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| Bed prep for buckwheat. 7.21.15 |
Today I took a little time to prep the former borage bed for Buckwheat. I planted the borage late winter. In this location, the borage plants grew to 5 foot tall, some 6 foot. Might have been influenced buy the organic nitrogen, and might have been due to whatever was already in the soil. The soil has been used, either as a dumping location for fireplace or grill ashes, or was a burn location. Lots of biochar and ashes. That may not be a good thing, for many reasons. But the borage grew like gangbusters.
The borage has dried out and was done blooming. I wanted to collect seeds, but not up to it. It pulled out very easy, leaving an almost weed-free bed. Quite a bit of water was needed to soften the soil, then worked it shallowly, smoothed with garden rake, spread buckwheat seeds, smoothed a little more, and watered.
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| Original book source: Prof. Dr. Otto Wilhelm Thomé Flora von Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz 1885, Gera, Germany. Image via commons.wikipedia.org |
From what I read, buckwheat is an excellent plant for conditioning the soil (green manure, cover crop). It crowds out most weeds - which apparently borage also does - and is killed by the first frost. Buckwheat grows in hot summer, and has a fast life cycle. I don't know yet, but am hoping it will bloom in the fall. Buckwheat is also considered excellent bee forage.
A comment on solarbeez blog states buckwheat started flowering 3 weeks after planting. Mother Earth News states some bloom starts as little as one week from planting. From
Mother Earth News:
"Buckwheat is one of the best sources of high quality protein in the
plant kingdom. It's easy to grow, harvest, and process; it prospers on
soils too poor for other crops; and it's not susceptible to any major
disease or pest problems. On top of all that, buckwheat is an excellent
smother crop for weed control, a superb green manure crop, and a
legendary nectar source for honeybees.". From this extension website, Buckwheat is not tolerant of hot, dry conditions. I'm thinking it will need the same watering as I am currently doing for squash and corn, until fall arrives. Never having grown buckwheat, some experimentation is likely needed. Also from the extension site: "
Buckwheat can be raised for grain if planted by mid-July in northern states or by early August in the South. If we want to try, according to Mother Earth News, a gardener can get a usable amount of buckwheat for food in 40 square feet - a little more than my raised beds. I guess, for us or for the chickens.
The seed package was very large - 5 pounds. Plan: pull the weeds out of the 3 raised beds I lost to weeds, and plant buckwheat. The area planted here is about the same as 1 1/2 raised bed. Ditto for the garlic bed, once the garlic is harvested. Ambition and energy, those are the limitations.
