Project Update April 1, 2017

April is finally here.  After weeks of roller coaster weather, there seems to be some sense of normalcy with this early spring frost settling over Elgin.  Sip your favorite caffeinated beverage, check your email, and enjoy this EHP update for April 1, 2017!

After initially sowing white, medium red, and sweet clovers mixed with mung bean, daikon radish, early carrot, beets, turnips, spinach, spring onion and alfalfa, I covered my plot with a thick straw mulch.  (I'm sure that must have been a run-on sentence.  Can I get confirmation on that?)

The rain came.

It has been raining in this area for the better part of a week.  My hope is that this is perfect conditions for the beginning of my project.  I am already seeing some of the white clover sprout in some of the more thinly mulched areas.  In places where I have peeked under the straw, the clover seems to be taking hold just as well.  Again, all I did was scatter seed and cover with straw mulch.  It took 1 hour of work for the entire 1800 ft plot all while wrangling my 1 year old daughter. Next year I won't even need to turn sod or use any cut straw.  Less work a year from now, neat huh?  I sure think so. (my plan, we will see how that actually pans out)

There was a small break in the rain at one point.  I took that opportunity to scatter more seed over the top of the straw.  I threw down a 5lb mix of medium red, crimson, and ladino clovers.  This was mixed with red lentil, chicory, and more alfalfa. (untreated wildlife mix for $17.00 at Farm and Fleet, what a fun find!)  I also scattered some more early carrots and some neat looking rutabaga I found at a local nursery.  I have no idea if this will come up, or if I am just making the local squirrels, sparrows, and slugs happy to have such a strange and beneficial predator living among them.

One of the central themes of this project is plant diversity.  The more I can make my farm plot mimic the diversity of the natural world, the stronger my plant, soil, and insect community will become.  This, in turn, will make the hops healthier more productive, and more resistant to attack (predator insects, fungal infection, and disease)

Thanks for reading!
-EHP