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18 Comments

  • Clyde Cox

    Hello, Have watched all your videos and taken notes. Kind of confused on this one. Why not just crimp the winter rye and plant among it? Why do you choose to lay down a cattle panel and paper? In your other videos you promote various things growing within your vegetables stressing it doesn't have to be weed free and diversity helps. Thanks

  • 1980xardas1980

    Hello Mark, this is Michael.
    What do you think of air-pruning in a large bucket for productivity regarding tomatoes, of course in combination with some soil-building strawberry.
    Will it be comparable to growing in the field or raised bed?

    Thank you for your videos and your effort. I am looking forward to every video of yours.
    best regards

    edit: I ask because I do not have land, so I think of planting some vegetables on my balcony

  • pinjarela

    +I AM ORGANIC GARDENING
    how do you protect tomatoes and peppers from hot sun?
    i have a huge issue, all plants are wilting…and they recover in the evening but cmooon, for example mint plant, has no problems, it can stay on sun for 24 hours.

  • TheEmptynester planting Seeds of Hope

    Hi, Mark. It looks like the grass is doing well for you. I like how you use it to add some wind break. The grass in the field here gets tall. But not as fast as the rye. It is cut and bailed maybe 2 times a year. I have no clue what type of grass it is. But it is thick. I really did not think of it as a benefit. When the cut and bail. Millions of fleas hit our house every July. Do you have that issue with rye?

  • Judy Ball

    Mark, Thank you so much for your videos. I'm learning a great deal. I have a question. I have the autoimmune disease Celiac. I have a severe autoimmune reaction if I eat a gluten grain. I also react if I get gluten dust on my skin or breathe gluten dust. What cover crops could I use that are gluten-free instead of rye? I live in zone 5B in Utah. Thanks so much.

  • codygillespie

    Good idea for shade for the lettuce. I like the thinking outside the box. I had been pondering the same problem for shade for lettuce during the warmer season, i was thinking of spraying them with kaolin clay (surround) like a sunscreen. But your idea wont wash away in the rain so that might be better. Ive seen others growing them in with tall trellised plants like cucs or tomatoes for shade too. Im invisioning growing rows of lettuce with a row of rye/covercrops between each row alternately to fill out the field in production and still achieve the same shade/wind benefits. The rows would have to run north/south for the shading to work right and i would add some other plants to the cover crop mix to draw in some beneficial insects for the crop. Beats buying a hoophouse and shade cloth.

  • clive mossmoon

    Mark are you saying you removed the winter rye in the strawberry bed this spring? How did you cut it, with a weed wacker maybe? I ask because I don't see any winter rye stubs in the bed. Thank you.

  • Chicken Run Homestead

    Do you have issues with ticks in your area? I'm wondering with all that tall rye if it would be an issue. Ticks are really bad here in NY although my chickens help somewhat with that but I don't allow them in my garden except maybe in the fall. Fortunately I have only found two so far, one when I was moving old dried plants to plan in (I didn't pull – lol), and one when I was picking rhubarb.