Perennial Polycultures - The Biomass Belt: Fertility Without Manure
We've been looking into fencing a garden , and how to meet fertility demands of the fruits, nuts, herbs and perennial vegetables on the plot without relying on animal manures and imported compost, and have come up with a polyculture that may meet both of these needs that we call the biomass belt. What is the Biomass Belt ? The biomass belt is a simple closed system, perennial polyculture dedicated to growing mulch and fertilizer for annual and perennial crops. How does it work? The polyculture is composed of mineral accumulating comfrey in raised beds, Nitrogen fixing ground cover sown into pathways and a Nitrogen fixing hedgerow. Illustration by Georgi Pavlov - www.georgipavlov.net The comfrey is grown in raised beds for biomass and can be cut from 4 - 7 times each year with the material being used to make liquid fertiliser or used directly as mulch. The deep rooted comfrey mines nutrients deep in the subsoil that would otherwise wash away with the underground soil water or...