Soil Conference

Day two of the conference was jam packed with speakers and opportunities to ask questions. I took full advantage of those times to ask the experts my questions. 

The big takeaway from Day 1 was to always keep your ground covered to protect the soil/build quality and health. Question one for me was how do I do that with a garden? Question two was how do I get the cover off without chemicals or equipment?

Answers: Plant a blend of seeds (don't have my list handy) to overwinter. Then in the spring when the seeds have grown and are flowering (about May when you want to plant), use a crimper to squish the plants down. If they don't die from that, put black plastic over them to heat them enough to kill them. Then take the plastic off and plant seeds directly in the dry plant matter. I got a different list of seeds to mix and plant in the spring (since I didn't plant any cover crop in the fall). 

The guy who answered my questions said his brother did that in his 1/10th of an acre garden and only had to pull about six weeds all summer. Wow. Sign me up! He also said his brother invented a self-propelled planter for one row in the garden. He took the blades off a rototiller and installed one planter bin from an old planter on the machine instead. Now it takes him about an hour to plant the garden, an hour to crimp it in May, and he's good to go for the summer.

I also talked to Forever Green, an initiative to help farmers keep their ground covered. They directed me to Albert Lea Seeds to buy my seed mixture. I talked to another organization that has native prairie plants/seeds about how to convert my lawn into a pasture for my goats. The guy I spoke with didn't have any direct information, but he said that topic was actually niggling at his brain for a while, so I gave him the necessary boost to actually research it and find an answer. So he'll get back to me once he knows more. 

Next on my list, buy seed!