article thumbnail

Regenerative Gardening, No-Till Winter Cover Crop Strategies

UnderstandingAg

Although no-till implies not tilling at all, many no-till market gardeners still rely on some form of light tillage to create a seed bed or apply copious amounts of compost as a mulch to create a seed bed. If you live in a high-rainfall climate, I recommend applying straw mulch after seeding to reduce crusting and soil loss.

Crop 89
article thumbnail

Managing ‘Brown Gold:’ the Challenges—and Opportunities—of Spent Substrate

Civil Eats

It’s also one with many potential uses ; it can be used as compost, as a means of decontaminating soil, as biofuel, and simply for growing more mushrooms. Stempel currently takes most of the material to a nearby compost facility, but local farms, gardeners, and florists also take a portion. It wasn’t a tough sell. In the U.S.,

Compost 111
Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

How immense is farming’s problem with plastic?

Sustainable Food Trust

On the upside of these problems, however, is the Green Tractor scheme, which involves farmers with a commitment to innovation and environmental change, supporting them to be accountable for their waste. Farmers once used straw or other organic matter instead of plastic mulch. With around 216,000 farms in the UK and 17.2

Straw 87
article thumbnail

Can Agriculture Kick Its Plastic Addiction?

Civil Eats

Instead of film, many small farms employing sustainable and regenerative practices use natural mulches such as wood chips, leaves, or straw, relying on the low-cost, time-honored practice to keep weeds in check and regulate soil moisture and temperature. Depending on [those] factors,” she adds,” everything is scalable.”