Tag: Raised Beds

Dutch Potting Soil

Historical Note:  This formula was perfected by Dutch horticulturalists in the 16th century. (The first written record in German is dated 1511). Just about any commercial greenhouse crop will grow in this mix called “One-One-One” or written 1-1-1.

How To Do It:  Following is the original recipe for the standard greenhouse potting mix used for the past 500 years. This mix contains only natural ingredients and so is suitable for “organic” production.

1 part “well-rotted turf” = topsoil.

1 part coarse sand.

1 part peat moss.

Total = 3 parts by volume.

Topsoil provides nutrients and biology. Coarse sand provides aeration and drainage. Peat moss holds water. Work components through a 1/2 inch screen before mixing. Use level not heaping measures. Pack peat firmly to get true volume.

How to Prepare Topsoil:  Use a spade to cut grass sod into blocks. Stack turf upside down to kill grass. Sod pile can be any convenient dimensions. Cover turf with straw or other mulch to keep soil moist and prevent weeds. Let sod compost for at least 6 months before use. For long term storage sow pile with a multiple species cover crop to keep soil “lively”.

Special Purpose Potting Mixes:

Fern Mix:  Add 1 extra part of peat moss.

(1 earth + 1 sand + 2 peat = 4 total parts by volume).

Cacti Mix:  Add 1 extra part of sand.

(1 earth + 2 sand + 1 peat = 4 total parts by volume).

Geranium Mix:  Add 1 extra part of topsoil.

(2 earth + 1 sand + 1 peat = 4 total parts by volume).

Earthworm Friendly Mix:  Substitute composted hardwood bark or composted wood chips for sand. Sand is abrasive; earthworms do not like soils with more than 10% sand.

(1 earth + 1 composted bark + 1 peat = 3 parts by volume).

Hand Mixing:  Layer ingredients on top of a potting bench: Peat moss on bottom, Topsoil in middle, then Sand on top. Sprinkle lime and fertilizer (if needed) over sand. Mix with a garden fork or flat spade. Slide fork or spade under pile then lift up and shake. Work from one end of the pile to the other end. Repeat 3 times until mixture is uniform. This is the easiest way to mix large quantities of potting soil by hand. (Layering by density uses gravity to make work easier. Heavy ingredients sift down through tines of fork or fall off edge of spade. The process of shaking a fork or spade to mix ingredients is called “feathering”).

Fertilizer:  The traditional greenhouse fertilizer is 1% or 2% bone meal by volume. For 1 bushel = 8 gallons of potting soil add 1.25 to 2.5 cups of organic fertilizer to the mix. For vegan potting soil substitute earthworm castings, cottonseed meal, or weed seed meal.

Substitutions:  If you do not have topsoil use clay subsoil sifted through a 1/2 inch screen. If sand is not available use any other aggregate or substitute composted hardwood bark or composted wood chips. If there is no peat use compost, leaf mold, composted manure, or composted sawdust.

Raised Beds:  To fill raised beds cheaply mix 1 part screened subsoil + 1 part wood chips + 1 part manure = 3 total parts by volume. Seed immediately with a multi-species cover crop. Let cover crop grow a full year before planting cash crops. Roots, earthworms, symbiotic fungi, and beneficial bacteria transform dead dirt into live topsoil.

Related Publications:  Burbank’s Grafting Wax; Burbank’s Seed Germination Mix; Cow Manure Potting Soil; Hot versus Cold Composting.

Would You Like to Know More?  For more information on greenhouse management and potting soils, please visit: www.worldagriculturesolutions.com – or — send an e-mail to: worldagriculturesolutions@gmail.com – or — send your questions to: Eric Koperek, Editor, World Agriculture Solutions, 413 Cedar Drive, Moon Township, Pennsylvania 15108 United States of America.

About the Author:  Mr. Koperek is a plant breeder who farms in Pennsylvania during summer and Florida over winter. (Growing 2 generations yearly speeds development of new crop varieties).

Index Terms:  1-1-1 (potting mix); Cacti Potting Mix; Dutch Potting Mix; Fern Potting Mix; Geranium Potting Soils; Greenhouse Management; Potting Mixes; Raised Beds; Vegan Potting Mix.

Original Publication Date:  March 1976 Meyersdale, Pennsylvania.

Update:  October 2023, Evans City, Pennsylvania.

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SWAMP POTATOES

What is It? The trick to growing spuds on wet land is to plant tubers ABOVE the soil surface (not below ground or on top of the mud).

I receive about 20 e-mails daily. This time of year, many of them whine about soggy soils and delayed planting. Hot news flash: The season to deal with wet fields is in Autumn when you dig trenches, build raised beds, and plant cover crops. That said, it is possible to garden in the muck. My ancestors learned how to do this centuries ago. Then, all of the good land was owned by the rich. My people got an abandoned stone quarry and a few acres of seasonal marsh. From this they built a profitable business. Nine centuries later, my family is still farming the same land. Get your boots on and I will show you how it’s done.

How To Do It: Spread 8 inches of leaves or other organic mulch on TOP of the ground. If you do not have enough materials to achieve a depth of 8 inches, use whatever is at hand. The point is to keep seed potatoes ABOVE the soil surface so they are not sitting in water or touching mud. Potatoes planted on the soil surface will ROT.

Use whole seed potatoes the size of an egg, about 2 to 3 ounces each. Green potatoes better resist insects, diseases, and mice. Space potatoes 2 feet apart equidistantly.

Cover seed potatoes with another 8 inches of leaves, straw, spoiled hay or other waste vegetation. If you are gardening near a slough (pronounced “slew”), use rushes and aquatic weeds for mulch. In Austria we use mostly rotted bark, green weeds, composted wood chips, and pine needles. Anything organic grows a good crop of spuds.

Old Farmers Trick: If you have a range of materials from fresh to rotted, put the older, decomposed mulch on the bottom. Lay newer mulch on top. If you have any manure, spread it like a sandwich between the bottom and top mulch layers. Mulch will settle to approximately half of its original depth within a month or two.

Fertilizer is not essential but if you have some, sprinkle it over the top mulch. Caution: Apply chemical fertilizers in small doses throughout the growing season. NEVER spread chemical fertilizers on bare soil. Always apply artificial fertilizers to growing plants. (Fertilizers are wasted if live roots are not present to absorb nutrients). Prefer organic fertilizers whenever practical. Synthetic nutrients unbalance soil microbes and attract insect pests. Excess nitrogen yields low quality potatoes that taste poorly and do not keep well.

There is no other work until harvest. Wait until vines are dead then gather tubers by HAND (no forks, rakes, or spades). Do not wash potatoes or they will rot. Let spuds dry a few days in the sunlight then place them in well-ventilated baskets or crates. Store potatoes in a deep cellar or other cool, dark place. Note: Always handle potatoes GENTLY. Cut, bruised, or otherwise damaged tubers will ROT in storage.

Average swamp potatoes yield 2 to 3 pounds of tubers per plant — without plowing, trenching, digging, hoeing, fertilizer, fungicides, soil fumigants, herbicides, insecticides, or irrigation.

Agronomy Notes: Potatoes are highly susceptible to nematodes and soil diseases. (Nematodes are tiny parasitic worms that suck root juice). Move your potato garden every year. ALWAYS plant spuds on fresh ground. Use long rotations: It takes 7 years to kill nematodes and pathogenic microbes.

If you are literally sinking in the mud (our neighbor lost his tractor in the marsh) try some form of RAISED FIELD technology like chinampas or hugel. Mulch will deal with wet land but not a flooded polder.

Remember: On wet ground, always plant potatoes ABOVE the soil surface. Use lots of mulch to keep tubers from touching mud.

Related Publications: Historic Hugelkultur; Hot Potato; Spanish Potato Trials, Salzburg, Austria 1650; Upside Down Potatoes; and Wildcrafted Potatoes.

Other Articles of Interest: Biological Agriculture in Temperate Climates; Crop Rotation Primer; Crops Among the Weeds; Earthworm Primer; Managing Weeds as Cover Crops; Trash Farming; Worm Farming.

Would You Like to Know More? For more information on biological agriculture and potato growing, please visit: http://www.worldagriculturesolutions.com — or — send your questions to: Eric Koperek, Editor, World Agriculture Solutions, 413 Cedar Drive, Moon Township, Pennsylvania 15108 United States of America — or — send an e-mail to worldagriculturesolutions@gmail.com.

About the Author: Mr. Koperek is a plant breeder who farms in Pennsylvania in summer and Florida over winter. (Growing 2 generations yearly speeds development of new plant varieties).

Index Terms: Continuous Mulching; Crop Rotation; Deep Mulching; Marshes; Mulching; Nematodes; Potato (Solanum tuberosum); Potato Gardens; Raised Beds; Seasonal Wetlands; Sheet Composting; Swamps; Year-Round Mulching; Wetlands.

Related Subjects: Chinampas; Hugelkultur; Raised Fields; Planting Mounds; Sukakollus; Waru-Waru.

Original Publication Date: June 2023, Miami, Florida.

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HISTORIC HUGELKULTUR

Translation: From the German: Hugel = mound or hill + Kultur = cultivation or culture

hugelkultur = mound cultivation or hill culture

Synonyms: Duotian (Chinese) = Pile Fields; Raised Beds; Raised Fields; Camellones (Spanish) = Ridges; Chinampas (Spanish) = Raised Fields; Monticulo (Spanish) = Mounds; Sukakollus (Aymara) = Raised Fields; Waru-Waru (Quechua) = Raised Fields.

Farm Technology: The basic principle is to pile up earth so water can drain and plants grow better. Chinampas, Sukakollus, and Waru-Waru are separated by shallow canals often the same width as the raised fields. Warm water protects crops from night frosts.

Agricultural Archeology: Raised field technology is at least 2,000 years old. Examples are found around the world: China, Southeast Asia, New Guinea, Africa, Mexico, Cuba, Central and South America. Ancient earthworks are often discovered by aerial photography, side-scan radar, and laser radar (LIDAR).

Historic versus Modern Hugelkultur: Historic hugelkultur has little in common with modern practice where logs and branches are covered with earth and deliberately left to rot. Ancient hugelultur is a technology used to farm swamps and marshes or any poorly drained ground:

“Where land is too wet to be plowed crops may still be grown. Cut logs and lay these upon the mire as in building a road. Hugel can be any length but it is convenient to measure them narrowly so that plants may be tended from both sides. Pile mud and peat upon the logs, one or two spades deep. The logs keep feet dry and help soil drain freely. Hugel are maintained by spreading mud and peat as need occasions. Peats are sour. Sprinkle ground charitably with ashes to sweeten the earth. Dress gardens in Autumn or after every crop. Cover earth with rushes and weeds or gather leaves from the forest. These rot and make vegetable manure as good as cow dung. Hugel are best used to grow root crops like beet, onion, radish, and turnip because these plants grow well in shallow soils. Up to six crops can be gathered if weather is favorable”. [Original document dated AD 1510 from the Codex Copernicus].

Historical Notes: In the 19th and earlier centuries country roads were “paved” with tree trunks = corduroy roads or thickly cut lumber = plank roads. These gave a rough ride but prevented horses and wagons from sinking into the mud. On well-maintained roads, sand or fine gravel was spread on top of the wood to make a smooth surface for less friction and more comfort. Many cities had streets paved with wood blocks as it was cheaper to cut trees than make bricks or quarry stone.

During the Renaissance and earlier ages, peasants had “customary rights” to gather anything they wanted from roadsides or forest floors. Live trees belonged to the landholders but anything on the ground was free for the taking. Cottagers and other “smallholders” cut weeds and raked leaves to fertilize their gardens. This was called “green manure”. Only wealthy farmers could afford to keep livestock and dung their fields.

Agronomy Notes: Planting in small hills or mounds is a closely related technology. Mounds warm earlier in Spring and cultivating widely spaced hills is much easier than digging and weeding entire fields. North American Indians used mounds to grow corn, beans, and squash. Corn stalks supported climbing bean vines. Beans fed nitrogen to corn and squash plants. Squash vines shaded the soil and helped control weeds.

Raised beds were common in middle age Europe, especially in areas with heavy clay soils that defied early wood plows. Much of northern Europe was glaciated so fields were often too rocky to plow. The solution was to plant on top of the ground. Root crops were sown in raised beds to avoid stones.

Related Articles: Hot versus Cold Composting; Upside Down Potatoes; Worm Farming.

Would You Like to Know More? For more information about Biological Agriculture and market gardening please visit: http://www.worldagriculturesolutions.com — or — send your questions to: Eric Koperek, Editor, World Agriculture Solutions, 413 Cedar Drive, Moon Township, Pennsylvania 15108 United States of America — or — send an e-mail to: http://www.worldagriculturesolutions@gmail.com.

About the Author: Mr. Koperek is a plant breeder who farms in Pennsylvania during the summer and Florida over winter. (Growing 2 generations yearly speeds development of new varieties).

Index Terms: Agricultural Archeology; Agricultural History; Agriculture in the Middle Ages; Agriculture in the Renaissance; American Indian Agriculture; Aymara Indian Agriculture; Aztec Indian Agriculture; Camellones = Ridges; Chinampas; Chinese Agriculture; Duotian = Pile Fields; Green Manures; Hill Culture; Hugel = Mound; Hugelkultur = Mound Culture; Hydraulic Agriculture; Inca Indian Agriculture; Mayan Indian Agriculture; Monticulo = Mounds; Mound Culture; Planting Hills; Planting Mounds; Raised Beds; Raised Fields; Soil Aeration; Soil Drainage; Sukakollus; Waru-Waru; Worm Farming.

Original Publication Date: November 1981 Evans City, Pennsylvania.

Update: June 2023 Homestead, Florida.

Posted on by Eric Koperek 0