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Gardening Without Irrigation: or without much, anyway by Steve Solomon
page 44 of 107 (41%)
dry soil. Sprouting seeds then rest atop damp soil exactly they lie
on a damp blotter in a germination laboratory's covered petri dish.
This dampness will not disappear before the sprouting seedling has
propelled a root several inches farther down and is putting a leaf
into the sunlight.

I've used several techniques to reestablish capillarity after
tilling. There's a wise old plastic push planter in my garage that
first compacts the tilled earth with its front wheel, cuts a furrow,
drops the seed, and then with its drag chain pulls loose soil over
the furrow. I've also pulled one wheel of a garden cart or pushed a
lightly loaded wheelbarrow down the row to press down a wheel track,
sprinkled seed on that compacted furrow, and then pulled loose soil
over it.

Handmade Footprints

Sometimes I sow large brassicas and cucurbits in clumps above a
fertilized, double-dug spot. First, in a space about 18 inches
square, I deeply dig in complete organic fertilizer. Then with my
fist I punch down a depression in the center of the fluffed-up
mound. Sometimes my fist goes in so easily that I have to replace a
little more soil and punch it down some more. The purpose is not to
make rammed earth or cement, but only to reestablish capillarity by
having firm soil under a shallow, fist-sized depression. Then a
pinch of seed is sprinkled atop this depression and covered with
fine earth. Even if several hot sunny days follow I get good
germination without watering. This same technique works excellently
on hills of squash, melon and cucumber as well, though these
large-seeded species must be planted quite a bit deeper.
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