30 August 2007 Preparing Garden Area for 2008 Season. http://quooy.notlong.com/ 30 August 2007 Preparing Garden for the 2008 season. Conditioning the soil, by adding fiber. Partially composted wood chips are available from a city park The chips are transported in a box of half a yard in my van. Three cubic yards were spread on the garden area, then rototilled into the underlying soil. The are of the garden is 1000 square feet. The area was raked smooth and planted with double cut annual red clover as a cover crop. In the Spring of 2008 the clover will be weed-wacked and rototilled into the soil. This preparation makes the soil more friable and fixes nitrogen for plant use. Crops remaining at this time are brussel sprouts, root parsley, turnip, carrots, okra, artichokes, and peppers.. I simply worked around these plants, since the area involved is small. http://www.durgan.org/Blog/Durgan.html
http://huera.notlong.com/ 30 September 2007 Cover crop of double cut red annual clover. Growth is a bit slow due to lack of rain, but there is still time for it to get much larger before a major frost.
http://zeefo.notlong.com/ 21 October 2007 Update indicating the growth of the Annual Double-cut Red Clover winter cover crop.
Wow, that is really awesome. We don't have as far as I can tell a free bark system. The city's shredded bark goes back to the city's parks. We had some forest fires, that burned a lot of acres. I wonder if they would let people gather some dead trees, etc. and shred them, maybe we would have less of a fire. Most of the fires were caused by lightning, but some a campfire that someone thought was put out and some were by arson or kids. How big is that garden plot?
Arborist wood chips may sometimes be available from a tree service working in your area. If you encounter a crew working nearby, ask them about dumping at your place later.
I have actually done that. I saw a garden crew taking care of the new subdivision behind my backyard and asked if I could have the birch tree cuttings, and the tall grass (Morning Light, I think) cuttings. Well, most the of the workers, spoke Spanish, but enough to tell me to ask Jorge'. Jorge' was great and they even delivered it to me, I even got some cut grass. Since then, Jorge' has been my garden helper and his cousins. I haven't heard from him this summer nor have I called him up. He was working on building his own yardworking business. He was great! The company he worked for that did this subdivision used another company, so he really was looking for more work. I haven't asked the new company yet, I think just because I wasn't in the right frame of mind when I see them working. Usually on my way to appointments or something. But I just drool over all the cut grass they were going to have to take to the dump.
Durgan, I guess you are not afraid of clover growing in your garden bed when unwanted. I guess maybe they don't go to seed when you plant them before winter. Around here I've of using rye grass and then turning it over into a garden plot or bed. I think that is the type of grass.... Your pictures are very helpful.
Never have I had the red clover come up in the garden the following year, since it propagates by seed. Now the whiter clover is different story. I have used rye, but consider clover to be more beneficial.