... a little too much. Half an inch today. One to two inches tonight. A quarter to a half-inch tomorrow.
Don't get me wrong, we need the rain. But a 2-day long down pour while everyone is planting their fields isn't a great thing, really. I had to go out and buy some straw (not hay, which contains seeds and will import weeds) to lay on my garden in order to keep the soil from washing away (see my previous post as to why THATS a concern).
Which brought me back to the cover crop idea. Last fall, I planted my first cover crop on half of my garden. The idea of a cover crop is this: it fixes nitrogen, keeps the soil in place, keep the soil slightly warmer (better insulation), and keeps the soil aerated. All of which improves the soil structure. Additionally, during normal growth patterns of a cover crop, organic matter is created via the root system growing on a daily basis. Roots, apparently, are much like our skin in that it regenerates on a regular basis - some of it dies and falls off as new skin is created, and it just keeps cycling through. This is what happens to the roots of cover crops, as well, which is one way that cover crops "fix" nitrogen into the soil.
If the soil is better insulated and better aerated through the use of cover crops, there is the added benefit of increased worm activity in the soil, which also goes great lengths to improving the structure of the soil. The worms (and other bugs) are able to be active later into the fall and earlier in the spring than if the soil had been wiped clean with the fall clean up.
So last fall, I planted (perhaps a little too heavily) a cover crop of winter rye. I spent about $4 on the seed, I think, and put minimal effort into planting it correctly (I threw the seed down, scratched up the soil with a garden rake briefly, and watered occasionally during dry spells). The winter rye had enough time to germinate and get some green growth prior to onset of winter. This spring, as the snow was melting off, I noticed two things: 1) the green parts were still green, UNDER the snow and 2) those areas where I planted the cover crop melted first.
I planted the beans and the peas last week in one of the winter rye areas. For now, I just hoed up a row IN the winter rye, and turned under those areas, leaving the areas in between the rows covered with the winter rye, which was growing so well I didn't have the heart to get rid of it all (it's about a foot high now). My theory is that the winter rye, will prevent unwanted weeds from growing, thus saving me much work while further adding to the soil. I may have to go through and trim it soon, or I may have to hoe it under. I'm supposed to hoe it under, but I hate directions. Winter rye, apparently, will grow to about 5 feet tall, which will definitely cause some issues with water/nutrient use and will compete with the vegetables.
BUT there are other summer-type cover crops, including alfalfa and clovers, which will perform the same function. My basic plan is this: to plant varieties of these two plants in strategic areas. Alfalfa along the road, likely (where I am years away from being able to get anything to grow at all) and in areas where I hope to garden next year, low growing clover IN the garden between the rows and taller clover in the butterfly garden.
Once nice thing about the clover is that it will attract bees, which will be good for the plants and, well, the bees (which are having a terrible time lately).
One drawback is that I'm not sure how hard it will be to get rid of the clover once I introduce it to the garden. Maybe it'll die out over the winter. One can hope. I think if I cut it before it sets seed, I can stop it from reseeding for next year, and it'll die out. But thats a big IF.
Showing posts with label soil erosion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label soil erosion. Show all posts
Monday, April 28, 2008
All the good dirt
Yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised to find an article titled "The Future of Dirt" on the front page of the Ideas section of the Boston Sunday Globe. Yet another sign that the rest of the world is starting to wake up. I can't remember the last time I looked at the Sunday paper and got that really happy feeling just because they are paying attention to something so fundamentally important.
For far too long has our society looked at dirt as something BAD, not something vital. All those vitamins & minerals that we need to live on come from dirt. Think about it. All your veggies contain what you need to survive because it draws them up from the soil. Unless, of course, we're talking about meat - but where do the cows get their nutrients which they then pass up to us? From the grass they graze (if they are so lucky) or from the grain that comes from, yes, yet more soil. A little thing called the food web - perhaps this is bringing back memories of a teacher & a chalkboard? It's a pretty basic concept, and we can't engineer our way out of it.
When we talk about something being "bad" we call it "dirty". When we talked about something messy (like my house), we call it "dirty." Makes it hard to realize consciously how very important good "dirt" is when we are giving it bad connotations all the time. But we can't live without. Cannot.
So what's going on with our soil? It's eroding. We are breaking down its natural structure and it's getting blown away, eroded by heavy rain, or rendered useless via poisoning. How? Heavy tilling, for one, breaks down the physical structure of soil, exposes more of the soil to the air (thereby releasing from the soil carbon dioxide & nitrous oxide - greenhouse gasses - into the atmosphere), and dries it out. Then it rains, or it gets windy, and it blows away. We over plant it, and we plant the same damn crops on it year after year (as in a factory farm growing corn for feed or biofuels), which sucks all the nutrients out of the soil, and leaves the soil prone to a pest infestation for that particular crop. So what then? We fertilize the soil heavily, and over time, the soil becomes salty and laden with petrochemicals. We heavily apply pesticides, which also accumulate in the soil, and prevent the soil critters (the good ones) from doing their job, and the soil further looses its structure. Over time, we might as well be trying to grow that corn in a sandbox for all the nutritional value left in it. (Surprise - you can't grow much in a sandbox).
Have you SEEN the pictures of how muddy the Mississippi River is (or perhaps with your own eyes)? Where do you think all that mud comes from? It's from our farm lands, our suburban areas, our urban run off. It's filling up the Gulf of Mexico and is creating "dead zones" where fish and other sea life cannot live.
The article mentioned above touched on the Farm Bill (which appears to be completely broken and tailored specifically to the needs of the factory farm and big agri-business, yet the masses don't care & couldn't be bothered), which while giving subsidies to large scale farms growing commodities like wheat and corn, but does not do a damn thing for farms practicing good soil conservation - like rotating their crops with alfalfa or soybeans or beans, which fix nitrogen INTO the soil as they grow.
How big of a problem is this? Even I was unaware of how BIG of an issue this is (or perhaps I had merely forgotten). It is estimated (in the globe article) that by 2050, people will have to survive (on average) on less than 1/10th of an acre per person of agricultural land. That is a downright scary picture, and should be keeping you up at night. We've already destroyed so much of our soil. In the northeast, we are lucky enough to live in a "stable" soil region (but our growing seasons is relatively short, and thus not well suited to large scale production agriculture). But most of the US, and most of the inhabited world live in areas that are defined as "degraded" or "very degraded". The deserts are spreading.
According to the wiki, an area of fertile soil the size of Ukraine is lost every year because of drought, deforestation, and climate change. In Africa, by 2025, they will only be able to feed 25% of it's population. The starvation, increased food costs, and rioting that we are seeing now are likely only just beginning.
This isn't a new idea or a new issue. But soil erosion is a long-term issue, not easily dealt with through temporary legislation or in just a few years of farming practice, and in general, humans have really short attention spans. It takes a great many many years to build up good soil. You can't hurry perfection.
We've all heard the current rumblings about the recession, and even perhaps a large scale depression. Remember the last major US depression? What was also occurring at that time? The dust bowl. Here's a great old-time informational video like you would have seen in the fourth grade, complete with warbly music. The wiki, as usual, has a lot of information spelled out for you.
During Roosevelt's 100 first days of his presidency, he started a major campaign to restore ecological balance in the U.S. It would be lovely to have a new president capable of such sweeping reform, but I am not holding my breath, and I think it is likely our very survival is going to be left up to individual citizens who are well informed. Which is why I write this blog (even though I'm pretty sure no one reads it) - just on the off chance that someone, somewhere, runs across it (possibly while looking for something else) and goes off to figure things out for themselves.
For far too long has our society looked at dirt as something BAD, not something vital. All those vitamins & minerals that we need to live on come from dirt. Think about it. All your veggies contain what you need to survive because it draws them up from the soil. Unless, of course, we're talking about meat - but where do the cows get their nutrients which they then pass up to us? From the grass they graze (if they are so lucky) or from the grain that comes from, yes, yet more soil. A little thing called the food web - perhaps this is bringing back memories of a teacher & a chalkboard? It's a pretty basic concept, and we can't engineer our way out of it.
When we talk about something being "bad" we call it "dirty". When we talked about something messy (like my house), we call it "dirty." Makes it hard to realize consciously how very important good "dirt" is when we are giving it bad connotations all the time. But we can't live without. Cannot.
So what's going on with our soil? It's eroding. We are breaking down its natural structure and it's getting blown away, eroded by heavy rain, or rendered useless via poisoning. How? Heavy tilling, for one, breaks down the physical structure of soil, exposes more of the soil to the air (thereby releasing from the soil carbon dioxide & nitrous oxide - greenhouse gasses - into the atmosphere), and dries it out. Then it rains, or it gets windy, and it blows away. We over plant it, and we plant the same damn crops on it year after year (as in a factory farm growing corn for feed or biofuels), which sucks all the nutrients out of the soil, and leaves the soil prone to a pest infestation for that particular crop. So what then? We fertilize the soil heavily, and over time, the soil becomes salty and laden with petrochemicals. We heavily apply pesticides, which also accumulate in the soil, and prevent the soil critters (the good ones) from doing their job, and the soil further looses its structure. Over time, we might as well be trying to grow that corn in a sandbox for all the nutritional value left in it. (Surprise - you can't grow much in a sandbox).
Have you SEEN the pictures of how muddy the Mississippi River is (or perhaps with your own eyes)? Where do you think all that mud comes from? It's from our farm lands, our suburban areas, our urban run off. It's filling up the Gulf of Mexico and is creating "dead zones" where fish and other sea life cannot live.
The article mentioned above touched on the Farm Bill (which appears to be completely broken and tailored specifically to the needs of the factory farm and big agri-business, yet the masses don't care & couldn't be bothered), which while giving subsidies to large scale farms growing commodities like wheat and corn, but does not do a damn thing for farms practicing good soil conservation - like rotating their crops with alfalfa or soybeans or beans, which fix nitrogen INTO the soil as they grow.
How big of a problem is this? Even I was unaware of how BIG of an issue this is (or perhaps I had merely forgotten). It is estimated (in the globe article) that by 2050, people will have to survive (on average) on less than 1/10th of an acre per person of agricultural land. That is a downright scary picture, and should be keeping you up at night. We've already destroyed so much of our soil. In the northeast, we are lucky enough to live in a "stable" soil region (but our growing seasons is relatively short, and thus not well suited to large scale production agriculture). But most of the US, and most of the inhabited world live in areas that are defined as "degraded" or "very degraded". The deserts are spreading.
According to the wiki, an area of fertile soil the size of Ukraine is lost every year because of drought, deforestation, and climate change. In Africa, by 2025, they will only be able to feed 25% of it's population. The starvation, increased food costs, and rioting that we are seeing now are likely only just beginning.
This isn't a new idea or a new issue. But soil erosion is a long-term issue, not easily dealt with through temporary legislation or in just a few years of farming practice, and in general, humans have really short attention spans. It takes a great many many years to build up good soil. You can't hurry perfection.
We've all heard the current rumblings about the recession, and even perhaps a large scale depression. Remember the last major US depression? What was also occurring at that time? The dust bowl. Here's a great old-time informational video like you would have seen in the fourth grade, complete with warbly music. The wiki, as usual, has a lot of information spelled out for you.
During Roosevelt's 100 first days of his presidency, he started a major campaign to restore ecological balance in the U.S. It would be lovely to have a new president capable of such sweeping reform, but I am not holding my breath, and I think it is likely our very survival is going to be left up to individual citizens who are well informed. Which is why I write this blog (even though I'm pretty sure no one reads it) - just on the off chance that someone, somewhere, runs across it (possibly while looking for something else) and goes off to figure things out for themselves.
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