Hello all!
We have recently completed construction of 5 swales that divide a 3/4 acre plot into 5 soon to be garden/chicken paddock spaces. We are trying to seed the interswale paddock/garden spaces which are now predominantly grass, dandelion, thistle, plantain etc , with competitive ruderals before attempting to plant conventional produce crops to enrich topsoil and diversify the grass monoculture. The specific plants we would like to introduce in polyculture to these spaces include Amaranth, Bitter Dock, Purslane , Mallow, Mustard, Clover and Chickweed. Rather than tilling the grassy swathes we would much prefer to implement Fukuokas method of incorporating powdered clay with compost and seeds to form seed balls which can be scattered and lightly mulched with straw. This is our first time attempting to sow anything with seed balls directly over a predominantly grass monoculture. Has anyone else attempted or succeeded in doing this? If so, we would love to hear any advice or suggestions you might have for successful germination.
In terms of seed ball composition, we are using a 1/1 ratio of clay dust (that we have abundant supplies of from a local potter) and dried compost dust. Does anyone have advice on ratios of clay to compost for this kind of application in our Zone 5A area? We are generally able to produce our own reasonably good quality compost of kitchen scrapes and bark chips from our local saw mill but it is sometimes hard to dry and reduce to a fine dust that mixes evenly with our clay dust. We can purchase store bought manure compost which is a much finer consistency. Does anyone have any advice on types of compost that might work best for this application?
Thanks very much!
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