Happy Halloween

My costume for tonight. I hope Barbie doesn't mind.

(Actually from Jeff & Maxine's eccentric garden.)

More on Green Manures, free nitrogen

Please scroll down to the bottom after reading the query. (Photo of clover green manure.)

Heidi Hunt, Assistant Editor

Mother Earth News

1503 SW 42nd St.

Topeka, KS 66609

(785) 274-4322

www.MotherEarthNews.com

Dear Ms. Hunt,

I have a simple article proposal to destroy the myths about “organic” blood meal and colloidal phosphates. They are, respectively extremely energy intensive and unsustainable. Then I will explain how to avoid them altogether using green manures.

Title: How Sustainable are “Organic” Fertilizers? (And what to do about it.)

Fact 1: Environmental Costs of Making Blood Meal

Heating [blood meal] is initiated at 82°C (180°F) and progressively raised to 94°C (200°F) for about three hours, then elevated to 100°C (212°F) for 7 hours. (That’s a LOT of energy.) Drying is complete when the final moisture level in the dried product is about 12 percent.

Fact 2: Environmental Costs of Making Colloidal Phosphate

Phosphate ore must be chemically processed with sulfuric acid. When sulfuric acid reacts with the phosphate it produces a slightly radioactive byproduct known as phosphogypsum. According to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, there are a billion tons of phosphogypsum stacked across the state and 30 million tons are generated each year.

Followed by a discussion of how to skip these fertilizers using the production of corn with the use of home-grown green manures as an example.

Up to 1500 words. Photographs and line drawings available.

Thanks for your time,

Robert Kourik

NOTE:

Her response, from the magazine that has for decades been the steadfast promoter of living off the land and all things organic, was:

On Oct 28, 2009, at 6:22 AM, Heidi Hunt wrote:

“Robert, thank you! Can you please tell me what your green fertilizers are? Also, it looks as though the article is based on commercial corn growing. But we deal just with home gardens and always encourage the use of natural fertilizers.”

What has become of our gardening media? Who’s minding the store?

Let me know what you think.

Visit my web site to learn about my new book on drip irrigation and other gardening books.

NOTE: The comments section at the bottom of the post has disappeared. Click on the "___ Comments" button or the title under the "Blog Archives". Thanks, Robert

Compostin' Galore, a tribute

Fall is the time to rake up leaves in much of the country. Can’t burn ‘em anymore. Your city or you’ll have to make compost.

My Dad was trained as an engineer and has always looked upon science as a firm, reliable basis for much of modern life. He always used the most modern, chemical gardening products. For years, I imagine he looked upon my organic escapades as voodoo science at best--until he started to visit my California gardens and my client's landscapes. It was the highlight of my compost crusader period to get a phone call from Dad saying that he had begun a compost area for each fall's bounty of leaves. I think he appreciated the tidiness of the compost bins I used. Being a resourceful guy, he decided to use free pallets instead of the expensive, solid redwood walls I built. He gathered pallets from various loading docks to make the walls of each bin. He alternated six to eight inch layers of leaves with two inch layers of horse manure with bedding sawdust and adds 30-0-0 fertilizer if a pile didn’t heat up enough. At first he made only two bins. After seven years of leaf composting, in the same dedicated and ambitious style he has brought to everything in his life, he had six bins, with a total capacity of 22 cubic yards--nearly half the size of a small garage! He is certainly was the "Captain-of-Compost" of Olivette, MO.

The best hot compost piles requires a minimum size of one cubic yard. This is the smallest size for a proper ratio between the mass of the interior, which must stay at a certain temperature and moisture content, and the surface area of the pile's exterior, which is giving off valuable heat and moisture. Virtually none of the expensive plastic or metal compost bins for sale have an interior volume of one cubic yard. I think my Dad had the right idea for a good bin material at an appropriate cost--wooden shipping pallets, for free.

(I use past tense as he sold the house three years ago after taking care of a ½-acre lawn – and a family of four – for 40 years. He happily lives in a much smaller place with no lawn to mow or compost to make. At 86, it’s time to retire—some.)

Let me know what you think.

Visit my web site to learn about my new book on drip irrigation and other gardening books.

NOTE: The comments section at the bottom of the post has disappeared. Click on the "___ Comments" button or the title under the "Blog Archives". Thanks, Robert

Forest Farming, the dream

One of my earliest reasons for getting into edible landscaping was the exciting work of and book by Robert A. de J. Hart. He wrote Forest Farming back in 1975. It stimulated my interest with the idea of a mixed forest that could support grazing animals like cattle and pigs. From this “free” food source would fall a plethora of nuts and fruits to be “harvested” by the animals below. In his own words: "I developed by own '3-D' system, which I called OPS--Organic Perennial Subsistence farming. That involved 'cultivating' my hedgerows by encouraging the growth of plants that contained substances particularly nourishing for cattle, such as the elder, wild rose, and hazel, and sowing some perennial pasture herbs.”

As things evolved after the publication of that first book, he added people: "But my primary aim was self-sufficiency, so I extended my system beyond livestock farming to include trees and other plants--mainly perennial--which would contribute to the health and welfare of human beings. In time, I had adopted a vegan diet.” (Note, A vegan diet. One of most strict of diets that excludes any animal products at all, even leather shoes.)

In his words, he evolved to a layered forest-like “garden” that starts with: "An old orchard, unless the trees are severely diseased. My forest garden was planted in a twenty-five-year-old small orchard of apples and pears, some of which were in a pretty poor condition. But the abundant aromatic herbs that have been planted beneath them seem to have rejuvenated them; a decrepit- looking 'Red Ellison' apple was given a new lease of life when Garnet grafted three young 'King of the Pippins' shoots onto it-- a trick that was known to the ancient Romans. These old trees constitute the 'canopy' of the forest architecture. If one is starting a forest garden from scratch, the best way to form a canopy is by planting standard apples, plums, or pears at the recommended spacing; twenty feet each way. Then fruit or nut trees on dwarfing rootstocks can be planted halfway between the standards, to form the 'low-tree layer,' and fruit bushes between all the trees to form the 'shrub layer.' Herbs and perennial vegetables will constitute the 'herbaceous layer,' and horizontally spreading plants like dewberries and other Rubus species, as well as creeping herbs such a buckler-leaved sorrel (Rumex scutatus) and lady's mantle, will form the 'ground-cover layer.' For the root vegetables, mainly radishes and Hamburg parsley, occupying the 'rhizosphere,' a low mound can be raised, so that they will not be swamped by the herbs. As for the climbers that constitute the 'vertical layer': grapevines, nasturtiums, and runner beans can be trained up the trees, while raspberries and hybrid berries, such as boysenberries and tayberries, can be trained over a trellis fence, forming a boundary to the garden."

Notice, no traditional annual vegetables except radishes.

When I visited him in 1998 he was elderly (he died in 2000) and somewhat feeble. What remained of the forest was a thicket of actual perennial edibles. But mostly cane fruits and an enormous kiwi. How many kiwis can one person eat? The local Permaculturists had opened up a “meadow” in the forest and were reintroducing traditional annual vegetables.

He lived in a very humble single room. Perhaps the most impressive action of his life was that he took care of his elder brother who was too “mentally challenged” to care for himself, Robert cared for him for his entire life. In fact, his brother had a house bigger than Robert’s room.

I left him with a copy of my Edible Landscaping book.

At the gate as I left, a “Meals–on-Wheels” type group delivered his evening meal.

(As a brief follow-up. Patrick Whitehead, who has written some of the most popular books on forest farming, took me to see his edible forest. At 15 years, it was the oldest in the UK modeled after Robert’s work. On the way he said: “It’s really just a jam and jelly forest.” When I arrived, “meadows” of apple trees, other fruit trees, and conventional vegetables were being planted.)

Little did I know a book on the subject was in the works and was called: Forest Gardening: Cultivating an Edible Landscape, and published in September, 1996.

Let me know what you think. (This from he UK: "Hello Robert

I believe that the main title came from Robert Hart himself, but I remember that the subtitle of the US edition was put on by Chelsea Green at the time, as they didn't like the rather flowery one that we had used for our edition ("Rediscovering nature and community in a post-industrial age"). As you say, Robert was a very humble man; rather Gandhian in nature, a real pioneer and very idealistic. This resulted in him handing over his house to the community he formed, and it was then taken from him by another member of the community - at least, that's what I've been told. He ended up living in rather sad circumstances, in a kind of lean-to on the side of the main house. It seems that his goodness and idealism was exploited by others.

Best wishes

John E."

Visit my web site to learn about my new book on drip irrigation and other gardening books.

NOTE: The comments section at the bottom of the post has disappeared. Click on the "___ Comments" button or the title under the "Blog Archives". Thanks, Robert

Green Manures, free nitrogen

It's almost too late plant fava beans, a legume, in the fall. The soil needs to be somewhat warm. This may work in gardens in sunny gardens in the west and south-west gardens. Alfalfa works the best with corn, but this is just for planning next years spring garden. Leave room in your plans to grow some green manures. I'm using another fava bean flower as it's the only one I have without scanning a slide, which I'm to tired to do this morning. :=)

Legumes have gotten a lot of attention because of their ability to fix, via symbiotic bacteria that colonize the plant's roots, atmospheric nitrogen gas into available, "free" fertilizer. Because gardeners are preoccupied with the amounts of nitrogen in their soil, they are often fixated on legumes as a green manure. While legumes are important in a green manure mix, they are not a panacea. And a myth, or lack of understanding, about how this nitrogen fixation really works has confused gardeners and reduced their chances to maximize the nitrogen cycle.

The common perception that growing beans and corn together will help fertilize the growing corn plants is incorrect. Nitrogen-fixing plants, in temperate climates, didn't evolve to directly share the accumulated nitrogen with other plants. The ability to fix free nitrogen "out-of-thin-air", in the bacterial nodules on the roots, is a competitive, evolutionary development. This allows leguminous plants to colonize nutrient-poor soils. Legumes are some of the first plants to inhabit disturbed soils such as landslides, cliffs, beaches, sand dunes, and fire-scorched soil. When you think about it, the compacted clay subsoil that's left after most houses are built is really a disturbed soil. The legumes use all the nitrogen they accumulate to grow and make high-nitrogen seed. While the plant is growing, the nitrogen from the nodules on its roots is temporarily "banked", or stored, in the stems and leaves of the plant. This provides plenty of nitrogen for rapid assimilation into the blossom once seed begins to form. Consequently, the green bean plant growing up a corn stalk isn't about to share its nitrogen with the corn, during the current growing season. The mature beans contain 70 to 90 percent of the entire plant's total nitrogen. After the bean drop is harvested, the roots and their nodules have as little as three to six percent of the plant's total nitrogen--not much of a legacy, or fertilizer portfolio for the "heirs". So, to harvest a bean crop and till under the dry tops of the plant means you'd be getting only a very tiny amount of nitrogen back into the soil because the seed has most of the nitrogen, little nitrogen is left in the stems, roots, and leaves, and the tops are too carbonaceous for easy decomposition. (See illustration on pg. 265 of my "Edible Landscape" book.)

During the growth of a legume, very limited amounts of root nodule nitrogen can become available when the stress of grazing, mowing, drought, or death causes some of the nodules to wither, die, and rot in the soil. This is why the old way of grazing animals on pastures of mixed grasses and legumes works so well. When the cow grazes the pasture, some of the nodules on the legume's roots "shed"--they don't really jump anywhere, they just decompose--the grasses are able to quickly absorb the freed-up nitrogen for their growth. This makes for more pasturage, which entices the cows to eat some more. Meanwhile, the nitrogen-rich legume plants and bulky grasses makes for a goodly amount of nitrogen to be recycled via the bovine posterior--with deposits called meadow muffins, pasture patties, or cow chips.

"Free" Nitrogen with Good Timing

The optimal time to till under a green manure crop for maximum nitrogen (for a subsequent crop) is just before the blooms appear. The conscientious green manurer, must "sacrifice" beautiful blossoms for the optimal amount of nitrogen. I was visiting Ros Creasy one year when almost one third of her front yard had Crimson clover in full, glorious bloom. I timidly mentioned that the best effect for nitrogen occurs prior to bloom, or up to 20 percent of bloom. "Yes," she replied, "I won't get as much nitrogen, but look how absolutely gorgeous the bloom is! I don't mind giving up a bit of the nitrogen for the floral display. Besides, Crimson clover has a decent amount of nitrogen to spare and my soil isn't in horrible shape." Yep.

Let me know what you think.

Visit my web site to learn about my new book on drip irrigation and other gardening books.

NOTE: The comments section at the bottom of the post has disappeared. Click on the "___ Comments" button or the title under the "Blog Archives". Thanks, Robert

Hey, What About Those Hay Bales?

Growing annual vegetables on hay bales is a way to rapidly add lots of compostable organic matter to the soil’s surface in a short period of time. Here’s the recipe (See illustration from Designing & Maintaining Your Edible Landscape - Naturally) based on my trial garden in 1977!

· Place four or more bales of hay (which has lots of fresh, green nutrients) or straw (with more carbon than green nutrients) in a cluster. Place the bales on their sides, with the end grain facing up, and leave the strings on them.

· Thoroughly soak the cluster of bales..

· Add an three-thick layer of fresh manure to the top (in this case, the exposed end grain) of the bales.

· Add four or more inches of soil to cap off the top of the bales. (All right, I know this requires some digging. But it’s only a one-time effort to start of a remarkable process.)

· Water all the layers again.

· Plant potatoes with plenty of loose straw on top—six inches or more.

· Keep the potatoes and bales moist.

Et voilá! The bales will grow potatoes above the ground where no gophers can get to them.

After one seasonof planting and harvest, the bales will have rotted down quite a bit. (See the photo.) Plant them with bush beans, fava beans, other types of beans or potatoes again.

Let me know what you think.

Visit my web site to learn about my new book on drip irrigation and other gardening books.

NOTE: The comments section at the bottom of the post has disappeared. Click on the "___ Comments" button or the title under the "Blog Archives". Thanks, Robert

My Virgin Kiwi Fruits

I usually cut my kiwi vines back very hard to allow for their cascade of foliage to keep my house cooler during the summer and the Indian summers. This year I was rushing to finish the revised edition of Drip Irrigation, for Every Landscape & All Climates, so the vines didn't get pruned. I've had flowers before, but this year one of the two vines brought forth dozens of flowers. Now I have dozens of fruit even though the male vine did not bloom. This is called "parthenogenesis". Fruit produced without any male fertilization. Explain that to me! Will wonders never cease. If it's like the last time this happened ten years ago, the fruits won't ripen until March! (Here the vines are cascading down two stories and out 15 feet.)

Let me know what you think.

Visit my web site to learn about my new book on drip irrigation and other gardening books.

NOTE: The comments section at the bottom of the post has disappeared. Click on the "___ Comments" button or the title under the "Blog Archives". Thanks, Robert

Collodial Phosphorus, Cool or Not So Cool?

(The view looking down on one corn plant. The top six inches of roots.

Each square is one-foot square. Applies to the previous blog)

Purplish strips at the edges of corn leaves usually indicates a deficiency in phosphorus. Some organic gardeners use colloidal phosphate as the solution to this deficiency, but consider this: colloidal phosphate is often strip-mined in Florida, washed with water (and Florida has a big problem with supplies of fresh water), loaded on train cars, and shipped to places as far away as California and Washington, where it’s sacked up and shipped to your local garden-supply store.

[As a side note: Florida mines 75 percent of the phosphorous used by American farmers and about 25 percent of the entire world production. Phosphate ore must be chemically processed with sulfuric acid. When sulfuric acid reacts with the phosphate it produces a slightly radioactive byproduct known as phosphogypsum. According to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, there are a billion tons of phosphogypsum stacked across the state and 30 million tons are generated each year.]

And the total amount of phosphorus (P₂O₅) in the sack is only 16 percent of all the bagged-up bulk, of which a mere two percent is available the first gardening season since the phosphorus is locked up in a mineralized form that requires the activity of soil microbes, soil bacteria, and exudates. (Exudates come from the roots and aid in the nutrient-release process by releasing; sugars, organic acids, and other compounds to dissolve minerals into a soluble state and stimulate the soil’s microbial action.) Unnecessary water use, exploitation of limited resources and wasted energy—all wrapped in a single bag. Add to this the fact that there is a limited supply of easily mined colloidal phosphorus. It’s much like oil: will we have enough in the future? Will we be able to find enough new supplies if the current mines are exhausted? Some say the U.S. supply will be gone by 2035. The world supply make be depleted in 50-100 years.

Choosing to buy commercial colloidal phosphate really means making a very important environmental decision. This is especially clear when one compares the environmental cost of imported amendments to the energy-efficiency of “growing” phosphorus at home by planting legumes and tilling the young foliage into the soil. Thus the gardener has two choices: (1) import nutrients, organic or not, to force an intensive yield, or (2) use wider spacing when planting and/or rotate heavy-feeder crops with a season of legumes to cut down on the competition for available nutrients. Whichever you choose, don’t grow corn in the same spot every year, as it will exhaust much of the nitrogen. Instead, alternate corn crops with green manures—that also increase available phosphorus.

Let me know what you think.

Visit my web site to learn about my new book on drip irrigation and other gardening books.

NOTE: The comments section at the bottom of the post has disappeared. Click on the "___ Comments" button or the title under the "Blog Archives". Thanks, Robert