Video Clip: Weed Em and Reap Part 2. Living Mulch System: Soil Fertility

Source:

Weed 'Em and Reap Part 2: Reduced tillage strategies for vegetable cropping systems [DVD]. A. Stone. 2006. Oregon State University Dept. of Horticulture. Corvallis, Oregon. Available at: http://www.weedemandreap.org (verified 17 Dec 2008).

 

This is a Weed 'Em and Reap Part 2 video clip.

Watch video clip at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQ-eXqe8KSs

Featuring

Helen Atthowe, BioDesign Farm. Stevensville, MT.  

Audio Text

Soil Fertility

One of the exciting things that we’ve learned in exploring this living mulch system is number one: the nutrient balance that we’re seeing and number two: the side benefits of all of the organic residue addition over the last eleven years. We’ve found that this organic residue, even these legumes, that of course are nitrogen-fixing, that we add to the soil doesn’t necessarily provide nutrients immediately. When we mow like this, when we do the continuous residue application throughout the growing season, what we’re doing is building up a foundation of soil fertility that then releases slowly. So this residue that I’m mowing here, may be the nutrients for my crop next year.

 

Published January 19, 2009

This is an eOrganic article and was reviewed for compliance with National Organic Program regulations by members of the eOrganic community. Always check with your organic certification agency before adopting new practices or using new materials. For more information, refer to eOrganic's articles on organic certification.