Subject: Mineral Amendments

From: "Permaculture West" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 15:38:07 -0700

A question I've never had answered is: When is the best time of year to
apply mineral amendments?  I live in the Pacific NW where it rains all
winter and the ground rarely if ever freezes.  My instincts tell me to
apply them during the Fall so they will have the entire winter to slowly
break down and become more available to the plants come Spring time.  Any
comments from the crowd?

				[email-masked]

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From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 16 Sep 1997 00:05:41 -0400 (EDT)

> break down and become more available to the plants come Spring time.  Any

Fall would be a good time to apply compost and manure on top of 
a layer of rock powders on your raised beds. Rainfall would provide
moisture needed to finish decomposition of biomass & manure and enable
leaching of nutrients into the soil to nourish microorganisms. Manure and
compost and the fungi they nourish should help break down the rock powders  
into plant available mineral nutrients. I would apply a layer of mulch
across the tops of the beds to conserve nutrient-rich moisture and help
prevent nitrogen loss to the atmosphere.

Plant red and crimson clover and vetch as cover crops. Red clover will
help the fungi convert rock dusts and rock phosphate into plant
available phosphate. 

A living mulch on the beds as well as regular application of partially
decomposed plant material will facilitate formation of greater numbers 
of soil microaggregates (crumbs) which will lead to much greater
soil tilth and fertility.

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From: "prkosuth" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 17 Oct 97 21:00:28 PDT

In a reading last night I saw that rabbit droppings are pretty much good
to go as far as an additive goes. Is it really ok to add the rabbit drops
directly to the garden or should I have it spend some time in the compost
pile first. We have only 1 pet rabbit right now but I might as well do
something with his extra's. I know that worms love the stuff. 

Any opinions here ?
How should I deal with the rabbit manure ?

Thanks in advance,

Paul K
[email-masked]