Brian Walker

Thanks, Joe!
That's certainly an affordable mix.

Doug, thank you for the no-till channel reference!  Thank you, Chris for bock 14 and deer fodder suggestions...no, we have no strict timeline as yet, just trying to make significant progress each year I whatever directions we can.  Thanks, Nancy, for the Garden Master excerpt.  I am all in favor of letting the weeds continue to perform a useful function until we are ready to fill all available niches with other crops.  Phil, thanks for sharing your experiences with decompaction.

I am now wondering whether or to broad scale mulch application is necessary if I plan to work with chop & drop methods for current weed stands, summer plantings and winter cover crops.  Would these three applications of chop & drop be sufficient by this time next year to sew directly into?  I would probably still spot mulch tree and fruiting shrub seedlings as I acquire them, but would love to avoid the expense and compaction risk of trucking in large volumes of mulch.

Because we don't have a rigid timeline or require financial returns on this project in the near future, I would probably lean toward a no-til approach toward compaction and soil fertility.  I'd also prefer to take my time investigating the best plants to include in the polyculture over time, rather than committing to a total replanting all at once.

fWe have a lumber yard nearby that offers flatbed loads of hardwood bark mulch at affordable prices.  First of all, I was wondering how bark mulch compares with wood chip mulch.  Secondly, I am wondering if the chop & drop method, applied three times a year with weeds, summer crops and winter cover crops would approach a comparably hospitable environment for planting directly into as would bark mulch at applied 2-3 inches' depth over areas to be planted.  I imagine the weed seeds being banked in the soil would still require chop & drop of weed species for several years, anyway.

I very much appreciate all of your help!
Brian

Doug, thank you for the no-till channel reference!  Thank you, Chris for bock 14 and deer fodder suggestions...no, we have no strict timeline as yet, just trying to make significant progress each year I whatever directions we can.  Thanks, Nancy, for the Garden Master excerpt.  I am all in favor of letting the weeds continue to perform a useful function until we are ready to fill all available niches with other crops.  Phil, thanks for sharing your experiences with decompaction.

I am now wondering whether or to broad scale mulch application is necessary if I plan to work with chop & drop methods for current weed stands, summer plantings and winter cover crops.  Would these three applications of chop & drop be sufficient by this time next year to sew directly into?  I would probably still spot mulch tree and fruiting shrub seedlings as I acquire them, but would love to avoid the expense and compaction risk of trucking in large volumes of mulch.

Because we don't have a rigid timeline or require financial returns on this project in the near future, I would probably lean toward a no-til approach toward compaction and soil fertility.  I'd also prefer to take my time investigating the best plants to include in the polyculture over time, rather than committing to a total replanting all at once.

fWe have a lumber yard nearby that offers flatbed loads of hardwood bark mulch at affordable prices.  First of all, I was wondering how bark mulch compares with wood chip mulch.  Secondly, I am wondering if the chop & drop method, applied three times a year with weeds, summer crops and winter cover crops would approach a comparably hospitable environment for planting directly into as would bark mulch at applied 2-3 inches' depth over areas to be planted.  I imagine the weed seeds being banked in the soil would still require chop & drop of weed species for several years, anyway.

I very much appreciate your help!
Brian

Thank you all for your helpful suggestions!

Phil, I like the idea of staging the process out over two years and chop-&-dropping weeds and cover crops.  In addition to the crops you mentioned such as corn, pumpkins, etc., that provide shade, what other summer crops might work well that might also help break up the soil?  I head daikon does a good job with this, too.  Do daikon produce dense crown covers?  Would comfrey be fast-growing enough to perform this function, too?

Thanks!
Brian

Hello All,

I am hoping to establish a continuous perimeter of hawthorn trees around a series of paddocks as a living hedge element and am curious what others' experience with different species thereof might be.  I have read that English or common hawthorn may be too invasive to introduce freely over large spaces and that Washington hawthorn is a less competitive alternative that still bears thorns and fruit.

When searching the Permaculture Plant Database, I see there are 22 species listed and while I learn more about the subject, I thought I'd check here to see what your experiences might reveal about which ones seem better suited for living hedges.  I am in zone 5a in central New York State and will be planting them on a gentle southeastern slope with (as yet) little shade and ample ground water.

Thank you!
Brian

Hello All,

We're located in rural central NY State, zone 5a.  We are preparing to rehabilitate a mowed field of approx. 165' x 165' into five paddock spaces divided by swales on contour.  The field was originally a hop yard, has clay-rich subsoil and is somewhat compacted due too having been driven over with heavy machinery in the past.  The slope averages at about five degrees and faces south-southeast.   In addition to planning fruit and nut trees to be planted along swale burns and dappled in the paddock spaces between swales, we hope to introduce a polyculture of perennial food and soil-improving crops throughout the paddock spaces.

The field has been kept mowed for the past several years and, if left to its own devices, quickly reverts to goldenrod, mugwort, thistle and other competitive ruderal species.  After installing deer fencing, we hope to introduce a variety of ground cover, including white clover, dynamic accumulators such as comfrey, and food crops accessible to both chickens and humans such as sun chokes.

Basically, we are wondering how best to prepare the soil for sewing our desired polycultures.  Is is worth a shallow till if only done once and immediately followed by polyculture plantings?  Would ja year of mulch-application that would block light to grass and goldenrod roots be preferable?  We are hoping very much to avoid the use of plastic ground covering or chemicals, but are also hoping not to need to turn the soil over all at once via tilling.

We are very new to all of this and thank you in advance for your patience with our lack of experience, and for whatever advice or suggestions you might have!

Brian

Hi Michelle,

What sort of holistic medicine do you work with?  I am an acupuncturist / herbalist.  I have a small clinic in town and am bulding a homestead and eventual retreat on a large swath of land in rural NY State.  I've decided to try this section to search for friends / companions to do homesteading with, but am also in search of an holistic medicine assistant.

Happy Valentine's.

Brian

Thank you, Anne!  I'll try to contact the library.  If it's already recorded, it would merely be an issue of getting it legally reformatted to digital audio.

Brian

Indeed.  There is also the challenge of interpreting all of the graphical content and tables into an aural delivery.  No simple task from any perspective, but I do feel that demand for this book will revive as Permaculture continues to demonstrate solutions for heretofore insoluble problems.  One can dream.