Source
Weed 'Em and Reap Part 2: Reduced tillage strategies for vegetable cropping systems [DVD]. A. Stone. 2006. Oregon State University Dept. of Horticulture. Corvallis, Oregon. Available at: http://www.weedemandreap.org (verified 17 Dec 2008).
Featuring
Helen Atthowe, BioDesign Farm. Stevensville, MT.
Audio Text
Soil Fertility
One of the exciting things that we’ve learned in exploring this living mulch system is number one: the nutrient balance that we’re seeing and number two: the side benefits of all of the organic residue addition over the last eleven years. We’ve found that this organic residue, even these legumes, that of course are nitrogen-fixing, that we add to the soil doesn’t necessarily provide nutrients immediately. When we mow like this, when we do the continuous residue application throughout the growing season, what we’re doing is building up a foundation of soil fertility that then releases slowly. So this residue that I’m mowing here, may be the nutrients for my crop next year.