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![]() Huge pink buds under the
leaf
mulch give way to
pale yellow leaves --- the rhubarb is ready to grow. I rake
autumn leaves off the rhubarbs, strawberries, and asparagus to give my
early risers an opportunity to bask in the early spring sun.
Within minutes, I count two salamanders, half a dozen spiders, and
innumerable worms. It may just be my imagination, but the soil
seems more alive than in mulchless Marches. Once my plants spread
out a bit, I'll push the dead leaves back underneath as mulch, but for
now I don't want my perennials to fade away from lack of sunlight. Don't miss my series on wild
chickens, chicken coops, tractors and more this week on my chicken blog.
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Photos
Alas, I have no rhubarb wisdom for you but I just wanted to compliment you on the photos. I haven't found any amphibians yet on my urban property but there seems to be a healthy garter snake population.
Comment by
Yanna
— Thursday night, March 11th, 2010
That's a good question, and I don't really have enough data to back up
my feeling. But I have read that roots
extend past the dripline of trees and shrubs, so the hedges should
be fixing nitrogen out in the pasture itself. Also, people have
experimented quite sucessfully with alley
cropping --- using nitrogen-fixing trees on the borders of fields
to fertilize the plants growing in the sun in the fields
themselves. I'd think having a nitrogen-fixing hedge would work
similarly to the alley cropping system.
Comment by
— late Thursday evening, March 11th, 2010
Why would having a nitrogen fixer as a hedge make sense? Any nitrogen fixed would stay firmly in place under the hedge until you dug the hedge out.
Comment by
— late Thursday evening, March 11th, 2010
I'm going to have to do some research on the Siberian Pea Shrub. Its name sounds so familiar --- I think they talk about it in several permaculture books I've read. Having a nitrogen fixer as a hedge could make a lot of sense...
Comment by
— late Thursday afternoon, March 11th, 2010
Thank you all for the suggestions! I'll have to give them a shot. (Ikwig, I'm afraid I'm guilty of that same logic when I eat pumpkin pie for breakfast...
)
Comment by
— late Thursday afternoon, March 11th, 2010
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