Re: 100 Pounds of Food/Year From a 12 Square Foot Plot?

On Mon, 28 Apr 2008 02:24:28 GMT, "0tterbot" <spl@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:

><Charlie> wrote in message 
>news:ij9514potv6gdsv0h7eu0auvh5bmka6lt5@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> On Fri, 25 Apr 2008 21:06:26 -0500, Charlie wrote:
>>
>>>Another section talks about the nutrient density and makeup of organic
>>>compared to factory farmed food.
>>
>> Sorry, I was also reading this article and became cornfused about what
>> I was reading and where I was reading it!  Not an uncommon occurrence.
>>
>>
http://hartlandag.blogspot.com/2007/09/new-study-industrial-agriculture-crops.html
>>
>> Viva la Revolución Jardín
>> Charlie
>
>have heard of this idea in a number of places, so it can be made work,
for 
>sure! (i can't visualise what 100 pounds would be, though, so i'm lost
there 
>;-)

Oh, somewhere in the neighborhood of 45 kilos. ;-)  Or one biggish
pumpkin.

>
>i'd say though, it would depend a bit on soil quality - my soil is still 
>pretty awful (although you can notice the difference after even one
season's 
>cultivation) however, there isn't anywhere for my soil to go but up - so 
>i'll get there eventually :-)
>
>one other thing i suspect to be true as well is that if you double dig
the 
>area (loosen soil to two forks deep, rather than just one as we tend to
do) 
>would help a lot with such close planting. i[ve noticed that in my
garden, 
>the veggie roots stay in the surface - they just don't seem to want to go

>deep at all (and i don't blame them). fair enough that most veggies
actually 
>have far shallower roots than we would expect, but it would help me a lot
if 
>every root isn't fighting it out just under the surface! i keep feeding
the 
>top so it mostly works, but look forward to the topsoil getting deeper & 
>much richer, & drainage getting better.

You're on track.  You'll likely be surprised how fast it will improve.
Third year showed me great improvement.

>clive blazey of the digger's club says 60 square metres (this includes
fruit 
>trees etc) to provide _all_ the fruit & veg for a family of 4-5. it
probably 
>even sounds a lot, but it's not really - could be easily done in most
yards 
>i think(?), just not a really small yard.
>kylie 
>

John Jeavon's makes similar claims, pioneer in the biointensive method,
book is "how to grow more vegetables in less space than you can
imagine", or something close to that (I'm socked into the chair and
loath to get up at the moment.......book is on my bedside table).

Thanks for the reference to digger's club......great info and
philosophy and looks like great people.

Thanks
Charlie