Gilbert Fritz

Thanks for the suggestions! I'm avoiding amending the planting hole, not because I'm trying to do things naturally, but because I've read that it is a bad idea; I'm going to put the amendments on top of the soil. These plantings are going to be irrigated, fertilized, etc; I am not just planting them and hoping for the best.

Here is a link on the problems with amending planting holes, particularly in heavy soils; short term growth is improved, but long term it can create problems for the tree:  https://wpcdn.web.wsu.edu/wp-puyallup/uploads/sites/403/2015/03/soil-amendments.pdf

The restrictive layer is at least three feet thick, probably thicker. I don't want to amend the planting hole; Edible Forest Gardens and other resources suggest that his will paradoxically lead to pooling of water in the hole.

I am planting a row of semi-dwarf fruit trees. There is about a foot of decent soil, but beyond that there is a very heavy clay subsoil with very slow water infiltration. The trees are semi-dwarf, so they tend to have smaller roots anyway. The land is sloped, so there won't be standing water. The climate is semi-arid. Given all those factors, I think I should be able to make this work? My biggest concern is a restricted rooting depth leading to water stress in the summer, but irrigation will be necessary for these no matter what.

Any thoughts or suggestions? I'd rather not plant on berms or mounds, due to site, time, and money constraints, and because it would make establishment watering more difficult.

The project is still ongoing. I distributed cabbage seeds to around 20 people; of those, at least three of them now have maturing cabbage seed crops. Some people's plants died either last fall or overwinter, but they are willing to try again next year. If all goes well, the seeds we harvest will be distributed through Going to Seed and also to members of the informal network.

I've consistently noticed that volunteer plants are healthier and stronger than plants of the same species that I planted intentionally. The problem is that these volunteers are often in awkward locations, in the middle of paths, in crack in concrete, in other places where they will not thrive or will make controlling aggressive weeds difficult.

Winter sowing is the practice of planting seeds in containers which are left outside overwinter, usually gallon milk jugs. The plants are supposedly much sturdier than those produced through other seed starting methods, because they are able to come up at exactly the right time. I'm also wondering if there isn't some kind of "knowledge" of the local climate that is short-circuited if seeds are not in the ground overwinter. The problem is that these plants still need to be transplanted.

Has anyone tried winter planting standard vegetables in the ground? (I know this is common for some flowers, but I'm interested in vegetables, particularly cool season ones.) Just planting seeds in rows or broadcast in late fall, and letting them come up in the spring? Basically producing more manageable "volunteers"?

It is well known that ash is strongly alkaline; why is this so, when the wood or other material it is derived from is not?

If I spread a foot of wood chips over a piece of land, it wouldn't alkalinize it; if anything, it might have a slight acidifying effect. Over time, the  carbon in the wood chips will escape into the air as carbon dioxide, and the minerals (calcium, potassium, etc.) will be left in the soil.

If I burned that same foot of woodchips to ash, the carbon would burn off as carbon dioxide, leaving an ash of minerals; when this ash is applied, it alkalinizes the soil.

The eventual outcome seems to be the same; decomposition is just slow burning. Why does one route alkalinize the soil, and the other does not?

Two related questions: is this because, when people apply ash, they are applying a far higher level of these minerals than they would feasibly be able to apply in wood chips?

Over time, will the alkalinizing effects of the ashes be neutralized in the soil, returning the pH back to what it would have been if the wood was applied without burning?

The cabbage grex will probably develop in different directions, depending on the interests and preferences of the individual growers. But my own interest is focused on two traits: overwintering, and resistance to cabbage aphids.

The first is pretty basic; if a cabbage doesn't overwinter, it doesn't produce seeds. Some growers take lots of trouble to overwinter their cabbages, including digging up the whole plant and moving it to a root cellar. But I will be selecting for plants that overwinter in the garden with mulch. Also, since the cabbage head itself just tends to rot, I will be eating the heads, while leaving the outer leaves and stems for overwintering, and selecting for plants that overwinter well like this.

In my garden, cabbage aphids are the biggest problem for brassicas; they stunt the plants and distort the growing tips, and even if the cabbage survive, they tend to be an unpleasant mass of aphids inside. Two of the varieties I included in the grex are supposed to be somewhat cabbage aphid resistant.

As an easily storable green vegetable, cabbage is a very valuable crop. But I've always found the available OP varieties to be somewhat wimpy. That might not be surprising, given that brassicas are particularly susceptible to inbreeding depression. Also, there are relatively few varieties of cabbage available, compared with other vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers, melons, and squash.

This situation has inspired me to start a cabbage landrace, and I'm looking for collaborators! I am offering a proto-grex of 16 different cabbage varieties (listed below) to anyone in the USA who is willing to plant them this year for overwintering, who will keep them isolated from other B. oleracea (broccoli, Brussels sprouts, many kales, and kohlrabi) while they are flowering and who will return some of the harvested seed. Eventually, I hope to offer the resulting grex through https://goingtoseed.org/.

PM me your address if you would like to participate, and let me know if you have any questions.

If you are worried about your ability to isolate them from other B. oleracea, remember that time isolation can work. I’m planning to save seed from a broccoli grex in addition to the cabbages, but I will simply eat any broccoli shoots that would overlap with the flowering of the cabbage.

The following varieties are included in the mix:

The Peace Seedlings Belarus Cabbage Grex
Primax
January King
Chieftain Savoy
Amarant
Testa Di Ferro
Charleston Wakefield
Glory of Enkhuizen
Amager
Futog
Danish Ballhead
Mammoth Red Rock
Winter King Savoy
Red Acre
Golden Acre
Brunswick

I want to try making a straw hat, but I'm having trouble finding straw. Straw that has gone through a combine isn't useable, and most modern varieties have very short stalks. If anyone knows of a source, or is growing grain for a food or cover crop and would be willing to part with some straw, please let me know!

Bryant, if I wanted to do something similar, could I just mix some rotted wood chips with the coffee grounds I can get from local coffee shops, and let them sit around in a bin or bucket for a few months before applying them?