Update to Alfalfa Patch

See the first post here.

It looks like we haven't figured out alfalfa yet. Last time we tried planting in the spring, this time in the summer. Both times we used the appropriate innoculant and watered faithfully - both times the plants sprouted and stalled and died. Bummerific. What IS the correct time for this area? Oh well! This is what the "alfalfa patch" looks like now - we finally got a good crop of weeds before deciding not to water it anymore. I do have about a dozen black bean plants that are producing pretty well, for my personal project, so at least one garden thing worked for me this year. Now that fall is almost here, I am going to get ready and try to plant carrots, peas, potatoes, peas, wheat, oh, and peas! Ahem. We call fresh peas "garden candy" around here and we can never get enough. Young peas are soo sweet!

Anyway, I don't think alfalfa would do well planted in the fall or winter, so for now I am going to focus on growing people food and ideas for helping the native grasses over the winter.

L

Alfalfa Patch: 1

The beginnings of the alfalfa patch. There are lots of little sprouts, but they are practically impossible to photograph as of yet. This used to be our grandparents' lawn - they have not been able to keep it up lately and starting to grow forage plants here is a good way to get a green spot for them to look at without wasting the horrendous amounts of water to sustain a lawn. Also, being close to the house it is easier to take care of and harder for wild animals to raid.

This patch is only about 6' x 15', but I fully intend to plant more. My goal is to try to plant enough in the next few months to produce 1% of the horses' yearly needs. More on this later on. The way I figured it out is, with Mira on a mostly concentrate diet, I use roughly 6 tons of hay a year. In this area, with decent soil amendments and LOTS of water, a person might be able to harvest a couple tons per acre. Say I would need two acres. One acre is 43,560 feet, or (squared) about 208.7 feet x 208.7 feet. One percent of two acres is 870 feet, or 20' x 43.5' patch. So far I have 90' planted. I will keep you guys updated on this project's progress!

L