Thanks for the very interesting article. Does the same thing go for all green covers? Do we really have to turn them under during flowering? I thought clover was a soil builder that did not require any intervention...

Hello there

I am a diehard environmentalist waiting patiently for gasoline to hit the $5 mark.

In the mean time, before I make the following suggestions to our  California govenor on how to save gas, I would like your opinion on how much we would save if we Californians do the following:

 Bring back the 55 mile signs that were taken down a few years back.  I am sure they are being stored somewhere.

 Start a movement to stop gasoline use for transportation and save gasoline for the organic chemists to play with.  I believe that the chemists did go to congress at one time to make that very point.

 To expedite $5.00 gasoline how would you go about convincing people that we need higher taxes on gasoline?

A question on semantics:

"[Synthetic fertilizer]is petroleum-based and designed for quick action in the soil."

Synthetic fertilizer is made with natural gas (as I have learned from Umbra's blog). I have heard petroleum used interchangeably for nat gas and oil, is that a misnomer or is it an all-encompassing word?

I grew up on a ranch in South Texas. My grandfather also had some fields, mostly maize and corn. He rotated his crops and every so many years (I think it was three but it could have been more), he would plant what he called "field peas" in a field and then plow them under. He said it not only built up the soil but it got rid of the weeds. I would think you could roto-till the favas or whatever and that would work. People also planted winter rye for the nitrogen too.

My grandfather had beautiful fields. He was an old country farmer (from Norway) and put down the farmers who spent a lot of money on "store bought" fertilizer and pesticides. He used to take me out in the fields at night to "hear the corn grow." And I could! He was my nature mystic mentor.

Anyway, I'm here to tell you - field peas work and Umbra's right - plow them under or compost them. You'll get a good return.

There are probably several such groups but in my area there is a group called Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association that is all about practicing this kind of sustainable agriculture at all levels right on down to the urban households.  www.oeffa.org is their website.

I am sure the occasional Grist contributor Tom Philpott would have some content to add.

My contribution is to suggest google searching the term "green manure".  The concept of plowing in the Nitrogen fixing plants to enrich the soil in this manner is associated with the use of that term in practice here in the US.

Keep on Bean there, Umbra!

Petroleum includes natural gas and oil:

A naturally occurring complex mixture composed predominantly of hydrocarbons in a gaseous, liquid or solid phase.

A generic name for hydrocarbons, including crude oil, natural gas liquids, natural gas and their products.

A mixture of liquid, gaseous, and solid hydrocarbon compounds found naturally underground.

I've grown various legumes and clover as cover crops, but plowing them under is just too much work. Turn the chickens loose on it, instead. In just a few days, the chickens will eat it all and turn it into chicken poop. Then you can water it in and plant your next crop. Plus, the chickens eat all the bugs and you get the eggs.