. the particles are very small small enough to be directly transformed by the microbes. adding these 2 together created a super mineral product that made my plants take off. perhaps they were hungry for silica ? i dont know, but, i do know i had results and thats the best answer i could come up with. i also started adding red compost worms to my guilds. i have several inches of compost, yard waste, leaves, coffee grounds under my fruit trees. i was giving them worm castings, and decided i had so many worms i would just set some free
so, for a year, i added castings only removing %40 to %50 of the worms back to the bin sometimes i got lazy, and didnt remove any, they all went under the fruit trees. Now i have stable productive colonies of red compost worms we had 1 night below freezing this winter (28F), but it didnt seem to bother them a bit. i still have loads of them all over my yard. they work 24x7 for me, and have yet to charge me once
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| [+] trees » Growing Jujubes from seed (and general Jujube feedback) (Go to) | May Lotito | |
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I got a couple of rooted cuttings in a trade
and now i LOVE this fruit. So much, i bought several more plants. Now i have 2 Sherwoods, a Coco, a Li, and 2 of the original plants which i never got a name, but they taste great. and i am running out of room, or , would get more. Ive planted several from seed. and as long as the seed husk is removed, and the seed nicked, they will germinate, however the percentage might be low. You can also find some of its cousins at Top-tropicals and Tradewinds Buffulo thorn, Indian Jujube, and Z Nummilaria (not sure if that is spelled right). Normally, i have found that if you buy them on ebay or from someone not knowledgeable about Jujube the seed husk will be empty. If the parent tree was not cross pollinated often the husk contains no seed or, the seed is not viable. I didnt find this to be the case with Indian Jujube as i have a couple that have germinated for me although the percent was a bit low. I did have a large plant die on me. It was my first tree. It got about 12ft tall, and full of fruit absolutely delicious ! I think it was planted in a low spot, and after a series of rains it just gave up. The roots did not look like root-rot, but, im no expert. its possible it was that i had planted it an inch or so too deep. it wasnt much, but i had mulched it very heavily, and the mulch was sitting against the trunk,. coupled with non-stop rain for days didnt help. Make sure they have good drainage. and if you much them, keep the mulch a couple of inches away from the base of the tree. |
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| [+] forest garden » Who is growing a food forest? (Go to) | Nancy Reading | |
Never heard them clled berries, just fruit. honestly, i dont know if they fall, or rot on the tree. ? that tree in the pic is many years old. they grow pretty slow and fruit slower. the fruit is very much in demand, and very tasty i can ever see me letting even 1 Jabo fruit go to waste. the sell for a good price online too. I would think mulberry would be great for the chicks. supposedly it makes the eggs better, and is very very healthy for them as it is for us also. pretty sure even the leaves are good for chicks ive had them in salads. very young ones arent bad. not the best green, but adding 3 or 4 leaves to a salad or tea is supposedly very healthy. they grow so fast, i often use them as mulch, especially leaves in the fall. -----------
If you do what you like, you never have to work. yeah, i am in the yard all day (or maybe 1/2 the day) as well. i am semi-retired, but i also plant on making a few bucks down the road on selling seedlings, seeds, or ? who knows. |
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| [+] forest garden » Who is growing a food forest? (Go to) | Nancy Reading | |
thats pretty hardcore. i collect urine also most of the time. i just knocked down a banana. it had produced fruit and pups thats a lot of biomass. My Muntingia Calabura died back to the trunk in the cold more biomass... i am in a suburban lot, so sunlight is a premium i have several rental properties i plan on putting extra plants ( i have like 10 guava 2ft tall in pots) - larger trees +nuts like Tamarind. I have a few Eleaegnus and Honey locust for nitrogen. i plant beans here and there too. i am in touch with a guy in Brazil that gets me seeds of rare species most in the Myratecea family, similar to Jaboticaba. Eugenia brasiliensis (and several others) Hexachlamys etc... most have some cold tolerance since Southern Brazil gets a light frost here and there. it may be 3-5 yrs before i get fruit, even 8 yrs for some species But thats OK for me. im 54 but plan on eating fruit till i am at least 75
I am hoping to find the right species and push the city to plant them in parks and even roadsides. Jaboticaba would be great, but its a slow grower might work in certain situations. How cool would that be ? i have 4 types of Jaboticaba. the larger one has been producing fruit over a year in 2-3 years i should be getting a hundred + But i found even very small plants can be valuable. i have several ground cherries and cape-gooseberry visitors go nuts over them they are about 1 ft tall. i just spent the morning transplanting 25 seedlings all over the property. and another 25 cherry tomato that re-seeds itself easily. I wish i had more room. Maybe one day i will make use of the roof
groundcherry and tomato would probably work well. Jaboticaba - excellent taste !!! i cant wait till my 4 are this large. |
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| [+] forest garden » Who is growing a food forest? (Go to) | Nancy Reading | |
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i dont let myself get hung up on labels.
i am growing dozens of fruit trees, dozens of herbs, roots crops and flowering plants. i am still pretty much in the early phases, i only started on it 3 years ago and the first year was a 1/2 hearted attempt. I just gfot 3 yards of soil in, and ordered a few 3 gallon plants. at some point i want to be able to not see any grass. i know i can sheet mulch it all now, but its a lot of work and i have no help. i have salvaged 2x4 and other wood and materials as walkways and borders i have several groundcovers growing, and chop + drop a lot of my mulch i even got a used wood-chipper (i need to fix) and a dead tree ready to go. I am also experimenting with border/zone pushing. i am in New Orleans (zone 9) and growing mango, papaya, guava etc... THere are a lot of people in California and Fla that push zones, and grow sub-tropicals but none in New Orleans So i know i will have losses. We just had the coldest day of the last 10 years a few weeks ago and i lost a few mango, black sapote, neem, eggfruit and others. but i am not detterred. several plants came through. Even a Baobob in a container. i have LOTS of mustard, gynura and other small plants that grow fast and i also often use as mulch. i dont ever seeing it as totally hands off even in 20 years when the mulberry, babob, longan, Inga, white sapote and other trees are 50ft tall or more, and shade the whole system i would still want to prune them, and prune shade-tollerant plants under them. Call it a food forest, permaculture, or just a backyard with a lot of plants i dont really care. it is what it is...   |
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| [+] plants » What is this mystery plant? - mustard (Go to) | Brad Mayeux | |
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i found a wild mustard growing in an undsituebd area
i took some home and grew them. tasted like mustard leaves, and grew taller and faster than normal mustard. mustard leaves are known to keep nematodes at bay and be good for the soil. i love growing them in an area i know i will use later to condition the soil. the roots form a mass that keeps soil in place better than grass and when they rot, they provide excellent nutrition and biomass. worms appear to like them also. |
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| [+] plants » elaeagnus? (Go to) | Brad Mayeux | |
the only references i found for Girs or Rastero, were not in english. i doubt they are a true species, or even synonym. A garden hybrid, E. macrophylla x E. pungens or E. x. reflexa. http://www.pfaf.org/user/plant.aspx?LatinName=Elaeagnus+x+ebbingei so, it seems since it is a hybrid, i guess its possible that one is E. macrophylla with Pugens and the other is E. macrophylla and E. Reflexa There is more info here (about 1/2 way down) on ebbingei i have one, but its still too small to fruit i actually have goumi, autumn olive, basterd oleander/So-Shan (E. Latifolia i think) the latter supposedly has much larger fruit. i have 1 seedling clinging to life .... http://www.pfaf.org/user/cmspage.aspx?pageid=61 |
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| [+] soil » Rock Dust (Go to) | Shareen Archibald | |
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i like diatomaceous earth.
its VERY fine. a powder really. thats means its more available to micro-organsims. and its mostly silica but also has lots of micro-nutes. worms seem to love the stuff add it to compost and the organisms break it down first and release the nutes and silica. my papaya and other herbaceous plants and seedlings have shown huge growth spurts with it. ive used glacial rock dust, and 2 or 3 others but they didnt have the same effect the glacial was fairly fine, but not as fine as the DE. ive never tried Azomite. is it as fine as DE ? or as Glacial RD ? |
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| [+] soil » tillage radish (Go to) | eric koperek | |
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i love using radish.
the tuber is only part of the benefit. the "tap root" actually extends down several feet below the main tuber. there is a chart somewhere on different plants ability to punch through hard clay and the tillage radish was up at the top. the small root hairs that go several feet deep can be used for air, water and worms once it rots away the worms slime coats the hole and becomes a pre-fertilized channel for the next plants roots. i am a backyard gardener (but have lots of sub-tropical and rare fruit trees) and i always plant radish and wild mustard (for the leaves) before planting a tree they just seem to condition the soil. |
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| [+] permaculture » Can anyone comment on regular "animal" permaculture" versus "veganic" permaculture ?? (Go to) | John Suavecito | |
really ? i ate papaya and potato soup today potato soup had several perennial greens in it, onion, bell peppers. (forgot to grow parsley this year) oatmeal and a banana (neither i grew) i just started with banana fruit can be filling, and after planted, those trees are little work malabar spinach is almost a weed here. nut trees are the best, but my property is too small. often, people think they are craving protein, but really want fatty acids nuts, artichoke (another weed), avocado are all high in good fats much better than meat.
I guess i didnt understand what you meant and maybe still do not... i do not "raise" animals but, certianly they come on my property as do insects.... by the droves i might add... i counted 12 butterflies in my yard earlier. (monarchs and Gulf Frits) for you, i guess chickens work for me, they are messy, make noise, and eat all my veggies, unless i restrict them somehow. worms actually do work on my property i raise a few, and have multiplied so many they are in my veggie beds, under my fruit trees etc... i am sure i have 10s of thousands by now. i dont see them as "aware", they are not really social and i doubt they feel pain to any extent we can relate to. i like insects i want lots on my property, and ive got them ! i jsut dont eat them gotta go interesting topic |
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| [+] permaculture » Can anyone comment on regular "animal" permaculture" versus "veganic" permaculture ?? (Go to) | John Suavecito | |
actually, depending on the use of the word "import", yes, maybe... i buy most at a farmers market, and also trade with friends and neighbors when i have 200 satsuma, i give most away, and later people give me stuff. but then i have to ask, what does imported food, have to do with being vegan ? do most meat eaters rely on "imported" foods in this context? |
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| [+] permaculture » Can anyone comment on regular "animal" permaculture" versus "veganic" permaculture ?? (Go to) | John Suavecito | |
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| [+] permaculture » Can anyone comment on regular "animal" permaculture" versus "veganic" permaculture ?? (Go to) | John Suavecito | |
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You can meet me... hello. Vegan 26+ yrs. the harder things are vitamin B12, but this is still a misconception. i took pills for years, but B12 is present in soil bacteria, and unfiltered water which we got in abundance before industrialization and sterilization of our food. i "graze" a lot outside, eating fruit from the trees, several leafy greens etc... i no longer take B12, and just had blood work done, and my B12 is well above average. at 53, i am as healthy as anyone i know. as far as protein... i use to be an amateur kick-boxer. I ran 11 miles a day, after 45 mins with weights, and 45 mins shadowboxing and heavy bag. the most protein i got was a handful of nuts ( i like cashew and almonds) elephants, rhino, giraffes are all vegan, they all have tons of muscles and none i know take protein supplements. The Protein Myth Vegan Protein Deficiency and Vegan Pitfalls - Dr. Michael Klaper B12 On A Vegan Diet On the issue of permaculture... i dont hold it against anyone for not being vegan, but, to me, raising animals is against good permaculture practices. it is much less sustainable, you have to grow food to feed the animals, you need clean water for the animals, you need to keep up their health, they need lots of space etc... this is a LOT of un-needed work and resources. i grow about %20 to %30 of my food needs (depending on season) on my 60x120 lot in the suburbs, and i am barely trying at it. i grow things i like not really just to sustain me. I really dont think humans developed eating meat for much of our history (before agriculture) our bodies are just not designed to handle it. real carnivores drool at the sight of road kill, or a fresh corpse. as far as animals being a "part" of permaculture i would say they are. i have squirrels, and birds, and grasshoppers, lizards all in my backyard. i dont use chemicals, i have used fish emulsion in the past but then, my yard was not "natural" either... it had 30 years of growing only grass that was cut every week. see scientific american Human Ancestors Were Nearly All Vegetarians http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/human-ancestors-were-nearly-all-vegetarians/ How humans are not physically created to eat meat http://www.celestialhealing.net/physicalveg3.htm In a global sense, meat is killing us. There are numerous studies showing it is bad for you, ye, even organic farm raised. as is dairy. |
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| [+] permaculture » how to out-compete grass? - New Orleans suburb (Go to) | Mike Turner | |
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Hi all
i am in the New Orleans area, in a suburban setting and am turning my backyard into a food-forest. i am growing a lot of fruit trees, as well as herbs etc... My biggest problem is grass. I have used cardboard and newspaper, which works, but, its a lot of work, and breaks down eventually. i need some suggestions for plants that will outcompete the grass... OR? other suggestions ? i need it for shade areas, and also full sun Here is a quick list of what i am growing... loquat, blackberry, passionflower, basil, starfruit, jujube, banana, guava, papaya, mango, several citrus. - - - |
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