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If I can get a vacation in Feb Im going to get my shovel and wheel barrel and clean out from under the roost poles in my chicken house and spread it on the garden so it will be broke down by planting time this year . last year I burned up a few tomatoe plants with it . Im going to have another try with a asparagus patch eairlier this year . Wonder how it would do simi shaded .
composting is the safest way. It's potent stuff. I mix some in a 5 gal bucket with water and pour around my plants, being careful not to get too close, and it works fine.
 
Asparagus roots are supposed to grow feet into the ground and is loaded with minerals brought up by the roots...makes some people's urine smell awfully strong!



This is a follow up to the Back To Eden video...I have implemented a lot of the covering in my own yard...and I have installed two "hugelkultur" beds in my front yard (permaculture)...I only planted 6 asparagus shoots two years ago in one of the hugelkultur beds with blueberries...the asparagus has tripled in output! Taste is amazing and the blueberries are just wonderful!

View attachment 4117
I build quite a bit of top soil with this rabbit tractor that floats around the yard!

View attachment 4118
This is the "hugelkultur" bed with the blueberries on each end and three asparagus on each side just after planting before mulching with hay!

I will try asparagus again this year, but havent had any luck yet.
 
I brought about 10 cart loads of leaves down from the back of the property and piled them in the garden. I'll try to get another load of the same size tomorrow. I'm going to put about 5inches over the whole garden area and till it in. Everyone here in Ga. Burns their leaves, but they make great compost. I ran the mower in strips, and chewed them up pretty well, blowing them into lines before raking and picking them up. This Ga. clay is thick heavy stuff, so I'm trying to get it mixed with a lot of biomass. I really hate raking, but am hoping this will pay off over the next couple years.
 
I dont burn my garden off in the fall like some do . I leave what ever is still growing there to protect the soil through the winter then till it under in the spring .
 
I have one oak tree behind the garden that sheds a few leaves in into it, but I'm blanketing the leaves of a few dozen trees into it now.. I wish I had done it earlier, to give it time to compost more, but think the tiller will grind it up even more. I plan to do this in the garden and greenhouse. Between the leaves, rabbit manure, and chicken manure I hope the buying of fertilizer is a thing of the past.
 
Get rabbit/chicken crap, mix in sawdust from pine or oak (very very small chips not powder) add oak leafs if you have any and a little water let set for a week in the sealed 30/50gal bag, keep mixing this mix in the soil up to a week before planting season keeping the ground moist (not saturated), I also make a small mixture in a plastic lined wheel borrow (1/8 filled) rest filled with water, let the water set over night, I use the water for watering the asparagus, asparagus is a pig, don't have other plants nearby. Think of the wood chips as a time release capsule ;) I freeze and also pickle them though I don't plant a lot of them. Fresh one's I oven roast, garlic and butter when done add parmesan cheese.

I mix cow/chicken manure after growing season when I till the garden (twice before the freeze sets in) then cover the garden in straw, the thing with asparagus the ground needs to stay rich all year long.

Potatoes and onions could practically be grown year around hay being an excellent insulator. If you use hay in conjunction to a green house you will be surprised what can be grown in the winter months. Take a bale of hay dig out the center, put in a planter with only the top of the planter shown filled with rich soil, put black plastic over the bale of hay though cut the top around the planter then cover with heavy mill clear plastic this allows sun light on the soil in the planter ;)

EDITED: The black plastic absorbs the heat, the hay holds and radiates the heat keeping the soil warm enough for growing.
 
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Get rabbit/chicken crap, mix in sawdust from pine or oak (very very small chips not powder) add oak leafs if you have any and a little water let set for a week in the sealed 30/50gal bag, keep mixing this mix in the soil up to a week before planting season keeping the ground moist (not saturated), I also make a small mixture in a plastic lined wheel borrow (1/8 filled) rest filled with water, let the water set over night, I use the water for watering the asparagus, asparagus is a pig, don't have other plants nearby. Think of the wood chips as a time release capsule ;) I freeze and also pickle them though I don't plant a lot of them. Fresh one's I oven roast, garlic and butter when done add parmesan cheese.

I mix cow/chicken manure after growing season when I till the garden (twice before the freeze sets in) then cover the garden in straw, the thing with asparagus the ground needs to stay rich all year long.

Potatoes and onions could practically be grown year around hay being an excellent insulator. If you use hay in conjunction to a green house you will be surprised what can be grown in the winter months. Take a bale of hay dig out the center, put in a planter with only the top of the planter shown filled with rich soil, put black plastic over the bale of hay though cut the top around the planter then cover with heavy mill clear plastic this allows sun light on the soil in the planter ;)

EDITED: The black plastic absorbs the heat, the hay holds and radiates the heat keeping the soil warm enough for growing.
try a little shredded mozzerella on the asparagus! :) I am learning that you cant put in too much biomass into the soil. It just keeps getting better each year.
 

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