How to grow soil tractors..
Posted on | March 12, 2010 | No Comments
Everywhere there are signs of ‘hay for sale’. For anywhere between $5 and $10 I can buy direct from the farmer at bargain basement prices. There are problems with using bales of hay and straw etc.. in the home of vegetable patch. The main one is the fact that various seeds within the bales can sprout with a vengeance. This can be a benefit if you catch it in time and you turn the straw over as you are getting some free green manure. If you’re really unlucky, you will have imported some horrible weed seed that will get away from you and engulf the neighbourhood.
This year I’m growing my own mulch using the plants not only as soil food but as tractors to cultivate the soil. I’m hoping to grow a crop of Peas, quite densely, and then just letting them collapse where they stand, in spring. It’s been warm a autumn so I might even throw in some alfalfa seed, even though it’s the wrong time of year for it.
All going well, I’ll also get the nitrogen fixing in the soil from the various root systems, as well as the nitrogen in the stalks when they break down and soil cultivation if the alfalfa takes off and send its roots down deep.
Other good soil tractors are deep root crops like parsnips and comfrey. Although once you have planted comfrey you will always have comfrey, which is great if you harvest it for the compost bin.
Aint nature grand?
What living soil tractors do you use? Worms maybe?? What type do you use and how do you keep them fed? Feel free to click on the comments link and let me know.
Tags: alfalfa crop > Breaking up soil > clay soil > cultivating soil > green manure crops > hay for the garden > nitrogen fixing crops > pea straw > sandy soil > soil for the vegetable garden > using straw in the garden
Storms, seeds and dividing artichokes.
Posted on | March 8, 2010 | 3 Comments
Melbourne (and Victoria) has just come through a huge storm event. Some say it’s the worst storm in 100 years. Hailstones the size of tennis balls have created havoc in some suburbs. On top of the usual destruction, Veggie Patches everywhere have been decimated. Luckily, it hailed here for a very short period of time, so the Veggie Patch is fine.
Leading up to the storm I was in a frenzy of seed saving. The weather had been so deliciously dry, that’s seed storage was a cinch. The night before the storm I was up to my ears in fluffy lettuce seeds, bulky beans, ricocheting rocket seed and various flower varieties. After much sifting, sneezing and tossing of seed in the air to blow away the chaff, I stored quite a bit of dry seed in cosy envelopes for spring sowing.
I also managed to top dress a bed for autumn planting in the Veggie Patch. A lovely patch 2 m x 1 m was manured, scattered with rock dust and lightly mulched. I was really hoping for drenching rain to really penetrate the soil. Well it took 24 hours but it rained with a vengeance. All that is left to me to do, is to install my spiral drip watering system (which I hope not to use), throw in a few seeds and sit back and watch it grow.
I’ve also been out dividing up my artichoke plants. They really were losing their vigour after so many years in one spot. So far I’ve managed to divide up two clumps into eight plants. Bonus! I reckon I’ve got another two or three clumps to divide, so that should give me a good number of plants and some tasty edibles in spring.
Are you busy in the Veggie Patch? What you are up to?
Please feel free to click on the comments link and leave me a message.
Tags: bean seeds > dividing artichokes > globe artichokes > hail storm > lettuce seed > Melbourne weather > planting artichokes > rocket seed > seed saving
Veg Patch Fiscal/Horticultural Year Ledger Sheet June 21 2009 – June 21 2010
Posted on | February 21, 2010 | 2 Comments
Winter Solstice June 21 2009 to Winter Solstice June 21 2010
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Summary as of 21 Feb 2010:
Costs : approx $800
Harvest est to date : $325
Current Balance =approx $475.00 debit.
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COSTS:
$ 28.50 ; Seed Potatoes – 3 varieties – $7.50 each plus $6 postage
$328.50 ; Pea Straw (19 bales @ $12 to $15 per bale) and Fertilizer Total(One bag @ $8) $300
$352.50 : Mushroom compost – half a Metre = $25 Total
$412.50 : Seeds and postage from seed company $60
$511.00 : 11 bales @ $9 each of canola straw for no dig beds and mulching. $99.
$541.00 : 35 KG bag of organic chicken pellet manure $30
$591.00 : 1 Meter mushroom compost @ $50 per meter
$641.00 : Sundry seeds etc.. $50
$701.00 : 20kg bag of rock dust. $60
$726.00 : 1/2 m of mushroom compost at $25
$779.00 : 1/2 m of mushroom compost at $50
$790.00 : misc seeds etc..
Total Costs To Date: $800 approx
This figure does not include any structural purchases such as stakes or plastic for cloches.
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Harvest Est Worth:
These figures are based on the amount consumed by two people. Prices are calculated according to local non -organic produce prices in the local supermarkets in the Dandenong Ranges. Produce that is not consumed or is given away, is not taken into consideration, because we would not normally buy it and give it away.
In the case of produce that is brought in bunches like spring onions or basil. We eat these every day and I calculate how long one bunch would last and price the harvest that way. So even though we only harvest a couple of basil leaves every day, we would normally buy a bunch for at least $2.50 and throw it away when it goes stale.
Pumpkins Potimarron: 10 @ $3 each $30
Beetroot : 13 @ $5
Spinach : 14 bunches@ $2 each $28
Zucchini Tromboncino : 8 large – 4kg $14
Squash button : 73 approx 3kg @ $8 kg $24
Potatoes : 11kg @ $5 kg $55
Tomatoes : 1.6 kg $4
Cucumber : 18 @$1 each $18
Red Onions $10
Spring onions $1pw for 14 weeks $14
Lettuce $2.50pw for 14 weeks $35
Rocket $1pw for 14 weeks $14
Basil $2.50pw for 14 weeks $35
Garlic 50 bulbs : $11
Total Harvest to date : $325
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