ellie acorn

OAEC up here in occidental did some neat projects with layering cut brush into ravines and drainages to help build water retention into the banks and soil. here is a link to the descirption https://oaec.org/publications/integrated-stormwater-retention-system/
Sounds like you do take on a similar project on your property in the canyons and creeks.
or renting a wood chipper or borrowing one if you have a connection to one. I have also broken up prunings and used them to create berms/hugelkulturs or layered them around fruit trees and shrubs to create berms.

I was wondering if garlic and potatoes would make good companion plants or if that doesn't make much sense. I have a bed of garlic and some potatoes stalks are sprouting out that were left in the ground from last season's harvest. There are not many and I could just take them out, but thought if they could work together I would just leave them.
I could also dig them out and move them to the other side of the bed, which has nothing I planted in it. Do Potatoes transplant well?

On another note, how do people like to prepare beds that they will plant a potato patch in. what green mulches, or aged mulches do people like to use and what companion plants have done well with potatoes. Yay, all things potatoes here I guess. Potatoes and garlic in the oven go great together!

Hey. We are gardening over here in some raised beds. Have been sheet mulching with compost every year for the last two years, and this last fall did a pretty consistent weekly/bi-weekly compost tea regiment. All in attempt to boost up the soil fertility and health. Now it appears very rich and full of worms. however the soil is now pretty dense, when i pick it up and squeeze it, it doesn't really crumble but stays in a clump. Wondering how to bring in some more fluff and spaces. can i just add sand and mix it in. would that be a good option? i even have perilite that i use for propagating would that also work. Any ideas would be very appreciated. thanks. ellie

i was wondering if there are any chemists out there or other folks who have played around with whey. i have a bunch of whey these days and no animals really to feed it to. other than drinking some and making soap with some i was looking for other recycling methods. i have a stropharia mushroom patch and was wondering if it would like whey. i think all the lactose in the whey is like sugar if i'm not mistaken and doesn't fungus' like sugars. i was wondering though if it would feed the bacteria before the fungus could get to it and then work against the fungus.

another idea i had was using it to feed the microbes in aerated compost tea. has anyone used whey to feed microbes?
does anyone know what other enzymes and things are in whey?

Hey growies. i got a whole bunch of kickxia elatine growing in beds and everywhere else. was wondering if anyone can tell me what this means as far as nutrients in soil and anything else about the soil profile. thanks!

great. thanks so much for all the replys and interesting conversations. sounds like this is a common practice and recommendation by some and some who would hesitate. thanks steve farmer, i thought i would have also cut them at ground level and left the roots to decompose organic matter back into the soil but i also had some pepper plants and squash and tomato plants in the mix that i wanted to save so i didn't do this.

i was actually very happy to see the plants growing because this soil has been a long process to build and for a moment i believed that nothing would grow in it but i now see that something likes it and believe its growth will allow for the development of other plants i choose to put there.

about know what plants were growing. there was purslane which i in fact really enjoy and love to eat it while i am working in the sunny garden. it is so luscious and full of moisture and helps hydrate me. today i took some of the thicker stems and am lacto-fermenting them in salt brine. see how they do. purslane pickles!
then there was another plant. which i have yet to identify because i my camera is broken so can't post it anywhere to ask. in a way it looks like chickweed but is lighter green and the flowers are these little purple yellow snap dragon like flower. very small. ground cover height. kind of vine -like. this was in majority. would like to find the name of this one to find out more about the soil profile.
some plantain which i left because i enjoy and long roots are good to have in bed for mineral accumulation.
black mustard i took out though because there were too many
this one that is kinda similar to dandelion but also different. toothed leaves (with a bit of a point at their teeth) taller stalk and yellow dandelion like flowers.

duane hennon wouldn't stomp and drop compact the soil more than you would like

i just returned home after being away for some months and am now rescuing the plants i planted from being covered in plants that i would rather not have there (some call these weeds). i was wondering what people think about directly mulching on top the soil with these plants i pulled. was wondering if there are any considerations i should assess. i pulled them and chopped them up a bit to help the bacteria start to decompose them a little quicker. only things i can think of that may be not ideal:
is possibility some have already produced seed so in some ways re seeding them back where i am pulling them from.
possible anaerobic decomposition happening on top of the soil which i think is mitigated by not laying to thick of a layer and turning them in a couple days.

those are the only two problems i can see. are there others that people think of or other practices people do.

i could have also taken and made a compost pile with all of them but also this seems counter intuitive since i have been putting a lot of energy into building this soil and taking away all this plant matter it has produced seems a step backward for the soil. also then the soil which has been protected from moisture lost and sun by these plants would suddenly be dried out in the hot sunny days. (the beds are pretty much in the sun all day).

interested to hear people's practices and thoughts around this.
thanks so much. this site is such an amazing resource!