CLOVER AND BEANS
Clover and beans fix nitrogen and enrich the soil.
HOW WE'RE DOING WITH OUR TERRA PRETA
Our terra preta soil conversion is coming along quite well. We have some biochar throughout the whole garden, but will probably be adding more as time goes on and the spirit moves us. We think that there is no theoretical limit to how much biochar you can use, so we will just keep adding it.
Our terra preta garden is extremely productive and there is a lot of vigorous growth. We have had corn, several kinds of squash, several kinds of tomatoes, several kinds of beans, a lot of different kinds of peppers, eggplants, herbs, some onions, strawberries, and even some flowers. The flowers are primarily for attracting pollinators into the garden, but it is a side-benefit that they make the garden pretty and more fun to look at.
And best of all, these vegetables and the strawberries are among the tastiest that I have ever known. Yum.
AZTEC PLANTING STRATEGY
In planting our vegetables, we did not put them in tidy rows. Instead, we used an ancient Aztec method of grouping plants that like to be together. The Aztecs placed the corn, beans, and squash (called "the three sisters") together so that the corn supported the beans, and the squash protected the roots of the corn and kept them cool. Also, the squash covered the ground and helped to prevent evaporation of the water from the soil. It all worked for us for awhile.
However, as the summer waxed on, I found that I did not like this arrangement. The beans grew taller than the corn, and so I had to stake them anyway. The beans wrapped around the ears of corn and made it difficult to harvest the corn without damaging the bean vines. Because the squash plant was prolific and prickly, it made it difficult to harvest the corn and beans that were in the middle of it. And the squash got its inevitable fungus and had to be pulled out anyway.
CAN COPPER COILS KEEP FUNGUS AT BAY?
Speaking of fungus, we had an interesting experience with one of our cucumber plants. I bought some copper refrigerator coil to use as a support for some cucumber plants, figuring that it was reusable and therefore more economical than wooden stakes that would rot after a short use.
I plunged one end of the copper coil into the ground, and then twisted it around in a direction that I thought the plant may enjoy growing. Then I cut the coil and plunged the other end into the ground. I crossed this with another piece of copper coil to make something like a tent. I tied some twine from the crossing point and down the sides to support and lead the cucumber plant upward.
To our amazement, the cucumber plant that had the greatest amount of copper coil in contact with its leaves has lasted about 10 times longer than any of the others. It is still putting out new growth and bearing cucumbers after all the other cucumbers and squash plants have died, and even though the fungus is eating it up too.
This makes some sense, in that the only control that I know of for the fungus is a copper fungicide spray (I did not buy the spray because it is not an organic product, it is hideously expensive, and it only works for a very short time anyway). So I hope some of you will try this too and let me know if this has worked for you, or if maybe what happened with that one plant was just an anomaly. This bears some more research.
Also, as I recall, Jerry Baker ("America's Gardener") of PBS used to recommend putting pieces of metal rod (cut-up clothes hangers, actually) vertically into the ground in the garden. He said that it channels static electricity, which helps to fix nitrogen in the ground, just like lightening does on a much larger scale. So the copper coil in our terra preta is probably also helping to fertilize it too.
FISH FARMING
