Mifumo ya Kufikiria kwa Uendelevu Zaidi ya bustani Organic

Tillage and soil disturbance brings one other thing to light – weed seeds. I can’t help but think about weeds at this time of the year since I’ve casually observed plenty of patches of weedy hell just traveling through residential neighborhoods.

Weeds will get away from you if you don’t stay on top of them. That’s just what weeds are consummately equipped to do thanks to their genetic heritage and reproductive strategy – live fast, die young, and crank out seeds in vast numbers. The seeds then bide their time near the soil surface until the conditions are right to replicate the growth cycle all over again.

The plant species we call “magugu” are really nothing more than plants we have judged as unwanted because they’re the wrong plants in the wrong places. For one thing, they tend to be non-native to the places that are being colonized. Kwa ajili ya mwingine, weedy species tend to not encounter built-in biological controls that keeps their population growth in check in their native ecosystems. That means that nothing in their new host environments has learned to exploit the weeds as a food resource…yet.

For lack of natural controls to keep weed populations in check, it’s on us to impose that constraint in our gardens and landscapes. It’s late April now in Southern CA and the majority of weeds have set seed. The best time to set the weeds back is just after the first winter rains. Let the weeds grow up a bit but and then pull (deep tap rooted species like dandelion, wild radish, or cheeseweed) while the soil is still moist or mow them (grasses only) when they’ve set flower (inconspicuous on grass species) but don’t wait until the weeds set seed. Like many things in life, timing is everything. If you’re wondering why it’s not helpful to wait until the plants set seed, it’s because the seeds of some species are viable plant embryos long before they’re separated from the parent plant. When you wait, you inadvertently add to the weed seed “bank” in the soil.

Tillage makes things worse. Some weed seeds no doubt are killed in the process but the majority are just “warehoused” by tillage. It’s like putting them in the equivalent of a bank security deposit box. Without tillage, most seeds will remain at the soil surface. Ants carry some seeds away, earthworms consume other seeds and redeposit them in castings, and gophers and other animals move seeds through burrowing. Broad scale tillage helps foster an “out of sight, out of mind” mentality. Sure, the weeds for that season or that year may be gone but the seeds of their ancestors lie in wait to return with a vengeance.

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Je, unajua kwamba mguu juu ya udongo ina zaidi 7 kwa 50 mara zaidi maisha kuliko ijayo 3 1/2 miguu? (Chanzo: Kubuni na Kudumisha Landscape yako ya aina ya kawaida na Robert Kourik, Metamorphic Press 1986). Wakati udongo ya faida kwa mkulima au plowed, hewa sana ni vishawishi wote kwa mara moja.

Maisha vyema katika ukanda wa ‘enoughness '. Sasa mimi kutambua hii ni dhana ya kigeni kwa watu wengi, ambao kama utawala wanataka zaidi, zaidi, zaidi wa kila kitu na kisha baadhi. (Mwito hii imesababisha aphorisms vile pop utamaduni kama, “Sana ya jambo zuri ni tu kuhusu haki.”) Fikiria kuhusu hilo ingawa: zaidi ulaji inaongoza kwa taka taka zaidi na zaidi inaongoza kwa taka zaidi ya plastiki kama sehemu ya mkondo kwamba jumla ya taka. Zaidi ya plastiki taka husababisha kubwa oceanic gyres kiraka takataka, ambayo kwa sasa kuna tano. Lakini, Mimi digress. Oksijeni zaidi katika udongo ilianzisha kama risasi ya steroids haina kusababisha maisha zaidi lakini kwa chini. Unaweza kufikiri wewe ni kutumia huduma ya tatizo moja – kusema kwa mfano kuzuka kwa wadudu – lakini wewe ni kukusudia kujenga mengi ya matatizo mapya kwa ajili yako mwenyewe. Wewe pia kuharibu muundo wa udongo, hasa kama wewe ni kulima tena na tena mwaka hadi mwaka. (Kuna mbinu za aerate udongo chini ya ukali, lakini wale inaweza kuletwa katika posts baadaye.)

Hebu fikiria kuchukua block nzima ya maendeleo yoyote ya mijini – New York, Paris, London, Scottdale, Tokyo, Los Angeles – na upending kwamba block nzima, majengo, mitaani, na wote. Nini kutumika kuwa vilele vya majengo ya sasa ni chini ya ardhi na chini ya kila kitu kingine kwamba kutumika kuwa juu yao. Je, unafikiri kwamba itakuwa kabisa usumbufu, kusema mdogo?

Akoroge udongo ni si chini ya mauti. Udongo flora na fauna wanaishi katika matabaka maalum katika udongo na kuchimba ardhi disrupts hii ili. Kwa mfano, kuna baadhi ya uliotokea California earthworms (ndiyo, zipo! – angalia karatasi (http://www Null.treesearch Null.FS Null.kulishwa Null.us/pubs/24154)) kwamba huwa na handaki kwa undani na aina nyingine wanaoishi karibu na uso. Kama wewe ni smart na kuruhusu hali ya kufanya kuondoa nzito kwa ajili ya wewe, viumbe tu kwamba ni kugeuka udongo na idadi kubwa ya muda ni earthworms na wanyama ardhi nyingine makao kwamba huwa na handaki. Unaweza si kama kuathiri viumbe hawa kuwa juu ya kuonekana Visual ya mazingira yako au mimea yako, lakini ukweli wa mambo ni kwamba mamalia tunneling wana nafasi zao kucheza katika asili. Wao kuanzisha yote muhimu viungo hai, kwa jambo moja.

Kwa wale ambao kukua edibles, hasa kuzalisha neema, ambayo kawaida meza, una maana ya humus. Hii ni viungo hai ambayo imekuwa zinazotumiwa na ilibadilishwa na fungi udongo na bakteria ndani ya molekuli kubwa amofasi kwamba huwa na kupinga mtengano zaidi. Humus gani kuvunja lakini anafanya hivyo polepole sana. kuanzishwa kwa oksijeni sana kwa njia ya kuchimba ardhi unaungua kikaboni jambo kwa haraka na zaidi ya thamani ya madini ni kupotea. Kama wewe ni mkulima, kwa nini unataka kushiriki katika mazoezi ya kwamba ni counterproductive na dhidi ya maslahi yako mwenyewe?

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Are you one of those property owners who tills? Why do you till? More importantly, what do you believe that tillage achieves?

Maybe you think that the soil needs more oxygen. I’ll grant that soil life, including the plants, needs a combination of moisture and oxygen to survive, but soil with good texture already has oxygen in it! Soil that isn’t compacted from constant foot or vehicular traffic is just fine as it is.

Imagine a clear plastic or glass container filled with ball bearings. If you shake that container, the ball bearings will settle into an arrangement that minimizes the spaces between the bearings. This is what soil compaction would look like if you could magnify soil particles. But soil isn’t composed of only one particle size! The magical stuff that is soil is composed of varying particle sizes. If you go back to the image of the container with the ball bearings, now picture those ball bearings mixed in with kumquats, ping pong balls, tennis balls, and the occasional basketball. Those varying particle sizes allow for air and water to infiltrate the soil.

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