clover

"as a fundamental principle weeds should be controlled, not eliminated. straw mulch, a ground cover of white clover interplanted with the crops, and temporary flooding provide effective weed control in my fields." masanobu fukuoka from "one straw revolution"____________i had planned to turn this bed of clover under come spring...but my reading around has given me second thoughts...it would seem we have been following mr. fukuoka's system somewhat unconsciously ( or, perehaps, he has had a serious impact on the ides of other writers i have been reading and i have come to them through a filter )...if you look closely at the second photo you'll see, besides the clover, leaves from beans and potatoes ( as well as potato stems ), probably some weeds, and just in the left hand side of the photo a bit of asparagus...we already have crops interplanted with clover an a straw mulch is simple ( we will most likely skip the temporary flooding part )...there may be a need to grow more vegetables in the garden next season ( more on why as events unfold )but i may be intent on keeping one experimental bed alive...just to see what kind of production and harvest may be possible with full time, perennial green manures