From: songbird@anthive.com   
      
   Drew Lawson wrote:   
   > songbird writes:   
      
   >>  mulch makes a lot of things easier.  :)   
   >   
   > I read "Ruth Stout's No-Till Gardening" when I was about 13, and I   
   > haven't been the same since.   
      
     i've read so many different books on gardening...   
      
      
   > The county yard waste place takes in brush/branches and grinds it   
   > for free mulch.  The only down side is that I have to load it myself.   
   > Well, that and the fact that the garden is uphill from the driveway.   
      
     well of course!  :)  they didn't plan any of this   
   here and certainly would have been much better had   
   they brought in fill for where the gardens are at   
   now...  too late now though.   
      
      
   >>i   
   >>like how when the wood chips we use finally   
   >>break down they turn into the dark humus that   
   >>goes well in the veggie gardens.   
   >   
   > My garden has been going for about 12 years.  When I was tilling   
   > last year, I was pleasantly surprised at how dark and fluffy the   
   > soil was.  It started out as yellow clay, which is still what is   
   > down under the reach of the tiller.   
   >   
   > I really should get it tested this year.  I have no idea what the   
   > N/P/K condition is, just the texture.   
      
     i've never formally tested any of the gardens   
   here.  how things grow can tell you a lot about   
   what you're lacking.  when i first started out i   
   couldn't grow beets well at all and onions never   
   got very large.  once i started adding the worm   
   compost the differences were pretty easy to see.   
   beets grew well, onions got bigger.   
      
     i'm now able to add some of the worm compost   
   to some of the poorest soil gardens i have and   
   i can see how that is helping the beans i normally   
   plant in there.  the rows where i can get some   
   down the beans are darker and bigger and produce   
   more pods/beans.   
      
     if i were a little more dilligent about   
   chopping and using the green manure patch higher   
   nitrogen greens (alfalfa and birdsfoot trefoil)   
   i could make a lot more progress in that regards   
   too as those being chopped and left on the   
   green manure patch has really improved the soil   
   back there.  it's sweet.  :)   
      
      
     songbird   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)