- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
You're a good sort.. FWIW I'd also be keen to see how you get on with it!Thanks @Badshot - absolutely, it sort of worries me having bare soil for any length of time, tempered by knowing it's required in this instance. With no rain forecast for a while I'm not too worried about nutrients washing through, but I'm not quite sure how many times to keep passing with the cultivator before I get something growing (hence asking on here).
Incidentally please accept my apologies everyone for posting in the 'Holistic' part of the DD forum, and then putting up photos of bare soil and cultivators. If I had posted this in the main part of the forum it would have attracted a load of people moaning about why they don't like the term 'organic' etc.
Doing some online research (i.e. looking at a computer when I ought to be doing something else) yielded this useful sheet on docks: https://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/sites/www.gardenorganic.org.uk/files/organic-weeds/docks.pdf.
From the picture of the lifecycle, I'd say I have a good many that are about 4 years old, and it's those I'm trying to get with the fallow. If I can encourage as many seeds to germinate as possible, then cultivate once more, and then immediately plant a competitive crop, hopefully the dock seedlings will not make it to maturity. Nothing is going to work 100% in this sort of system, but I am hopeful of being able to improve things a bit from where I am now (or where I was, last year).
I have spring wheat in an adjacent field that has had its share of docks in the past. This year I ploughed it in January prior to a cold dry spell, and then did a stale seed bed prior to sowing, and then sowed an understory of white clover & black medic. I doubt they'll be putting much N into the ground given the short timescale, but they seem to have done a good job of using up available space and stopping weeds coming through, the field looks quite clean (for organic!)
I will probably buy a mixture of what @Kiwi Pete and @Badshot have suggested, I'm actually quite looking forward to working out the mixture and getting it in. I will update the thread as I go along, if of interest?
For sheep grazing - what sort of rate do people charge? Something fair to both parties is all I'd want.
Grazing rates vary a lot from what I read on here, and are very low IMO. Don't sell it short, here I charge =£1/week for PP but I do it all. Ideally you want it to be a win-win and to me that means covering your costs well.