What changes can we make to our lives to deal with the economic and energy crises ahead? Have you already started making preparations? Got tips to share?
biffvernon wrote:Nice move, Tess.
I kept goats for years and came to the conclusion they were best kept by someone else somehere else.
I see a consensus developing
Covering ground with plastic can get rid of weeds but it never strikes me as being very permaculturery. Earth ought to be constantly growing something, temporary weeds being called 'green manure' or 'potential compost' or some other sunshine harvesting device. Plastic covers just waste the sun.
I have sympathy for that view. I'll soon see whether watching the 'weeds' grow next spring in unused plots fills me with non-permacultural thoughts of black plastic...
Tess wrote:
I have sympathy for that view. I'll soon see whether watching the 'weeds' grow next spring in unused plots fills me with non-permacultural thoughts of black plastic...
Good luck with the move Tess, the other thing you can uses is cardboard, weed suppressant plus it will rot and add to the soil.
I tackled weeds on my land by continual mowing. I got a contractor in for the first cut, and it was literally all creeping thistle, docks, plantains, fat hens, and virtually every other kind of weed you can mention, except the dreaded mare's tale. It was chest high in weeds.
After that I bought a small compact tractor and flail topper and mowed it over an over again, which has driven the weeds off and it is now grass. This process just happens naturally. The cut weeds return to the soil and increase fertility and soil life, and is a win win situation. You do need to have either a topper or a very good scything technique though.....
However, I really have been amazed at how the grass has come naturally. The field was used to grow maize for years before I got it, and lay fallow after harvest for two to three years. So there was no grass and two to three years weed growth, and now it does look like a field. I think another cut and one in early spring should see them off. I have now rotovated some land for veggies, and I need to subsoil it to remove compaction that has occured due to fallowness and machinery usage by previous owners. After that it should be good soil to grow in.
I really want to try pigs for cultivation of the land. They don't take up much space and you could keep them for as little as six months. They will remove all the weed roots, such as creeping thistle, dandilion and docs, and will manure your land and generally leave it in a good state for planting. The drawback as I see it is having to register to get a holding number and a stock number. You're in the system then.
Jim
For every complex problem, there is a simple answer, and it's wrong.
"Heaven and earth are ruthless, and treat the myriad creatures as straw dogs" (Lao Tzu V.i).
SunnyJim wrote:
I really want to try pigs for cultivation of the land. They don't take up much space and you could keep them for as little as six months. They will remove all the weed roots, such as creeping thistle, dandilion and docs, and will manure your land and generally leave it in a good state for planting. The drawback as I see it is having to register to get a holding number and a stock number. You're in the system then.
Ours didn't like nettle roots much.... nor did they remove all the underground runners of grass.
They do taste great though......
Holding number is not too difficult to get. We have one. Much easier than getting cattle where you must have a crush on site.
SunnyJim wrote: all creeping thistle, docks, plantains, fat hens, and virtually every other kind of weed you can mention, except the dreaded mare's tale.
Now let's hear it for the weeds. Fat hen, of course, can be eaten by humans as well as hens. Docks are an interesting one. Antidote for nettle stings, but it's the long, deep roots that may make this a valuable weed. The plant will be extracting nutrients from deep down, beyond the reach of others, and when the tops are composted you will be getting minerals back to your top soil. If you are doing the no-digging thing then look out for deep rooted plants to help you. Mare's tail (not tale, I would guess) must do the same. And their ancesters were responsible for the Coal Measures so we really ought to revere them.
Personally I've got nothing against weeds for obvious reasons you state Biff. Weeds have helped me bring a huge amount of minerals to the surface, and then by 'mulching' in place after flail topping those minerals have been brought to the surface an incorporated into the soil in a usable form. Hurrah!
In the process I've added a huge amount of organic matter that cost me nothing. The land needed organic matter, so it grew it, and I speeded up the return process with my topper..... Just help nature along, don't fight it.
Jim
For every complex problem, there is a simple answer, and it's wrong.
"Heaven and earth are ruthless, and treat the myriad creatures as straw dogs" (Lao Tzu V.i).
Having read a few articles on the benefits of adding charcoal to soil, I wonder, is it worth planting fast growing brush of some kind then charcoaling it and ploughing it in ? I realise that you would lose the use of the ground for a season or two, but would the increased fertility pay in the long term ?
Just curious as to if anyone has tried this or even if it makes any sense.
From what I have read the charcoal somehow fixes the essential nutrients at a ground level where they can be accessed by crops, although I don't know whether you could grow enough in one or two seasons.
Even better to buy in firewood from someone else. You then enhance the fertility of your veg plot. There's a corresponding loss from someone else's woodland, but that's probably not important as the woodland will cope.
