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Permalink Reply by Sara on December 26, 2010 at 12:18am

Sorry for the late response... BUT there is a GREAT article on this very subject in Organic Gardening magazine this month! The gentleman lives in California and while volunteering in Australia he came upon the technique. His yard is wonderful!

Permalink Reply by Stacey S. on December 26, 2010 at 3:34pm

Thanks, Sara. I couldn't find it online. Do you have the gentleman's name so I can google it. I came up with nothing. Even searched the organic gardening magazine site. Best, Stacey

Permalink Reply by Sara on December 27, 2010 at 1:16am

Hi Stacey,

 

His name is Pat Marfisi. Here is a link to one article wrote about him. It gives the directions to his "no dig" method.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-hm-nodigside12-2008jun12,0,115...

 

 

Permalink Reply by Stacey S. on December 27, 2010 at 8:49am

Wow. That's an excellent article, Sara. He certainly is a kindred spirit. Here's a good article too: http://www.latimes.com/features/la-hm.0612.no-dig-pg,0,3376725.phot... I'm going to incorporate some of this into the Angelus garden. I wonder if it still needs the bone meal (high in calcium/phosphorous) because our soils are high enough in that element. The blood meal might work seeing as that's higher in Nitrogen than the other majors (NPK). It may even keep rabbits away. Eric's bringing the K part in his seaweed today, right Eric?? ;-) Thanks for sharing this with us. Now I'm going to have to get the book he references, "Esther Deans' Gardening Book: Growing Without Digging". I already have the Michael Pollan book "In Defense of Food"... it too is excellent!

 

Permalink Reply by Stacey S. on February 26, 2011 at 9:15pm

Couple of things I notice about my hay bale garden... now mind you, I didn't pack the soil on top of the hay, i used it was a perimeter for good soil. Everything inside the garden is growing beautifully. I've even had much success taking cuttings from bay leaf, elderberry, fig, camellia and more with just sticking it in the good soil and keeping it moist.

A few downfalls: 1) you have to make sure you keep the horses away as they got into it twice. Fortunately, they go for the hay and not the lettuces and collards inside... so that is a good thing.

2) one of the bales is infested with fire ants that really hurt if you step on the bale or put your hand down on it to harvest the vegetables.

3) they are not sturdy after they get wet so it's difficult to use them to support any weight when I try to reach my crops.

I also wanted to add one more note about using hay/alfalfa in the Gaia Garden at The Angelus. I have been picking out grasses from the garden area. The nice thing is they come right out and aren't horrible... yet. I'm thinking it may be more difficult to keep up with once the warmer weather arrives. Will keep you posted.