[Farmall] O/T...."what can I grow"?

[James Moran]

As nearly as I can tell, many years ago, a portion of the field between the street and where my house sits (about 1/3 of five acres or so) was "box scraped" to gather fill for another part of the property.  This activity denuded the patch of the topsoil....the unaffected area is really quite "rich" and grass grows profusely.  Sadly, the scraping was executed in what might be called the "middle" of this field, leaving behind stones of various sizes and a clay-ish subsoil.  Over time, I have unearthed a lot of the rocks (more to go, naturally) but, due to the poor condition of the dirt, the grass/weeds and such refuse to take hold and fill in.  I am not chasing down "commerce", here.  I was thinking, however, that maybe I could get some success (and a bit of a different appearance) by doing  some more clearing and tilling of the "affected" area.  I have noticed that wild onions seem to do well around my property and my thinking went to other "bulb" plants (e.g., garlic,
 scallions, horseradish, etc.).  Alternatively, maybe cultivating the soil, cutting the area with something such as peat moss and randomly strewing wild flower seeds would result in a nice look, breaking up the monotony of just green grass. Hey...just some random thoughts and, on the plus side, it would provide with another justification to spending more time up on a tractor. ;-)
Thanks for your suggestions.
Jim

John Hall <jthall at worldnet.att.net> wrote: Talk to your local FSA and get some ideas of crops. Send off a bunch of soil 
samples (its free in NC) to see just how poor the soil really is--make a map 
of the farm when you do this as your results may require micro-managing to 
get the farm uniform. When you send in the samples, indicate what you would 
like to grow and they can let you know how much the "correction" amounts of 
fertilizer and lime (if used in your area) would be.

A lot of small acreages do big business on vegetable crops and ornamentals. 
One thing that is labor intensive and requires a good location (near larger 
poplations) is a corn maze.

John

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "James Moran" 
To: 
Sent: Saturday, November 10, 2007 5:59 PM
Subject: [Farmall] O/T...."what can I grow"?


> Without doubt, some of you folks are farmers.  I am in upstate New York 
> and portions of my residential property (25 acres or so, total) are of 
> poor, clay-like make up.  Some areas will not even support grass.  Could I 
> cultivate and, then, successfully grow garlic or horseradish or SOMETHING? 
> What can any of you advise?
> Thanks.
> Jim
>
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