Joseph Lofthouse

I follow the same cooking method for favas as for other beans. Soak overnight (or more) in water. Change the water about every 4-8 hours. Bring to boiling. Cook about as long as others bean.

My Approach to annual weeds

As an annual, galinsoga quadriradiata lives a fragile early life. It pulls or rakes out with almost no effort immediately after germination. Shallow disturbance at the right moment—nothing intense, just a light pass with a rake or hoe a day or two after the first sprout—breaks most of the seedlings. With minimal soil disruption, the deeper seeds tend to stay asleep, and the surface seed bank gradually declines.

Timing feels like the real magic with annual weeds. Many of them germinate in one big flush when warmth, moisture, and day length align. If I wait to plant my vegetables until that first flush appears and I sweep it away, the follow-up flushes seem tiny in comparison. The crops rise with much less competition, and I spend far less time fighting nature. Planting much earlier than the annual weeds germinate can shade them out.

I prefer to avoid the heavy work of solarizing or smothering unless I want to reset a bed entirely. Often, simple shallow passes—done early—shift the whole dynamic. Galinsoga grows fast, yes, but it also surrenders easily when dealt with as tiny plants.

Wishing you more joy and less struggle in the garden.

To separate clay from soil, fill a bucket with the soil and add enough water to cover it well. Stir vigorously until the mixture feels fully suspended. Let it rest for a moment or two so rocks and coarse sand settle to the bottom.

Pour off the cloudy slurry at the top into a second container. Allow this slurry to sit for a day or two. As the fine particles settle, gently pour off the clearer water at the top.

Most of the floating organic matter leaves during this step, leaving a dense layer of clay at the bottom.

The attached soil test shows the separation between sand, silt, and clay for one of my gardens. Silt also offers a wonderful base for making seed balls.

Last week, I thought a lot about this topic in regards to content for my upcoming book. Here's a summary.

My Approach to Taming Weedy Grasses by natural means.

I’ve worked with smooth brome and other rhizomatous grasses for years. They can feel overwhelming, but I’ve learned that the easiest solutions tend to come from shifting the ecology, not attacking the grass itself.

Here are the main strategies that helped me turn dense grass patches into diverse, cooperative plant communities—without bought inputs and without back-breaking labor.

You don’t need to kill the grass. You just need to remove its advantage.

Rhizomatous grasses overpower gardens because they love:

full sun
bacterial-dominant soil
constant disturbance
thin litter
bare edges
early spring warmth

If we gently reverse those conditions, the grasses simply lose dominance and other plants step in.

Add logs on-contour (or just laying calmly on the soil)

This is the simplest game-changer I’ve ever found.

A single log creates:
shade at the soil line
fungal habitat
moisture retention
a small duff-catching terrace
a cool root zone that grasses dislike

A whole row of logs—especially under fruit or perennial plantings—acts as a fungal corridor. Grasses relax; forbs and shrubs move in.
You don’t need a pattern. Just place the wood where it feels stable.

Leaf piles as powerful allies

A thick pile of leaves (6–12 inches) in a grassy patch will:
smother the crowns a bit
keep the soil cool and moist
invite fungi
slow the spring green-up of the grass
make planting easier next year

This works even better near shade or fruit trees. If you’ve got autumn leaves—use them where the grass bugs you most.

Plant big-leaf, early-spring perennials

Grasses make their move early. If you plant species that shade the soil in April and May, the grass loses its first-mover advantage.

My favorites:
rhubarb (spectacular competitor once established)
asparagus (surprisingly grass-tolerant)
mullein
oriental poppies
asters
flax (Linum lewisii)
Anything that throws early shade helps.

Radishes and turnips punch right through turf

In cool seasons, I scatter handfuls of old radish or turnip seed.

They:
drill holes through sod
shade the soil
make planting pockets
shift the soil food web
distract flea beetles from tender crops
They’re cheap, fast, and easy.

If you’re dealing with a really aggressive patch: scalp a strip

Sometimes I scalp a 1–2 foot strip of sod and plant a parasite/companion guild:

rattle (Rhinanthus)—a grass-taming hemiparasite
radish
turnip
flax
asters
crocus
daffodil

This “soft corridor” weakens the grass without killing it, and acts like a crack where diversity enters.

Wood + leaves + shade-creating plants = the simplest long-term solution

Here’s the lazy formula that has transformed my own grass problem spots:

Logs + leaf piles + perennial shade = 90% less weedy grass.

Logs invite fungi.
Leaves keep moisture and cool roots.
Shade disrupts spring vigor.
Everything else follows.

You don’t need perfect plans. Just gentle, continuous gestures.

I carry logs, leaf piles, and plant starts when the mood strikes. Over time, these slow, soft interventions have turned monoculture grass into a lively polyculture.

You can start with one log, one leaf pile, one rhubarb crown. The system will build itself around your small actions.

In my ecosystem, clay shows up all over. In some cases, the local clays reach hundreds of feet deep. Additional clay gets deposited during every summer thunderstorm. Even my garden soil would make suitable seed balls. Even more suitable if I dig down 8" to get below most of the organic matter.

I test for suitability by making a grape sized square from dampened proposed soil. If it drys hard and sticks together when dropped or thrown then I figure it will work great as a seed ball.

I make seed balls with random local clays. I like grape size, cause they shoot easily (and far) with a sling shot.

I aim for about 10-20 seeds per ball of a number of different species. If one thing doesn't like the conditions, perhaps something else will thrive.

When I bred dahlias, I selected for simple open flowers, because they got pollinated better.

The owner of Giving Ground Seeds worked on my farm for a few years. I highly recommend their varieties and methods.

In my area, contour maps can be purchased easily. And Google Earth also provides any elevation details I might want.