kevin and his bean stalks.

Peas and Beans are Growing

beans at 6 days

   My straw bale raised beds are doing well and in fact have sprouts shooting up prolifically and I may have to thin from what I can see presently. A lack of rain has suppressed them a bit but not much as I have a lot of organics incorporated into the soil which helps to retain the moisture.

     Louis Bromfield a writer back in the 1930’s of dust bowl fame and who eventually made his home in Mansfield, Ohio spoke of the importance of incorporating organics into the soil as a way of retaining the moisture during drought times. We have nothing close to drought conditions here in Ohio but no one can doubt the importance of water in raising and maintaining the vigor and health of any plant you subscribe to raising.

     Now you can stand and water your plants daily until you reach the point of saturation where the water runs off. Then if your soil doesn’t have the ability to retain the water, the water is lost to evaporation or simply runs off to anywhere but the roots of the plants where you need it most. Agreeably too much moisture is also detrimental to the health of the plant as it gives rise to more mold type organisms or fungi that can be harmful to the plants overall health.

beans wider view 

     How to achieve the proper ratio of moisture needed is easier to achieve if the moisture is incorporated through the means of organic matter that not only waters the roots but also feeds the plant. Also organic matter as it swells to engorge the excess moisture will also increase the porosity of the soil allowing more exchange of gases due to the this increased openness of soils. Allowing oxygen and nitrogen to be vented or used by the plants as it respires with its environment.

     When rain water or irrigated water lands on soil that has a high organic content it is easily absorbed into the soil and based on the percentage of organic material, an increase in the rate of retention can be shown for each percentage point of increased organic material showing a direct correlation between organic material and moisture retained. This means less runoff when heavy rains are encountered.

      This is especially important during the summer months when Ohio typically receives its largest single time rainfall recorded during a one event status. It is not unusual in the June month to receive a rainfall where up to 4 inches of rain may fall in a 24 hr. period. That is a lot of rain. It isn’t the amount of rain that lands on the ground as much as it is how much is retained. Typically in a storm such as this we are lucky to retain 1 inch let alone 4 inches of rainfall. This results in a 25 percent efficiency in our ability to retain the water. The remainder is lost to streams and causes flooding and instead of being a beneficial rain instead becomes a liability, causing death and destruction.

planted 5-5-2015

    So it is in our best interest to increase the amount of organic material in our soils as it not only promotes plant health but also it reduces runoff due to excessive moisture conditions. Louis Bromfield at one time claimed he could retain as much as 85 percent of the moisture that landed on his fields. He spoke of a smell of living breathing fields where he incorporated on a regular basis lots of organics by way of conventional tillage into the soil. The hills in Richland County close To Mansfield, Ohio were he wrote his book ‘Pleasant Valley” is very similar to what we have here in Stark County, Ohio, and his same theories could easily be applied to our soils today and it would be interesting if we could see the same results. His home was a mansion and it was built as well as his farm, from proceeds he had acquired from the sale of his books. His theories back then closely align themselves with the organic movement we see today. It is an interesting read and he does a good job of illustrating in one’s mind, his ideas as he goes along in the book. A trip to the farm which is now a state park allows one to put a place, to an event in the book.

   He claimed his spring’s which fed the water to his farm market that allowed workers to wash produce and keep it fresh and cool, actually increased at the peak of his field trials due to the increased retention of water due to increased organic material in the soil. The storm water that would typically run off the land was now diverted into the soil and then transferred into the water table. Mr. Bromfield attributed a large part of that due to increased organic material. Also his yields of hay and produce also were greatly increased due to the increased water retention in the soil, showing that having plenty of water available in the soil when you need it makes a difference in the overall yield.

    Well to top it off I will include a link to Malabar Farms and Louis Bromfield’s dreams at the time of his writing of ‘Pleasant Valley’. This can be also searched on the web, and as well I plan on getting moving here and head out and check the peas and beans, and place peat moss on the surface of my straw bale bed.  Peat absorbs 10 times its weight in moisture and also prevents the soil from over dying and keeps the soil loose and friable for easy removal of weeds, while at the same time adding or retaining moisture as needed to the new growing plants. This will be a thin layer that will hopefully be replaced by a canopy of leaves by the plants I am trying to raise. This also will prevent weeds from getting to any size.

     Weeds are always going to be a concern if you plan on growing organically or naturally, as the case may be. But efforts to reduce the weeds through mulching or overcrowding of seedlings can greatly reduce the quantity and the severity of damage that weeds can do. It also allows you to have pesticide and herbicide free soil to grow vegetables you intend to eat. Vegetables that are have vigor and all the nutritional needs to be all that they can be, drowning out weeds and also being resistant to pests.