Cover crop for this year is shaping up pretty well. This is red clover - good for fixing nitrogen, less good for weed suppression. It's building up slowly, but I think it will be ready for winter. If it's still there in the spring, I will "plow" under or just compost it. The goal is also to limit erosion and protect soil life from cold, etc. I also think it might help promote that fungus that interacts with roots...but I have no scientific evidence for that. Got the seeds from High Mowing - pricey, but good company to support. One other detail - squirrels seem to be having a pretty fun time killing it here and there. One day...I will have my revenge.
Next year I am thinking about trying rye or oats.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Dahlias
The Dahlias have really come on strong at the end of the season. Perhaps due to all the rain, and maybe the raised beds, which helped with drainage. We have over twenty flowers on one plant right now....with more on the way. This plant was from the Columbia Pike Farmers Market. Their plants always do pretty well. The beds in the background are filled with clover as a cover crop.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
peas climbing in the summer past
Just about the only thing we got this summer - peas. Well I guess we also got some potatoes, lettuce, mustard greens, and a bunch of carrots. I didn't take the soil buiding process seriously enough. Threw down a bunch of ground up leaves and expected them to turn dirt in 6 months. It didn't work.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
whiskey barrel planter
Got this here puppy dog at Meadows Farms...kinda pricey, but a pretty cool barrel half. I put it on a couple bricks, drilled some holes in the base, and lined it with weed block and...tadaa!..a new place for plants. Got the idea in my head after reading some of the Square Foot Gardening book. Good book, though I don't quite agree with everything. So add a grain O' salt and you'll be fine.
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