David Hartley

If erosion from rain is the concern; it seems that a low growing clovers works rather well.

Milo, amaranth, buckwheat and sunflower?

I second Abe...

Any spot that you put down a "woody" or straw mulch, 2+ times a year, is an excellent candidate for growing Garden Giants and Shaggy Manes... Repasturize the oyster SMS and broadcast over the above area(s).

Use genuine leaf mould as your soiless seed start. For added insurance; use some willow water in the first watering or two. Water starts from the bottom, using a tray...

Though I have yet to try it; I've read that a thin layer of course sand on top of seed starts can/does help. Hope to remember to try it this year.

This is my dream/goal, once I have the good fortune to be an unbridled steward of a piece of land:

1. All kitchen bits with be grubified: bsfl, housefly grubs, etc.

2. Leaf litter will be separately composted for the production of leafmold: nature's soiless seed starter

3. All non-used woody bits will be fungified (there can be multiple stages to this if/when farming mushrooms).

4. Manure is either naturally broadcasted or locally concentrated (chicken roost, camelids, human, etc). Concentrated manures will be handled depending on setup. Regardless; humanure would be composted... On aside; it cracks me up how humans will work knee & elbow deep in all manor of manure but their own, lmao. Between children and being a caregiver, I have no fear of my own species manure and certainly not my very own.

Each one of these creates a concentration of developed soil matrix, as a compost bin would. So yes, there would be some wheelbarrowing. But moving some awesomeness around 2~3 times a year is a workout that is much looked forward to.

As mentioned; backfilling with stone and coarse sand works well. The higher the clay content of the neighboring soil, the more backfill below the bottom of the post will be needed. As depends on amount of rain and typical relative humidity of the region.

Ah, yes! Yarrow would definitely be good to interplant here and there. Not just for medicinal; but for the habitat of beneficial insects.

One possible means by which to aquire the beneficial fungus, is to locate a thriving speciment of the heath family out in the unadulterated wild; such as wild cranberry, blueberry, huckleberry, azalea, rhododendron, etc... dig down a little bit, just inside of the plant's dripline, to see if any of the fungus can be found. It will be creamy-white to khaki in color and growing from the plant roots. It is extemely delicate...

I have yet to look into a source for the powdered material for inoculation. Something I ought to do. Especially when talking of more than just a plant or half dozen to be inoculated.



More information than you'll probably ever want, lol:

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0039524

Yes; it is... I just added "medicinal", for those that did not know it

Also. Be sure to inoculate the blueberry roots with ericoid mycorrhizae. This will be o e of the most beneficial thi gs you can do for any plants in the heath family.

Given your location, I will assume a highbush variety(ies)... That being the case; intersow some medicinal red clover with the subterranean clover. It should handle the acidic soil okay, by all evidence here where I live.