Turning old pasture/field into productive land...

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eatyour_greens

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Turning old pasture/field into productive land...
« on: April 15, 2009, 00:02 »
Hi,

I've been looking for some info on this, I can't seem to find out what I should look out for, when turning an old pasture into productive land.
I've recently gotten half an acre of undulating bed-rocky old pasture. It's a section of a larger field, that is strewn with bedrock.
There's lots of grass growing, gorse, a few really nice hawthorns, dry stone walled to two consecutive sides, and wire fenced on the other two. We're a little exposed, on the side of a series of rolling hills going up a bigger one. I'll find out the elevation.
It's 21x102m/2146 square metres, 0.53 acres. It undulates, maybe 5-8 metres toward the south, and doesn't seem as rocky as the rest of the field.

I want to make numerous veg beds, some raised, plant fruit bushes and trees, and maybe think about chickens and bees.

Apart from a good strimming, and forging out beds, rocks n all... getting a good water harvesting system going, what kind of pests and deficiencies should I be pre-treating for? I'm aware of wireworm, but what other things come with old pasture?
I'd like to be as organic as possible.
I'm sure that the strip of land hasn't had anything major done to it at all, apart from a small hut one end, in at least 100 years.

I've not found any significant info on the net about this, even though I'm sure it's out there. And this thread can be updated with what is found out.

I know I've gotta get my skates on, what does everyone think?
Thanks for any help in advance!

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Stree

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Re: Turning old pasture/field into productive land...
« Reply #1 on: April 15, 2009, 00:24 »
Lots of threads on this in the Grow Your Own  forum.

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Trillium

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Re: Turning old pasture/field into productive land...
« Reply #2 on: April 15, 2009, 03:27 »
It almost sounds like my backyard that you're describing, but not quite as steep  :D What you need to determine is the drainage and what you're dealing with, and you do that by digging small holes in various spots to see what you've got underneath. Look at the soil, the tilth of it, any worms? how big are weed roots, does it hold moisture at all or too well. Then look for any noticeable water runoff paths as they're hard to change and you don't want to position your beds in their way. The drainage is important even with raised beds as sometimes you can be positioning them right on ledges that won't let bed soil drain properly.
Next, try to plant some sort of living windbreak planted on the worst side, various hedgings work well and a garden centre can help with that.
And where will water come from to meet plant needs in dry spells? That needs to get into place soon as well and in reasonable quantity.
Mostly, neglected fields are quite depleted of nutrients so you'll need to beef up the soil of the raised beds with lots of old manure, any compost, bone and fish meal and other nutritious additives. If you can plant lots of wildflowers along the fencelines, that will really attract bees to better pollinate your crops.
These should give you somewhere to start. Hope it works out.

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David.

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Re: Turning old pasture/field into productive land...
« Reply #3 on: April 16, 2009, 17:55 »
If you can plant lots of wildflowers along the fencelines, that will really attract bees to better pollinate your crops.

But don't forget about working your design around whatever wild flowers are already established.

I've got approx 0.6 of an acre of allotment, about a third of which has been cut from long overgrown scrub/grassland and I've tried to fit in with what's there:



Taken this morning, didn't bother with the cellandines or violets as they've finished flowering, but there's the orchids to come:



Then ragged robin, purple loosestrife, etc., etc.



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