One of the topics that comes up time and time again is cover crops, which can be used in the garden, in pasture improvement, in
soil-building, and, of course, as forage.
"We crafted a specific rotation and
soil-building program to allow this property to be farmed organically at this scale.
In northern gardens, it's best to not introduce earthworms, but seek out
soil-building methods that work for those particular types of soil.
In spring, we apply a Biodynamic field spray before disking to maximize
soil-building properties.
But most, the NRCS'S Scarpitti says, use "rotational tillage"--they till in some years but not others, thus losing any long-term
soil-building benefit.
The organic materials used offer a metered, long-term supply of
soil-building nutrients.
Gaining Ground Farm got its name from two sources: owner Anne Grier's maiden name, Gaines, and the
soil-building philosophy adopted by she and her husband, Aaron Grier.
This research also demonstrates, however, that the
soil-building benefits of organic farming may not be realized because of difficulty controlling weeds in organic systems, particularly reduced-tillage organic systems.
You can see where you want to make changes in this year's garden: grow pole beans for their greater productivity in limited space (vertical gardening), put in more beets and turnips for winter use, grow more of the long-keeping winter squash, find more
soil-building materials to till into your garden.
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Soil-building practices, such as gathering, composting and spreading manure, are more costly than conventional methods, which mostly involve the use of chemical fertilizers.
This time, the
soil-building legume is not peanuts, but alfalfa, which is also being used to produce industrial products and considered as a source of ethanol.