Re: no-till gardening
- To: Barbara Sargent , Mediterranean Plants List
- Subject: Re: no-till gardening
- From: J* D*
- Date: Sun, 12 Dec 1999 22:56:22 -0800
- References:
Barbara - Nope, no homemade compost, just plain old cedar chips from the
nursery. My soil probably isn't pure clay, having been cultivated - sort of -
before we moved in. I heard a speaker once who maintained that a good way to
break up heavy soil was to plant lots of stuff in it and let the roots do the
work. Perhaps not the exact words he used, but I think that was the gist.
Kay
Barbara Sargent wrote:
>
> Kay--when you say mulch, what kind do you mean? For example, I don't think
> I'd dig in shaved cedar bark. Do you mulch with home-made compost?
>
> Barbara
>
> >Also from Berkeley:
> >
> >Not wanting to deal with the clay soil all at once, I dug holes for three rose
> >bushes next to my front walk and mulched them pretty heavily each spring,
> >without digging anything into the soil. I was astonished to find that the soil
> >is now light and easy to dig...I suppose the earthworms did the tilling
> >for me.
> >The part of the walkway bed that hasn't been mulched as much is still a heavy
> >clay.
> >
> >My conclusion - and I do have one - put the mulch on top of the clay, the more
> >mulch the better, and forget about digging it in. The worms will do it for
> >you.
> >
> >>From
> >Kay Dreher
> >in Berkeley
>
> >
> >
> >Richad Starkeson wrote:
> >>
> >> A suggestion from another inhabitant of Bezerkeley: I think the "no till"
> >> method of farming presumes you have good soil to begin with. In almost
> >>all of
> >> Berkeley, there is 10-18" of adobe clay overlying normal clay, with at
> >>best two
> >> inches of what one might call "topsoil" or humus. It has almost no
> >>drainage,
> >> except in rocky hilly areas. These are great conditions for growing native
> >> plants, but hardly ideal for anything else. (As evidence of the adobe
> >>soil's.
> >> ability to compact like concrete, most of the California Missions were
> >> originally built by making "bricks" out of it. ) If you want not to
> >>till the
> >> soil, you should have amended the heck out of it first (into it?).
> >>After that,
> >> continuously dumping organic material on top, will allow you to get away
> >> without "tilling".
> >>
> >> Barbara Sargent wrote:
> >>
> >> > I have a small backyard garden in Berkeley and have been attempting, for
> >> > some time, to try no-digging methods. I have the sunniest spot set aside
> >> > for summer vegetables, i.e. tomatoes, beans, lettuce, cucumbers, peppers,
> >> > etc.
