Very true, lost! I grow beans every year, but those are for me to eat. The cover crops are also to be considered green manure, because I don't harvest them for myself, I take them down and return that nutrition back to the soil. The whole goal is to build soil where there was none previously, just heavy red clay and rock.

We left the gate to that area open, though, and the deer came through and mowed down my cover crops, hardly left any poop for me! So I closed the gate. If you're gonna eat mah cover crops, ah want your poo!

The cover crops seemed to help retain moisture, and may have formed what are known in permaculture as 'guilds.' Thanks to jaykush for reminding me of that term, btw. Thanks to him for a lot of what I'm doing, in fact.

It will be interesting to see how things go using the weed-flamer. I hope to get more soil built up using that instead of the weed whacker.

Originally Posted by BrownThumb

Agreed, Hempy is easy and that's part of why I am doing it that way, less mess is another. I also think growing in soil outdoors is simple.

A shot of the babies in coir w/ no apparent problems and no ca added.

Your idea of using ground cover as a sort of mulch is not new, but is very smart. I have in fact been planting clover in my soil units as they fix nitrogen from the air if the soil is deficient. Ever look into Permaculture? You sure sound like it...

Indeed, and agroforestry techniques are now being melded with permaculture techniques.

Originally Posted by BrownThumb

OK, Blossom End Rot....duh, should have caught that. That's all about ca levels and watering intervals. I did really good last year considering I water by hand and that makes it harder to water properly, especially when it gets hot, but every year without fail I get at least some BER and I always crack a few due to my irregular watering.

I thought it was all about Ca, but that Sea-90 and the Italian seawater study caused me to reconsider those two as the only possible options. Sea-90 is not only fairly inexpensive, it's tasty, too!

I'm no longer going to grow Roma tomatoes because they are the worst for BER here. Also, in comparison to the San Marzano tomatoes I grew last year, yield is shit. Smaller fruit and less tasty, so why would I grow Roma now? But Japanese black trifeles? Another story entirely! I'll also be growing Isis Candy gold cherries this year, for snacking out in the field. Few actually make it up to the house.

[BrownThumb]

I should probably not be posting here since this was about tom.'s that were not doing well, but just a FYI, Black Prince tom.'s (which are actually Russian in origin, just like the "Japanese" Trifele's) are similar and quite delicious as well as prolific producers if you grow them well. I highly recommend...I collect seeds form them every time I grow them. Krims are good too, but I would take the Black Prince over the Krim. Perhaps I will like the "Japanese" better.

[clovethee]

Originally Posted by SeaMaiden

Cover crops will help tremendously with keeping moisture in the ground and preventing over and underwatering. Last year was the first time trying them, they're going in every year. I used clovers, mustards, fenugreek, amaranth and some other stuff that I can't remember. Much of the cover crops were spices from my cupboard.

I do that too. clover is real nice, I use it around tom's and did it between corn rows too. last year i interplanted rows of arugula, and rat tail radish's. worked out great, and those rat tail radishes look really neat, tasty, and the flowers bring in a lot of pollinators. blosom end rot stinks, I find the sauce tom's seem more prone.

Yes, clove, definitely the sauce tomatoes are more prone (I never viewed it from that angle, but once you point it out I think you're right). I wish I liked the flavor of radishes and beets. My husband loves them, I can't stand 'em. I would plant them as good root crops to help break up the clay more often if I enjoyed eating them.

I've found that letting your carrots go to flower brings in TONS of pollinators. Plus, the umbels are very pretty.