weedy field to productive field...Help!

We have several fields that have not been planted or cultivated for at least 20 years. We have mowed them once a year to keep the trees from growing thereon & that's all.

We aren't farmers (yet), but we'd like to try and these fields seem perfect for doing something organic. These fields are overrun with wild onions, wild roses & Johnson grass. We are completely in the dark as to how to get rid of the offensive plants without chemicals & be able to grow some wheat for ourselves or fruits(strawberries, asparagus, blueberries) for selling.

We'd rather not cultivate.

Every suggestion welcome.
Foggy

cover crop with fava or white clover?

We are faced with a similar situation - we'd like to grow edibles on some of our pature and native plants in other areas. Our local native plant enthusiasts successfully use a simple method of throwing down newspaper and/or cardboard and covering it with some kind of mulch. You can then wait a season for the grass/weeds to be killed. Or you can dig out the unwanted turf and plant and then mulch with newspapers and wood chips, straw, compost - whatever you can get your hands on around the plants.

There are other methods - herbacides, burning, and repeated tilling - non of which I think you want to do.

Depending on what you want to grow, I'd also recommend some kind of raised beds - with or without sides (of wood or brick for instance) in conjunction with mulching. Or, they could be long, wide rows. You can then not worry about so much area to keep under control.

I don't know about wheat, but you could grow strawberries and other perennials this way. I can list some links to helpful info on organic growing of such things if you would be interested.

Johnson grass is tough to deal with. It laughs at glysophate. Most tillage methods just spread it further.

I commend your commitment to not cultivate, but you're in a situation that was caused by previous cultivation. The Johnson grass and multiflora rose would not have invaded in the first place if the field had not been used as pasture.

Short of a commitment to hours upon hours of back-wrenching handwork (cutting and pulling the invaders), I think you should accept that you may have to use drastic measures to restore the area to a manageable state, after which you can maintain it with more care for the overall environment. This is what I did with 4 acres of fescue that I converted to prairie wildflowers.

First, spray the entire field with glysophate. Glysophate kills actively growing plants, but does not do anything to seeds or the fertility of the soil. Once the plant material dies, burn the residue. Where the Johnson grass is, I would till and carefully rake out the rhizomes. I would also make an effort to pull as much of the rose roots as you can.

Wheat is not a crop that lends itself to thoughtful land management. If you're looking for something that can produce an income stream, but be managed with minimal disturbance of the environment, think in terms of perennial plants -- orchards, vines, etc.

Thanks for all your suggestions....all your comments were helpful.....

We have decided on cover crop therapy for this area.....it is almost 16 acres in about 5 fields and much too difficult to do by hand. The land originally was farmed by sharecroppers who did not care how abusive they were.....only planting corn and cotton.

We are starting with buckwheat to help break up the clay & that must be turned under...then progressive crops of nitrogen fixing and smother crops that can be mowed rather than turned under. Some of the crops will be to shade and inhibit some of the weedy growth.....we are now having our soil analyzed to see what it needs in terms of nutrients. Yes white clover & favas will be a couple of our choices....winter rye & some vetches will also be part of the cycle...It will be a process that takes us 3 to 4 years of very tender care.

We had no idea of the complexity involved in choosing the correct cover crops to do what we want, but it seems the best route to cure the soil

Wheat & oats would be rotated crops over the different arable fields & only in 1 acre patches for our own use. We do not want to be consumers of the GM cereals being introduced & used now by Kellogg's & most breakfast cereal & bread makers.

We will use burning, as that is a natural process, but we are in the midst of a long drought & burning is viable only in carefully chosen areas & on damp days (if we ever get another one)......all of our fields are surround by woods..

We want to keep some areas as forage for a couple of goats, but the wild onions make unpleasant tasting milk.

Foggy

hey..so my advice wasnt that far off!!!
i amaze myself
:-)

Best of luck, foggywalk! Please share your successes AND failures. I only have a 75x40 back yard, but hope to have a little farm someday. You have a battle ahead of you, but it will be worth it! Are you going to do an orchard area?

Oh definitely! orchards will be sort of spread around the perimeter of the woods...I've got a bee about permaculture & nut trees & fruit trees are high on the list of to do's.
We have a patch of native wild plums that I intend to use as rootstock to increase our plum plantings. we have a couple of fruit trees & some blueberries right now which we enjoy.

This next fall & year we are preparing (by hand...the hard way) a few 10 x 10 foot patches of wheat (farro..an Italian emmer wheat) and oats done with hand tools (scythes) to see how much grain that amounts to & what the effort is in growing it for our personal use & in what part of the property it will grow best.

Thanks for the good wishes, I'm of the opinion that if 50% of things do well & 50% fail.....we're still ahead.....failure is the best way to learn something.
Foggy

ohhh ive always wanted to grow grains...how about a raised bed "paddy" for rice??
That's another dream..my own wild rice,,,,,,,

This message was edited Jul 17, 2008 6:29 PM

Never thought of it, but why wouldn't wild rice grow at the edge of a pond? I know nothing about the culture of rice, but if you could grow it at the end of an ornamental pond it would serve the purpose of beauty and practicality when it ripens. Wild rice is different from oriental type rice & I don't know what conditions it requires.

Foggy

http://www.madison.k12.wi.us/tnl/titlevii/wildrice/wildRiceGrowing.html

:-)

Just a suggestion -- the National Arbor Day Foundation is on a mission to get hazelnuts growing everywhere. (They do NOT grow here...) The starts are quite small, but if you needed a windbreak somewhere, it would be a great way (read: inexpensive) to get it going. Hazelnuts are highly nutritious.

brigid! oh my gosh! We are planning on using hazelnuts all over the place as hedges...didn't have any notion of finding them cheap!
thank you so much!

Annie, that is a super link..if one couldn't grow rice after that lesson they might as well give up gardening...Thank you

you gals are really helpful

Foggy