This year no grass was cut in the farm since rain was less. Basically wanted to provide good shade for the trees, the growth of grass is wild, coconut trees are yet to recover from last summer, they would take some time. I will be cutting the grass and other shrubs at the beginning of next rainy season.
Trying to make some compost from cut grass from pathways. There is lot of grass in the pathways. Cut them using scythe and some are dried and some are green used both green and brown grass. Net was bought from a hardware store - 3 feet tall and 7 feet length, two were brought, totally costed around 1200/. Bought 500ml epoxy primer and thinner and painted it. This costed around 250/ rupees.
4 wheel barrow full of grass is used, grass was spread and cowdung slurry is applied and after each application, the grass was pressed well so that it is compact. 4 kotta of cowdung was bought from a nearby person and this costs around 80/ rupees. This would be sufficient for 4 such compost bins.
I have been trying no-till rice/millet for many years, but not successful. The main reason is weed control, once achieved this by growing pureria for close to 1.5 years, but after cutting and growing rice, it didn't come back. Fukuoka san achieved weed control using white clover and also his rice plant grew relatively tall and were adapted to such environment.
Weeds take over the field during fallow period and with the start of rainy season, they grow first. Mulch is one way to control them and need mulch which decompose slowly. Recently found a fodder grass growing in the farm, which meets these requirements. They grow back in 1 month time after cutting when there is soil moisture and is perennial.
So one field which I was not using for long time, I planted these grasses in rows 8 feet apart and plan is to cut and mulch the space between the rows. Since this mulch decompose slowly should provide good weed control.
Happy hill rice in backyard didn't do well last time. Even though the area was grown with different legumes, still the fertility was not upto the mark, also since the land had many stones, when it rained, stones were standing out.
So decided to make a low lying area with all stones removed. So dig one area and soil was removed and all stones were hand picked and removed. Then filled the top soil again and compost was spread here. Seeds which was received from Japan in 2021 had been kept in refrigerator, this was kept out side for a day and then soaked in cowdung water for 24 hours and then kept in wet cloth. It germinated in 12 hours
04-Sept-2023
Germination was good and few started growing out
Recently I started a liking for flowers, thought that would be useful for farm and that would increase the pollinators and also would add an attraction. Some time back I had got a sapling of 'Krishna Kireedam' which started flowering and now it is spread in that area. I never saw the seeds of it, but it is spreading in that area.
Some more flowers in the farm...
'Kani konna' in malayalam, this is unseasonal flowering, supposed to flower in April, during the festival vishu
When the last summer was very intense noticed that some trees like Glyrecedia, Teak, Athachakka etc shed their leaves completely and sunlight is reaching the ground. But some trees like mango, jackfruit, mahagony etc retains the leaves and shade the ground. To some extend coconut trees which are surrounded by mango and jackfruit trees were less affected in the summer. Grasses are completely dried out, cover crop Pureria also is dried out. Looking for options which can shade ground in peak summer also, so has to plan more evergreen trees and perennial grasses which can survive summer
Sakhil of Nadan Mavukal facebook group gave a few seedlings advised to grow it in pots to bigger size and then plant. When small seedlings are planted they struggle to grow and also some time they are lost in the summer.
Moved them to bigger plastic bags and put some mulch in the top portion of the bags and also put some seeds of green gram. These will be planted in the farm in next rainy season.
The varieties are
1) Golden Ponnus
2) Blue Ponnus
3) Red Ponnus
4) Ivory Kolumb
5) Jaan Priyoor
6) Kunji Chelan
7) Kanimangalam
8) Sakhi
9) Karthikeyan
The above were given by Sakhil. Some varieties which I had also is planted in plastic bags
1) IMCP Kilichundan
2) Karutha Moovandan
3) Cheriya Priyoor
4) Chelan
5) Dukran
6) Ayyanthole
7) Nattika
Sown some green gram and mustard in the plastic bag
27-Oct-2023
30-Nov-2023
Cleaned the base of each sapling and sown fenugreek for covering the base
June 4, 2024
