Organic Gardening Info from Peaceful Valley

This was posted as a comment on Cover Crop Solutions. It has been moved here for the sake of visibility.

Hey I just bought some crop. I heard raking it in was a good idea. I did this, but it was soooo time consuming. I got out my tiller and set it to a very very shallow setting, and quickly moved it through. I have planted rye and clover, the seeds are pretty small. There’s only about a quarter inch of soil on the seeds, some being closer to the top than others. Is this a problem?

A PVFS Customer Email – with Staff response.

Question:

I used a 50lb bag of budget soil builder mix last year but only plan to use 1/2 that amount this year and would like to know if I can store the unused amount along with the unused amount of the innoculant for the following year if it would be ok.
The other question I have is on the mini perennial clover-grass mix (SCM750) and the low-growing clover mix (SCM700). Which one would be a better long term use with the least amount of care and how much water should I expect to give them and how tall should I let them grow before mowing them. I have pretty light sandy soil where my fruit tress are planted and I plan to use one of these produts in between my fruit trees to keep the dust down and leave the area around the trees rototilled. Thank you.

Answer:

The seed should be fine if you store it in a cool, dry place. You should purchase new inoculant next year, however.

Both the low growing clover and the mini clover-grass mix are good choices as far as low maintenance. It just depends on whether you want some grass as well as the clover. They are both perennial mixes, so you should expect to water regularly (the frequency and length of time really depends on how fast draining your sandy soil is. Keep in mind that the trees like deeper watering, you might consider sprayers for between the trees and soakers around the dripline of the trees). Once established, you can mow after about 4″. Fall would be the best time to plant.

Hope that helps and thank you for growing organically!

One of our customers is experimenting with covercrops in their landscaping and I thought you would all enjoy their pictures and story. The following is posted below with permission from Chris from his blog, The Urban Dirt Farmer.

Hi, I’m Buckwheat.

According to several sources, Buckwheat is a very good ground cover/soil builder.

After learning that the buckwheat these sources spoke of was not the character from the Little Rascals, but rather some sort of plant that grows in the ground, things made a little more sense.

Buckwheat is a fast growing, drought tolerant, heat resistant cover crop. Additionally, it builds soil and forces out weeds. We planted in early July and it was over 100 degrees for several days in a row.

Here’s what we did:

1. Tilled up the entire front yard with a tiller. It took all day, but beat the alternative of walking on it for a few days with those spiky shoes your dad had to aerate the lawn when you were a kid.

2. Took the seed mixture (Buckwheat/Cowpeas) we purchased from Peaceful Valley Farm and Garden Supply, followed the instructions and then spread them with a seed/fertilizer spreader.

3. Used a rake to even out the dirt and at least partially cover the seeds.

4. Watered 3 times a day for the first two weeks.

After one day, you could see the seeds sprouting and putting down roots. After a week, the plants were all about an inch or two inches high.

Little House on the Prarie

Uh. So our front yard has some buckwheat in it. This is after about 4 weeks of growth. The highest plants are about 3′ tall. The stuff that gets more shade isn’t as robust. Here’s another picture from further back.

So the stuff is really blowing up. There are a few bald spots which we re-seeded yesterday to help fill in.

It also just so happens that our next door neighbor is a bee keeper. I’m not making this up. She said that her bees are now off the sugar water (literally) and using our front yard. This is great news because bees are important to human life and stuff. Here’s a photo of me in the front yard.

The plants have these teeny tiny white flowers that the bees actually prefer to larger blooms for some reason.

I’m Ready for My Closeup Mr. DeMille

Say cheese Buckwheat!

Oh, own it, Buckwheat. Give me some emotion! Make love to the camera!

The Sand Lot

We have another part of our property that was just beat to hell when the house was being built. The ground got so compacted that it looked like it’d never grow anything again. It was another one of those things I didn’t take a picture of, but the following photo reenactment sums up what it looked like:

We had a similar mission to our front yard: build soil and prevent erosion. Because this side yard area is covered with trees and due to the abundant shade, buckwheat was not an option. My wife, who likes to read, figured out that the perfect ground cover would be Strawberry, or Palestine, Clover. It is heat tolerant, builds soil well, grows moderately fast, and can even be mowed if one so desires. The seeds were again purchased from Peaceful Valley. These things look like poppy seeds, but sadly can’t be made into street-grade heroine. We again tilled up the ground (hard in spots where there was just bare limestone, but I did my best to ruin the blades on my tiller) and then planted. Here’s what it looks like after three weeks:

Now bear with me for a sec. Please understand that this used to look like a scene from the 70’s D Movie Cannibal Holocaust. Allegedly the clover is supposed to grow quite thickly once it’s established. Here’s a closeup of the little guys:

They are a little slower growing than I’d like, but they are getting the job done. They stand up to being walked on and stuff (like when I have to move the sprinkler and whatnot). This will hopefully be our default ground cover once we decide what to do with our overall landscaping plan.

PVFS Customer Email – Staff response.
Question:

Hello!

I would need to order white clover seeds to reshape my lawn, but before
doing so, I need to know:

1- how to seed them, and how to water them until they make roots. I have a
sprinkler system in my lawn (watering often between 4 an 8 in the morning,
as advised, does not stop my lawn from burning or dying!)

2- how would the white clover do under trees (maple, pine, but mostly oaks)
with dense shade, and where the grass has almost totally vanished. I know
that the acidity of the pine needles on the ground kills about everything,
but I cannot cut it.

I live in upstate New York, around the city of Rochester, and our Summer
has been especially hot and humid this year, as you must know. The lawn is
sunny areas is all yellow or gone. The only green spots I have are the ones
with clover. The white clovers even keep the grass it covers green. Just
amazing!

Thank you very much for your help.

Sincerely

Answer:

We carry 3 types of perennial white clover, (see page 62 of our main
catalog). The White Dutch prefers a little shade and the other two are more
heat tolerant.  The best time to put the seed out would be in fall when the
air temperature cools and the soil is still warm. You must keep the seed
damp after putting it out, which can mean watering 3 or more times per day
if its still warm out. When you see a green flush, you can beginning
increasing the length of time you water and water less frequently as the
weather dictates.
Clover is in the legume family.  They are able to take nitrogen from the air
and fix it in the soil.  They are sometimes hampered by commercial nitrogen
fertilizing.
Hope this information helps,

Question from a PVFS customer sent by email and an answer from our staff.

Question:

I heard of liquid fish and other kinds of plant aids a few days ago and would appreciate your advice. What would you recommend for Fescue grasses, Bermuda grasses , Kentucky Bluegrass, and a variety of clovers grasses? And approximately how much should be applied to an acre? What would be approximate cost?

Thank you for your consideration on this matter.

Answer:

Yes, liquid fish is great for grasses as well as other plants! The rate is 10-20 gal/acre, the cost is $49.99 per 5 Gal, $219.00 per 55 Gallon drum (plus shipping and tax). Another excellent liquid to consider is Aerated Compost Tea. We sell it at here in Grass Valley, CA to local customers and the response has been tremendous for lawns, ornamentals, veggies, etc. You might check around your area for it. For ordering products for producing Compost tea click here.

Thanks you for growing organically!

Cover cropping is a hot topic at Peaceful Valley right now! Wise farmers and gardeners are planting cool season annual legumes and grasses now in order to till in in the spring. It’s a cheap and practical way to add good nutrition and organic matter to the soil.

For the more poetically inspired, I came across a beautiful poem by Wendell Berry, an eloquent writer and careful farmer:

“Enriching the Earth”
To enrich the earth I have sowed clover and grass
to grow and die. I have plowed in the seeds
of winter grains and of various legumes,
their growth to be plowed in to enrich the earth.
I have stirred into the ground the offal
and the decay of the growth of past seasons
and so mended the earth and made its yield increase.
All this serves the dark. I am slowly falling
into the fund of things. And yet to serve the earth,
not knowing what I serve, gives a wideness
and a delight to the air, and my days
do not wholly pass. It is the mind’s service,
for when the will fails so do the hands
and one lives at the expense of life.
After death, willing or not, the body serves,
entering the earth. And so what was heaviest
and most mute is at last raised up into song.
~~~~~~~~~~

If you liked that, you’ll LOVE “Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front”
Here’s a snippet, “Invest in the millennium. Plant sequoias. Say that your main crop is the forest that you did not plant, that you will not live to harvest Say that the leaves are harvested when they have rotted into the mold. Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.”