tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5138459729531944998.post1077148468756163843..comments2024-03-11T02:25:25.123-05:00Comments on Living Low in the Lou: What the soil told me in 2013, and my responseSLClairehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17307602613058790026noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5138459729531944998.post-87712058830552785842014-03-12T15:43:19.745-05:002014-03-12T15:43:19.745-05:00Sorry for the delay in responding to your comment!...Sorry for the delay in responding to your comment! I grew comfrey from purchased root cuttings as the cultivar I have does not run to seed and has to be propagated from roots. Check out Horizon Herbs, www.horizonherbs.com, for both the cultivar that is propagated from root cuttings and true comfrey, which can be grown from seeds.SLClairehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17307602613058790026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5138459729531944998.post-53316761281256631652014-02-18T09:49:30.011-06:002014-02-18T09:49:30.011-06:00Awesome to find a post on Green Wizards forum abou...Awesome to find a post on Green Wizards forum about this! Your blog is lovely...we are planning to use Steve Solomon's method in our gardens this year. Your data should be helpful.<br /><br />Do you grow comfrey from seed or purchased plants? We want to put in a small orchard out at my son's farm...surrounding the trees with comfrey and other plants.<br /><br />I have not done this with comfrey, but do raise many plants from seed.<br /><br />Peace,<br /><br />Gailpeacegardenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01241400462681864971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5138459729531944998.post-18644342798950873982014-02-17T15:14:48.832-06:002014-02-17T15:14:48.832-06:00I do spur-of-the-moment experiments too! The veget...I do spur-of-the-moment experiments too! The vegetable garden is the only part of the yard which is graphed out. Often enough in the rest of the yard I plop a plant of interest someplace to see how it responds.<br /><br />So far I have only a few flowers in the vegetable garden proper. The closest flowers are anywhere from a few to 10-15 meters distant. Maybe too far away for beneficial insects to want to travel. I'll file your suggestion away for use when I plan 2015's garden.<br /><br />We have Egyptian onions near some of the fruit trees and eat some of them in spring. I used to have a patch in the vegetable garden but we learned they get hotter in taste than we like by late spring (mid to late May), plus the bulbs are too small for some of the uses we put onions to, so they were moved elsewhere. I have some patches of garlic chives around some of the fruit trees and in a bed near the vegetable gardens. We add the leaves to some of our salads. Most of one of our 100 foot vegetable beds is planted to potato onions, another type of perennial onion; are you familiar with them? They grow larger than Egyptian onions and are more versatile in the kitchen for us, they keep well, and they have a level of onion heat that we like. It has taken me several years to learn how to grow them well. We have to plant them in late fall and get them through winter, not easy in a place where the soil can freeze and thaw multiple times in an average winter. Mulch does that, but it took me a few years to learn that I have to remove the mulch in early March, as soon as the ground thaws for good, in order for them to get enough sunlight to grow. Then I had to learn to not over-water them and that I have to dig them out in early to mid June, as soon as the tops die, so they don't rot in warm, wet soil if we should have a wet summer. And I had to learn how to dry and store them properly. There isn't much info on them and what there is comes from a location with milder winters and a less extreme climate than ours, thus the slow pace of learning.<br /><br />I think the effect of decomposition warming the soil would make more of a difference in spring than fall here. Right now, for instance, we have 10 1/2 hours of sun each day, long enough to grow plants if only the soil weren't frozen a half meter or more down. It is soil (and air) temperatures that limit how soon our spring begins, not daylight hours. As such, warmer soil could add a valuable few weeks to spring, hence the increasing use of hoop structures by farmers in the US to get an early start on the growing season. However, in fall we drop below 10 hours of daylight at about the same time as the air temperature gets too cold for vegetable plants, so warmer soil wouldn't do much to extend the growing season (although it does extend the harvest season for farmers with hoop structures). At least that's my armchair theorizing. Being in the middle of a large continent and at 39N latitude makes for short springs and falls but looooong and rather hot summers, plus winters where only a very few specialist plants do any growing.SLClairehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17307602613058790026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5138459729531944998.post-40468991018575020192014-02-12T01:33:59.005-06:002014-02-12T01:33:59.005-06:00Hi Claire.
Thank you for your thoughts! The fires...Hi Claire.<br /><br />Thank you for your thoughts! The fires are still burning to the NE of here and they may push back this way, but hopefully it is not looking too windy over the next couple of days. You never know though.<br /><br />It is interesting about the taste differences. I've noticed that some of the leaves are thicker on some varieties and they seem less bitter towards the rush to seed stage in their growth cycles. But again, like you it is hard to tell whether this is imagination or simply adaption.<br /><br />Please do try adding some flowers in the veggie garden. Plenty of flowers are edibles too. Alliums attract all sorts of beneficial insects and pollinators, so they get spread around here a lot. Plus they are good eating and are very drought hardy. Have you thought about some perennial varieties such as bunching onions, chives (although they can spread a bit far sometimes)? Egyptian tree (or walking) onions are prolific here and receive virtually no care or attention. They all have great flowers and the chives just keep flowering for months on end.<br /><br />Yeah, it will be interesting to get your take on whether it is more effective to put additives on the surface or dig them in. It is certainly quicker. Many plants and ground covers tend to cope with being covered with mulches and composts especially during extreme weather. They tend here to poke their heads out of the ground once conditions are suitable again for them. It would be an interesting experiment to note which species adapt to this treatment and I'll keep an eye out for this.<br /><br />Decomposition probably will speed up as the soil becomes more biologically active. It may also extend your growing season as the soil should be warmer during late autumn and early winter. Don't know really, but just guessing. Deciduous leaves disappear into the soil in under a month here, but things keep growing right through winter too.<br /><br />Summer should tell whether the plants require less water?<br /><br />Thanks again. Sometimes, I just try random things in the garden to see whether it works or not!Fernglade Farmhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06950962122594709186noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5138459729531944998.post-54700069689695500532014-02-11T16:52:24.341-06:002014-02-11T16:52:24.341-06:00Hi Chris - all great questions!
The most notable...Hi Chris - all great questions! <br /><br />The most notable taste differences so far are in one cabbage and two lettuce varieties, both better. I'm also starting to like three other vegetables better (carrots, sugar beets, and sweet potatoes), though I am not sure if they taste better because of soil improvements or because I eat them more often, thus I'm getting accustomed to them.<br /><br />I did see less insect predation, but I didn't look specifically for predator insects in the vegetable garden (I will this year). I do have them in other parts of the yard where there are more flowers that they like. It would probably help to include more plants attractive to them in the veggie garden. I need to pay more attention to that.<br /><br />With putting additives on the surface rather than digging them in, I think it might be both more efficient and might improve soil structure in the long term. Time will tell.<br /><br />I haven't paid attention to speed of organic matter decomposition so far, but I will watch for it this year. Similarly, I'll watch for changes in the trees and their partner plants as I address their soil needs.<br /><br />I have comfrey around some of the fruit trees but not all of them. I hope to find time to move some comfrey plants around to the other trees this spring. As I learn how to spend less time with the veggies I hope to have more time to work with the plants growing around the fruit trees. Your gardens are a big inspiration in that regard!<br /><br />I'm not sure yet about whether the soil holds more moisture -- something I should pay more attention to. I need to better work with water flows in general.<br /><br />Much respect to you for your work! Sending hope your way that the heat and drought ease ASAP and you have no more trouble with fire!SLClairehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17307602613058790026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5138459729531944998.post-41656973202612598432014-02-11T04:56:28.608-06:002014-02-11T04:56:28.608-06:00Hi Claire. This is a fascinating experiment.
A co...Hi Claire. This is a fascinating experiment.<br /><br />A couple of thoughts come to mind. Have you noticed any notable differences in the texture, thickness, taste and/or colour of the plants produced in your garden?<br /><br />Also, have you noticed any differences this year with the insects and/or predation on your plants? As top soil (and hence humus) is built here for example, I've noticed that ants are far less prevalent than previous years. Are you finding more predator insects (eg lady bugs and many species of wasps which consume pests such as the cabbage moth)?<br /><br />It is interesting that you are now adding the additives to the surface rather than digging them in. I came to this experience a few years back now and it is interesting to see how quickly the additives (usually compost and mulch here) are absorbed into the top soil. Do you think this is now more efficient or are you trying to maintain the soil structure?<br /><br />Are you noticing faster decomposition of leaves and/or other materials that are on the surface of the top soil than in previous years?<br /><br />Have you noticed any changes in the trees surrounding this area now that mineral deficiencies are being addressed?<br /><br />Have you thought about deep rooted companion plants so that minerals are recycled back into your top soil?<br /><br />Sorry, one last question! Have you noticed that your top soil now holds more moisture and/or is better drained than in previous years? (sorry, that was actually two questions! hehe!).<br /><br />Respect for your work and observations.<br /><br />ChrisFernglade Farmhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06950962122594709186noreply@blogger.com