I'm in the Wiregrass (the picture of brown dried grasses? that's my IMPROVED yard) - its much the same, only the southwestern end of the swath described as the Sandhills to the North and East. Of course, we don't have hills - so we get a different name.
The soils here pack so hard I have to use a pick to break them before I can turn the top couple inches - and its still like putting a cultivator in a wheelbarrow full of concrete spoils.
Yes, fire is the natural way to replenish the soils - but like burning acres in the rain forest, you get one, maybe two good seasons, then the ground is useless again. What nutrient is deposited by the fast growth plants (sand pines, youpon holly, etc) is either spent or washed away.
and like my northern neighbors, no worms, almost no grubs. grasshoppers seasonally, termites, and the ants that eat said termites. Which is part of why I can't rely on abundant insects to suppliment my flock's diet - too much of the year they are simply inaccessable. Termite spawns and grasshopper explosions are the rare exception - and then its like kids at the softserve machine...
The soils here pack so hard I have to use a pick to break them before I can turn the top couple inches - and its still like putting a cultivator in a wheelbarrow full of concrete spoils.
Yes, fire is the natural way to replenish the soils - but like burning acres in the rain forest, you get one, maybe two good seasons, then the ground is useless again. What nutrient is deposited by the fast growth plants (sand pines, youpon holly, etc) is either spent or washed away.
and like my northern neighbors, no worms, almost no grubs. grasshoppers seasonally, termites, and the ants that eat said termites. Which is part of why I can't rely on abundant insects to suppliment my flock's diet - too much of the year they are simply inaccessable. Termite spawns and grasshopper explosions are the rare exception - and then its like kids at the softserve machine...