Comments on: Can I have too Much Compost? http://sustainablesmallholding.org/can-i-have-too-much-compost/ Permaculture, and Sustainable practices on a Lincolnshire Smallholding Tue, 26 Apr 2016 08:13:21 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.5.3 By: Deano http://sustainablesmallholding.org/can-i-have-too-much-compost/#comment-404 Sat, 07 Jan 2012 18:55:46 +0000 http://deanom.wordpress.com/?p=1724#comment-404 Hi keith
Thanks for the comment.
I think that whilst it’s good to try different ways to grow things, we need to concentrate on what works best. I feel that digging, where appropriate, works best, especially on my clay. I also dislike dogma, and too many people are rigidly sticking to a system that may not be right, just because they beleive that it is better, without trying alternatives.
The increase in grain is part of an experiment to produce a food growing system,that also provides it’s own fertility. As the effects of Peak Oil increase, we are going to need simple food growing systems, that do not require fossil fuels. For those who will have left it too late, trees will take too long to fill in the shortfall, whereas grains/vegetables will only take one season.
You’re thoughts on growing annuals around trees are absolutely correct, but I think that people will need to feed themselves first, and then plan for a longer future second. Sadly,too many of them will leave it too late, or not have access to enough space to look after themselves.

Lovely to hear from you
Deano

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By: Keith http://sustainablesmallholding.org/can-i-have-too-much-compost/#comment-403 Fri, 06 Jan 2012 07:44:44 +0000 http://deanom.wordpress.com/?p=1724#comment-403 keep up the good fight deano. i too have come to the realization (after a year of experimentations) that a more conventional approach will do wonders for certain crops. by which i mean that digging, composting, and weeding exist in farming for a reason. while i am down with, eating the weeds, and do nothing farming, and broadcasting seeds (and i have learned A LOT from these methods in a year) Simply flinging seeds and amenments around willy nilly might improve my soil long term, but it makes my current yields look weak.

i saw you mentioned not using as many trees and ramping up grains. i would recommend you think closely about this. my guess is you are saying this because its an immediate return, but thats kind of the urge we need to fight. for instance, ive read that the chestnut is grain equivalent to corn… if im remembering correctly. so planting corn around a young chestnut makes sense. eventually in your older age whatever that might be you will have chestnuts with very little work… you know this im sure

just remember that grains take a lot of processing (as well as the planting etc) just as do walnuts. neither is a free lunch but grains aren’t the answer. my guess is you’d be better off on your farm without a single grain species, than without a nut tree. 2 cents.

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By: Deano http://sustainablesmallholding.org/can-i-have-too-much-compost/#comment-402 Mon, 19 Dec 2011 17:12:02 +0000 http://deanom.wordpress.com/?p=1724#comment-402 I’m looking at concentrating the compost for plants that really need it, and leaving some beds with less fertility. It would be nice to get to a point where I can combine fertility building plants, with heavy feeders, and not make compost at all.
take Care
Deano

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By: A Life Less Simple http://sustainablesmallholding.org/can-i-have-too-much-compost/#comment-401 Sat, 17 Dec 2011 22:02:15 +0000 http://deanom.wordpress.com/?p=1724#comment-401 Interesting one that I sometimes play with and then push to the back of my mind as with the old bedding from the goats I’m sure that some things don’t do as well as they could because of too much compost. Squash seem to do well on my ‘no dig’ beds (a layer of cardboard with whole houses worth of old bedding placed on top and left to rot down for a few months) and along with potatoes I am hoping to bring my use of wheat down to a minimum.
Poppy

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By: Deano http://sustainablesmallholding.org/can-i-have-too-much-compost/#comment-400 Fri, 02 Dec 2011 19:52:51 +0000 http://deanom.wordpress.com/?p=1724#comment-400 Hi Chris
Followed your details toyour site, and saw that you were a LAND site. I couldn’t find the greywater details from following the link, but did take a look at your reed bed stuff. I grew some from seed, which have done very well.

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