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Entry Date
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Nick Name
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Location
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Tuesday, October 25, 2011
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shazzy
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Joliet, IL
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Entry 132 of 134 |
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and on to 2012!!!!!! i decided to leave the soil food web alone and intact and do a no-till this fall and immediately get a deep rooting cover crop sprouted to help break up my subsoil. the winter rye from holland's sprouted very fast and is a lush green already and still filling in nicely. i haven't had my soil tested in 4 years now. i have been working on soil structure with the zeolite and biochar for nice coral reef like microscopic homes for the beneficials and will let them continue to work in conjunction with the cover crop roots to keep the soil active and strong all fall and early spring. i will then weed wack the grass in early spring and just rake it off. i will not use it as green manure due to this years corn seed maggots and there affinity to the clumps of nut fully decomposed rye grass clumps as i found last year. i will then ammend my soil as my spring soil test reads and start dialing in my levels now that i am happy with the structure. with the amounts of additives and shredded leaves the past falls and the 100 yards of compost added in the last 8 years combined has the top 16" of texture very nice. the original grass was in poor shape with little to no black dirt on top of a hard fat clay base built on top of buried flagstone. they built the original half lot i grow on up with fill in the 1920s with falgstone and clay. Much of the flagstone was removed 9 years ago, but the under lying clay still sucks and needs fracturing with the behmoth deep spader this spring. this is why i wanted the early jump with a double thick planting of rye. the patch was cleared on oct 3rds and the seed went down oct. 4th. i am hoping to get those extensive deep penetrating roots firmly in place to help create drainage channels once the plant is whacked and killed and the roots die. the roots are then more food for the soil food web this spring. and the cycle of critters eating and shitting continues...
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