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

[James Moran]

JH-
All good thoughts.  Funny, for years and years we kept horses and would pile the manure and let is "cool" for a season.  Now, the horses are gone, as is their "by product". ;-)  We can easily get "mulch" from the Town's cleanup activities for the residential pickups.  However...I have had bad experiences with that stuff due to insect and poison ivy infiltration.  Hay I can get (straw too) easily enough....any suggestions as to the "cut" or "blend".  What would I do....strew it about and, then, cut it into the soil with a tiller?
Thanks...(certainly cheaper than commercial peat moss and such).
Jim

John Hall <jthall at worldnet.att.net> wrote: Try adding organic matter back. Any horsefarms nearby that could bring a few 
loads of shavings/manure? You may have to issues if you get too much 
ammonia. How about a few loads of ground up tree trimmings from the power 
line crews? Any hay farmers with round bales been sitting around for 2 or 3 
years outdoors?
Just some thoughts.

John

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "James Moran" 
To: "Farmall/IHC mailing list" 
Sent: Sunday, November 11, 2007 8:32 AM
Subject: Re: [Farmall] O/T...."what can I grow"?


> 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  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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