In a mid-March post, I wrote about the advantages of using heavy-duty weed barrier fabric to smother weeds and create a no-till plant bed. In mid-June, I found myself with two beds that were starting to get weedy. The winter cover crop that had protected the soil was quickly decomposing and crabgrass and broadleaf weeds were emerging.
I threw on 3-ft. wide strips of the weed barrier material and after five days of very hot weather all of the vegetation was dead. Continue reading
This post is modified from an article originally published in The Delmarva Farmer (2/13/2018)
Most people would probably be surprised to know that bacterial cells outnumber human cells in our bodies by 10-to-1 and that just one teaspoon of healthy soil contains more than 1 billion bacteria and fungi (microbes for short). Yuck, right? Well, not exactly.
Microbes have gotten a bad rap because the small fraction of bacteria and fungi that cause disease get all the attention. In fact, most microbes are friendly, and neither humans nor plants can live without them.
Although the chemical and physical properties of soil have dominated discussion (and soil testing) in the past, the focus is now changing as soil is recognized as a living ecosystem. With this change, it is becoming clear that sustained agricultural productivity requires farming practices that protect the soil and increase the diversity of life underground. Home gardeners can also benefit from gardening strategies that protect and promote the living things in their garden soil.
Lawns
