that looks beautiful!
Our first year here, the garden was so bad, that I felt like running behind the horses with a basket to catch the manure.that looks beautiful!
In stead I called a horse event center nearby and we hauled load after load of pine shavings and horse poop, dumping it on the ground and spreading it.
San Juaquin Valley, Cal., high desert , circa 50+/- years ago ... sandy - clayey soil with hardpan ranging from on top to 5 feet below surface , tumble weeds, jack rabbits and coyotes galore ... to make the Desert bloom ... Dam was built in the Sierra Nevada mts. to catch snow melt, irrigation canals were built to criss cross the valley. Orchard and Vinyard farmers started to improve their lands using tractors with 2" hole drills to drill down to their hilt leangth to plant orchard trees and grape vines. Next, they dropped in dinamite charges down these holes, then blew up the hard pans , next they used land plains to fill in the new holes so that they could plant orchard trees or grape vines. Followed by chemical fertilizers by the truck load. Brought prosperity that rivaled the gold rush. I owned 20 acres of land there without the benefit of irrigation, but I had a very good water well that allowed me to raise 30+/- horses that pooped a lot. I spread the manure at the rate of 6 inches deep onto my garden and fruit trees resuting in great yields. I also did the same onto the pastures... the new greass would grow up to a foot taller than the areas that still awaited manure.
I remember reading all about that somewhere. Thanks for bringing that back to mind
Nice answer. Thanks. The daikons are certainly a new though that gave me a laugh. I've put down seeds for about 40 different species of prairire grasses and flowers, including deep rooted ones like leadplant and big bluestem, and am excited to see it change over the years.arid/alkaline hard pan forms in low rainfall places with mineral soils because what little rain they get washes the dissolved minerals down only so far where they reform.
this is why arid climates can have such difficult soils on top and poor drainage below.
once you understand that life loves pH about 6-7 then learn about what tree roots and other plant roots do to bedrock (they give off acids to dissolve rock) you can begin to understand how to regenerate any climate on this planet where people can live. plant things, grow things, harvest things, but make sure you don't remove organic matter from the surface. keep it covered, keep growing things. the best plants to break through hardpan will be those with the deeper roots. alfalafa can put roots down a long ways given enough time. grape vines too. start with small trees, legumes, when they get so far chop them back, pile that around them and let them regrow, keep at it. in 5-10yrs you have shade and a windbreak and these trees will flower and attract wildlife, birdies bring in seeds and fertilizer of their own. next thing you know you have a food forest. in an arid climate where you manage your water you can perpetuate this system indefinitely.
just make sure you don't over pump your aquifer.
in MN, you're in no danger of that in most places. in Mid-Michigan we're not in danger of that either. we hardly touch the well most of the day for months a time when the rains and snows are coming down.
diakon radishes and turnips are great worm food, and i like the turnips as people food. parsnips, carrots, etc. all root crops will help put some holes down. fill them full of organic material and those are worm homes which give the worms places to hide during the hotter part of the summer and coldest parts of the winter.
any time you can chop and drop any green cover plants growing to encourage worm life then that pays off for future fertility.
if you are trying to restore a prairie it is often a good idea to do this once in a while just to make sure any dry standing grasses left over get a chance to be digested. kinda like a wildfire without the flames. if you time it you can do it to benefit the plants you want to encourage and to discourage weeds you don't want. it also can help out some bird species that may nest or forage in the grassland.
nature is so interesting, i can't ever get over how much more there is to learn...
I totally agree. My experience with cardboard is that exposure to elements breaks it down faster than I would have thought, and it certainly keeps weeds from sprouting. Adding manure on TOP, where it can seep down slowly after rain/snow is a great idea.
