Re: the "no till" system

At 12:59 PM 9/22/00 -0700, you wrote:
>Anyway, I've seen mention of something called no till, adding layers of
>mulch, I believe, instead of digging up the site. I would be interested
>in finding out more about this approach. I live in an area that is
>pretty densely wooded, with only a few areas of direct bright sun.  The
>rest is dappled most of the day. (This is in Fairfax, Marin County,
>Calif.). I have a large container garden, a rocky, shade garden, and an
>area on top of a retaining wall, that is about 5  -6 ft X 200 ft. This
>is the sunny area. The problem is the soil.  No matter how much compost,
>soil builder, etc. I dig into it in the spring, by the end of the summer
>it is root bound, dry below 4 or 5 inches, in spite of  watering.  I
>have to water nearly everyday, by  hand, and it takes longer and longer
>as the  season goes on.  There is an Oak tree about mid way along on the
>wall, so naturally it takes up a lot of the moisture, I guess, but I
>start out with nice rich soil, although only about 6 - 7 inches, and end
>up with zip.
>Thanks for reading so far, and for any advise you can think of.

Loretta -

If I can make inferences from your description, I suspect that your oak is 
likely the culprit for the problems you.  With artificial irrigation around 
surface rooting species such as oaks, you tend to promote lots of root 
growth into the beds you are irrigating.  Oak trees can send roots as far 
as twice the diameter of the foliage canopy, or even more.  They go where 
the water is, so this is probably why your beds are filling up with 
roots.  For this reason, as well as to keep the oak roots healthy, it is a 
good idea to go with summer dry plants around trees like this.

Mulching will help you keep your soil in shape, and to conserve 
moisture.  I bet that the irrigation you are doing is not really of the 
proper type.  Your comment about the top few inches of soil being filled 
with roots and the deeper parts being bone dry seem to tell me that you are 
not irrigating 'deeply'.  After mulching with at least 3 inches of an 
organic mix (the more types/sizes of material the better - i.e. shredded 
leaves, chipped wood, hal-rotted compost, etc.; whatever can be had in your 
area easily), your irrigation needs to be far less frequent and more 
deep.  Some drip hoses (those that leak along their entire length)  along 
your 200ft length sounds ideal.  You can leave this dripping for several 
hours overnight to get a good, deep penetration.  The slow speed of the 
water helps it penetrate more deeply.  When we have 'rainy' days (often a 
mere .25in.!), this is a good time to water - the air/soil ion relationship 
it favorable to water absorption at that time.  People often think I'm 
crazy to water during these times, but unless I know we'll get an inch or 
more, it makes sense, and UC Davis studies back it up.  Establishing plants 
this fall by watering deeply all winter will help them get their roots down 
to survive the summer drought.  If the roots stay in the top inches of the 
soil, even with a good mulch, they will suffer during the heat of summer as 
the soil surface dries occasionally.

Some good plants have been suggested for this wall, and there are many 
more.  Anything that prefers growing on slopes and cliffs would be a good 
bet.  There are a variety of native and other mediterranean climate plants 
that can do well for you, even with minimal summer irrigation.  Not knowing 
the theme of your planting or of the surrounding architecture and area, I 
am reticent to blindly suggest.  If things do not do well because they 
don't like the conditions, don't go out of your way to coddle them - just 
let them go and try something else.  There are SO MANY plants to choose 
from.  If you want a jump on this, hire a consultant or designer that you 
feel will understand your problem and not give you another unmaintainable 
garden (not easy I know.  I won't be available until November myself).

I've already killed my Eudora twice by writing too much in response to your 
post - unfortunately I lost most of it and don't have time to redo 
it.  Your 'problem' sounds very solvable, so don't give up!

Regards,
Sean O.

h o r t u l u s   a p t u s     -    'a garden suited to its purpose'
(510) 987-0577        fax (707) 667-1173     sean.ohara@groupmail.com
710 Jean Street, Oakland, CA 94610-1459, U.S.A.
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