Planning the Winter Field

This will be the third season of cover-/smother-cropping the Top Field -- the third pass at trying to smother out the grass (mostly Buffalo, some Kikuyu) and "weeds" that are growing there, but mostly aimed at creating bulk organic matter to compost in place as soil improver. And it's working! Already we see big improvements in water retention, soil texture and organic matter, nutrition, and species diversity.

The ultimate goal for the Top Field system is to build a permanent pasture system for rotation-feeding Chickens in an avenue-cropping scheme, with fruit trees and edible/fruiting shrub, herb, subterranean and climbing layers on contour. The entire field area is about 90x30m (on average), and so far I have only been working on reviving the 20x20m block closest to the house, so it's going to take some time. Part of the reason for starting so "small and slow" is to gain practical experience with different cover-crop mixes and with planting timing and sequencing, but now it's time to start expanding our efforts a bit.

The basic sequence is to broadcast a mix of season-appropriate seeds -- the greater the variety, the better! -- directly into the tall (knee-high) standing grasses and "weeds", and then to follow up by slashing down all the tall growth to cover the seed and compost in place. This has been a bit hit-and-miss. Some plant varieties have performed quite well, while others clearly expect some gentler TLC and have failed to live up to our hopes.(Reminder to self: A good topic for another blog-post sometime...)

For each season, I want a mix of plants that includes at least:

• a legume or two for nitrogen-fixing
• a root crop capable of opening-up the upper layers of the soil and
• a deep-rooted variety that will create channels for water and nutrients all the way down to the underlying clay base, and will also dredge up nutrients from those deeper layers
• tall, leafy crops that will shade out the grass and eventually create a great bulk of organic mulch when I cut them down

If some of these are edibles, so much the better, but at this stage it's not a priority.

So, for the coming Winter, I have this list so far:

• White Mustard -- soil fumigant, good leaf bulk, bird forage and has done well in the field in the past.
• Oats -- a tall variety for shading and straw-bulk. Grains generally have done quite well, though by themselves they cannot produce enough shade.
• Sweet Lupin -- N-fixer, legume, strong taproot and well suited to our heavy soil.
• Rape or a large Kale -- leafy, quick to decompose and good through Winter around here.
• Fodder Radish/Turnip/Beet -- for those big roots to drill open the soil!
• Grazing Vetch/Purple Vetch -- Grazing Vetch is my first choice for its creeping growth habit which, I am hoping, will form a good live cover beneath the other crops, helping to smother grasses. Purple Vetch has a more upright growth habit, but is in there as a fallback option.
• Wheat/Rye/Barley/Barley-Wheat/Triticale -- any grain, really, mainly to feed the wildlife and Chickens if we get around to building the infrastructure we need in time.
• Cowpeas -- because legumes! Also, I have a bag handy that needs to be used before the seed gets too old.

The larger-seeded varieties will probably have to be drilled in after I have slashed down the Summer growth, so that's quite a lot of work, but the others should be quite quick and easy.

New Webside Story

Finally finished the first in a series (well, that's what I'm aiming for...) on the website: The Great Fly Swatting of '05.  The title keeps meandering all over the map...  Hope you enjoy!

Stuff going on at Braamekraal:

• Embarked on a soil-remineralisation program, after reading loads of stuff about William Albrecht's methods of soil analysis.  Must write about this soon.
• Beds dug for Peas, Broadbeans interplanted with Lentils so that the Lentils can climb up the Broadbean "poles".
• Compost bins rearranged to accomodate the ever-increasing girth of the Banana clump.  Dead Banana trunks chopped out.  More work than you might think!
• Good progress on the seed-saving website software; probably about 50% of the way "there".  I'll write more in a few weeks/months when its closer to being unleashed.
• Still no money. Still laughing about it.
• Still haven't brewed :-(  Lazy bugger!
• Still enjoying the Peace And Quiet of Just The Two Of Us.  Son#1 and fiancee expected back at the end of the month.

What a beautiful day today.  Far to magical to spend time with the PC...

Summer Woes

Blight -- the fungal disease that killed an estimated 2 million of some of my ancestors -- has hit the Tomatoes. First to succumb were the Cherokee Purple, and, being in the bed next to the Lime Green Salad Tomatoes, have passed it on.  The Lime Green seem naturally quite resistant, so there is still some hope.  Also threatened are the Taxi (big yellow tomato, good for cooking, not so great raw) and Tigerella.

I took a calculated risk this year in planting the number and variety of Tomatoes that I have -- some nine varieties, in all -- and several of them, Cherokees included, are no more than days away from first harvest.  Luckily more than half the plants (and most especially the prized and beloved Brandywines) are situated down in the veggie garden -- almost 100m away from the blighty ones, and no signs of Blight down there yet.

Normally if we get a touch of Blight, it only comes around mid-Feb -- our humid season -- but this year has been exceptionally humid exceptionally early, so no real surprise.

As loath as I was, I could see no alternative, and sprayed all the Tomatoes and Potatoes with Bordeaux mixture.  I hate the thought, and it is the first time in over ten years here that I have ever had to resort to such drastic measures, but many of these Tomato varieties are "first timers" for us, and heirlooms that I have gone to considerable trouble to source seed for, So I really, really need to save seed from them.  The Bordeaux mix seems to have checked the Blight quite successfully for now, but rain is forecast for tonight, so I guess I'll need to spray them all again tomorrow.

We don't have the "luxury" here of a sophisticated "organic growing" supply chain, such as enjoyed in more first world circumstances, so I was not able to simply go out and buy Bordeaux mix.  Actually it is really simple to make, and very much cheaper than commercial preparations:

Into 9 litres water, dissolve 100g Copper Sulphate.  In a little water (a cup or so) dissolve 100g quicklime (a.k.a. "builders lime" -- very cheap at building-supply stores.)  Be careful to add the lime slowly to the water, and not the other way around, as the reaction when they mix generates considerable heat.  Pour the lime-water mix into the Copper Sulphate mix and stir well.  That's your Bordeaux mix.  Spray it thoroughly onto the affected leaves, stems and fruits.  Any badly affected leaves/fruits should be removed from the plant and burned immediately.  Also avoid planting Blight-prone plants in the same place again for a few years -- which leaves me with very few options next year!

I hate this solution!  I firmly believe that the soil-resident fungi are key players in liberating nutrients for plants, and always take an active soil-fungus population as a sign of good soil health.  Bordeaux mix can only affect these badly.

Interestingly, though, the Blight struck in very new beds -- first developed last year -- where the soil is still very heavy, cloddy and way out of balance.  In the veggie garden, where beds are much better established and much more mature, even quite Blight-prone varieties are still healthy and strong.  Evidence that the soil is supporting their needs much better than the new beds?