Dixie Chicks

[CanuckBock]

I just read about seed balls.... anyone use them?

http://permaculturenews.org/2014/06/18/making-seedballs-ancient-method-till-agriculture/

deb

Thankfully I chose cleared, flat pasture land as to the location where we would put the veg garden in back in '98. Tilling is a given (why would I have bought a rototiller then?), we don't have access to red clay (ours is grey and mentions not the right kinda clay) and even the author says,



This seedball method would work in a forest, hilly sloped, or rocky ground where tilling is not an option and you wanted to seed for some plants. Good to put in the toolkit for reference sake.


Interesting read and gets the grey matter smokin'! Thank you.

Luv the comment by the author in using a cement mixer...very ancient...hee hee...not quite!

GOOD POST!

Tara

 

[Alaskan]

My kind of seed balls: (internet photo)

 

[WVduckchick]

Too funny! All of us chicken people get it. My husband was ready to spit bullets at me when we got the chicks from California. I must've called him 5 times to check on them. We should have more flexible jobs so we can tend to the important things in life. I have one CCL chick coming all by his lonesome from Washington DC next week!

Minihorse, those chicks are cuties! I goggled the breed too. They are beautiful. Congrats on the new babies.

Was having lunch with the boss and some visitors yesterday. One of them knew about, and asked about my chickens. I said "I have some hatching today"... Boss says, "You usually call in when you have hatching going on"...

Dude and I are planning to put waterfowl on our pond. It is about 1 acre surface area and 20' deep at the dam. There are no trees in that
area. We do have a cabin with a 20' x 20' covered "dirt porch" about 14 ' tall at the low end.
Ideally we would like a "very low maintenance" fowl because the pond is on the farthest end of our property. We could supplement their foraging with commercial feed. But it would be almost impossible to lock them up at night.

Any input will be appreciated.
Thanks in advance

I never got around to building my duck floating house before we had to move the ducks (too many boys!). Now I'm afraid to add one, because they freak out with anything different. We did build a little covered cove area, on one side where the bank is vertical, but they won't go in it. They can swim in from one side, and we left an opening on one side, thinking if a predator did invade, at least the ducks would have an out. But its been a couple of weeks, and I have yet to see them go in it.

Perrty.
We finished filling our bator with blue isbar x isabelle leghorns on our ayam cemani hatch. Everything that hatched is black with black eyes

Where is the photographic evidence?

 

[perchie.girl]

Deb, interesting idea, but for me that article lacked the explanation of what's so great about these seed balls. Isn't there a bit too little soil for the plants to grow from in them, and then you'll end up with the plants having difficulty penetrating the existing, hardened soil?

good questions....

but the technique was revived from ancient practices... Apparently the ball just sits there till the conditions are right to allow the seeds to get enough water. I imagine there are certain things that you cant put in them... but i have just started reading about it.

deb

 

[Amberjem]

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:

This seedball method would work in a forest, hilly sloped, or rocky ground where tilling is not an option and you wanted to seed for some plants. Good to put in the toolkit for reference sake.


Interesting read and gets the grey matter smokin'! Thank you.

Luv the comment by the author in using a cement mixer...very ancient...hee hee...not quite!

GOOD POST!

Tara

I think it would be excellent for replenishing after a wild fire. native seeds grasses and flowers provide roots that will help hold back soils and keep erosion down.

I am intrigued about this because I cant do the usual gardening things people do.... and am looking for options. I have eighteen acres of land I can mark off in a grid and experiment to see how well it works.

I like the concept of not disturbing the existing ecology in the form of digging up the soil. Also it said Red clay made the best protective layer but not to give up but use what you have ..... I dont have clay at all in my desert home. But this house here in San Diego sits on the toughest grey clay I have ever seen. If you dig a hole for a tree you are essentially planting it in a clay pot.

The clay for Terracotta is available to purchase though. and I know there were adobe factories for making Pipes and roof tiles here.... I just have to research that.

deb

 

[Alaskan]

I think it would be fun... To dig up clay and try to make stuff with it. I bet grandma wouldn't like it if I started digging up her backyard.

 

[perchie.girl]

I think it would be fun... To dig up clay and try to make stuff with it. I bet grandma wouldn't like it if I started digging up her backyard.

lol.... come on down..... in my best prices right voice.....

 

[Amberjem]

 

[Cold Canadian]

Looks like everyone is getting the gardens going , been working at my two , the largest was empty last year so grass etc grew , had a bit of work getting it ready .....but



But work at it and it pays off


The soil here is awesome , the other garden has rocks , which I have all dug out and formed a fence of sorts around it , soil is great , plus being close to the coops it gets the manure as well as the clippins and leaf litter in the fall , compost pile is there as well ...mostly the fresh eating veggies are grown





This is the first tilling on the smaller garden , I will or have tilled it five times so now the straw etc has been broken up and is well mixed to the point that you can't see hardly any of it . I normally till five to six times in each garden , till , wait for any growth , till again , repeat untill any weeds etc are all gone .....saves a lot of weeding in the coming months