Virgin land....

[growalot]

I say this even though it was farmed many years ago...how ...beats me...for the farmer we bought from told me he never limed and didn't rock it...no kidding...the moss covering the field was 8inches thick and the ph  was so low it wasn't on the charts...3-4 tons needed to just get it to 6....Base laid

So I've talked over the years of planting all plots in buckwheat the first few years while I labored getting the ph up and rocks manageable....This field is a good example...for part of it I didn't do that...I planted corn as a cover from the road....this field is being worked in stages....It's the only way I can get it done alone and by hand...I do use the tractor to disc but all spraying spreading and raking is by hand...I started out spraying...waiting discing..waiting spraying and then put buckwheat in ..fall overlay of turnip/rape and planted corn next to the buckwheat...needless to say limed spring and fall...1st pics...

  I did this a couple of years extending the turnips into the corn area and the corn into the fallow ground...The corn is always planted late because I have to spray down and wait then till spray wait... plus rake rocks......The area that has  the buckwheat/ turnips I have been able to put a perennial planting of Succra seed in on the shady side and this year soybeans will be the summer crop...with a overlay of winter wheat in the fall..

What I really want to show you is how planting the annuals for a few years instead of going straight to perennials has finally cut down the dormant weed seed...I can plant a non rr soybean save on spraying ....besides I really don't like having to spray and the soil is now just small manageable stones...The turnips have been.... not just a fall wonder...for they attracted deer all winter digging bulbs and now deer and turkey because I seed a tad heavy and the young bulbs stayed firm and are growing...rather tasty greens the deer and turkey are hitting  right now...not tons but helpful...

Notice the amount of dormant weed seed that comes up in the corn after spraying and discing a few times and part of that was done 2yrs in a row..

When I finally rotate this into a perennial area It will have a sustainable ph for alfalfa as well as clover....it will be level and rock free...not full of huge rocks that is ...and the nastiest of weed seeds that laid dormant in the soil will have finally been killed....not to say wind and animals won't carry in more but it will be manageable... The tilth will be much better making what ever grows there more nutrient rich for the wild life using it...

So thats my style of plotting