Here's the plan. LUCERNE 'Sequel'

LUCERNE 'Sequel'
Medicago sativa

I purchased some Lucerne seeds with my last order from Green Harvest and here is some of my thinking behind this.

• The second highest (the first being taste) reason for growing my own veggies is to save money. In my mind it seems pointless to spend $100.00 preparing and maintaining a crop that you could buy from a fruit and veggie shop for forty or fifty dollars, not counting the hours spent tending the crop.
  
  
• So with the above thought in my head I decided to grow my own lucerne and make my own mulch/straw. I can place a few plants here and there where it is not practical to grow veggies like along the fence line, around the edge of the chook pen, between the roses, etc, etc.
  
  
• A nitrogen source for my compost.
  
  
• The deep tap root will help lift nutrients from deep within the soil making it a welcome addition to my compost
  
  
  
  
  
• Also due to finical constraints (like I don't have enough money) and a green tinge on my part for the environment I have unregistered my car and am now push pike bound which makes it very difficult to get bales of mulch and trying to save money means delivery is out of the question so grow my own it is.
  
  
• I can harvest it as needed let it dry in the sun and bung it through the muncher if need be.
  
  
• The chooks will get a feed every now and then of fresh lucerne.
  
  
• It smells nice
  

Here is a few Lucerne facts I lifted from the front of the Green Harvest seed packet.

• Lucerne is a upright perennial winter vigorous legume (more on legumes/cover crops below).
• It has purple flowers and a strong, very deep tap root.
• Lucerne prefers deep well-drained soils, with a neutral to slightly alkaline pH.
• It will not tolerate water logging even for short periods but is tolerant of frosts.
• (I'd like more info on this fact) The tender leaves are used as a vegetable and as a tea.
• The leaves are rich in methionine whatever that is), an essential amino acid.
• Lucerne flowers attract beneficial insects such as assassin bugs (who said gardening was boring), parasitic wasps, and ladybeetles (my favorite).
• It is useful as an orchard cover crop and as a mulch plant in the garden.
• It is also a highly nutritious animal forage.

Cover crops/Legumes

• Cover crops provide a living carpet of perennial plants for orchards, this 'living mulch' can provide many advantages, especially compared to grass, which aggressively competes with fruit trees for water and nutrients. Cover crops can;
  

1. Suppress weeds without the use of herbicides
2. Protect valuable topsoil from wind and water erosion
   
3. Reduce compaction caused by frequent mowing.
4. Increase organic matter, earthworms and beneficial micro organisms
5. Increase the soil's available nitrogen and moisture retention
6. Provide habitat, nectar and pollen for beneficial insects
7. Improve water, root and air penetration in the soil.

What is a Legume

• Legumes are plants such as clover, lucerne, peas, beans, medics and chickpeas. An important advantage of legumes is their unusual ability to obtain nitrogen, a major element need for plant growth, from the soil air, as most plants are unable to do this. They do this by forming a symbiotic relationship with a group of bacteria called Rhizobium, which live within a special structure, called a nodule, on the plant's roots. The Rhizobia can take nitrogen from the air and convert it to the form plants normally obtain from the soil. This process is called nitrogen fixation.

Well that's it for now. Any feedback or questions are welcome.

Cheers and happy gardening

Stewart.

The great lucerne mulch adventure.

Funny how things work out sometimes.
Saturday night just gone I was working in my taxi and the last thing on my mind was lucerne mulch.

Also it is very rare that I get bored enough to buy a Newspaper to pass the time, but as it turned out Saturday night was an exception.

Anyhow, as I was reading the paper, I usually go through the classified ads and look up the produce section. I usually look there for mulch straw or hay, mainly out of curiosity, but because of the drought even mulch hay was dearer than what I wanted to pay for it.




So it was to my surprise that I saw lucerne mulch hay advertised for $5.00 dollars a bale then just below $4.40. I thought bugger I've got no way of getting my hands on this at such a good price, then just as I was discovering all this Max in cab 48 pulled in behind me on the rank I was on.

So as cabbies do on a quiet night they talk to each other about how quiet a night they are having.
After exhausting that topic I lamented to Max about the mulch and wishing I had a ute to go and grab 10 or 12 bales of hay and blow me down he said he had one and I could borrow it.



Now not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth (ewu, why would want to) I took him up on his offer. The rest, as they say, is history.


The lucerne can only be used for mulch because it was rained on after being cut and then it goes moldy and horses won't eat it but veggie gardens love it.








Photo 1. is how much he has left to sell.

Photo 2. is Neville, my mums Husband and also recipient of 5 bales of hay for his veggie garden.

Photo 3. Just a photo of the lucerne farm. This bloke had 120 acres of heaven (6k's South West of Cambooya which is South of Toowoomba) and was very keen to discuss all forms of organic farming, bio organics and Natural Sequence Farming (NSF) among others.







Photo 4. At home with the loaded ute. We could have easily taken more but 11 for me and 5 for Neville will keep us going for a while and I did ask if we could ring at a later date if we wanted more.

Photo 5. A nice little haul to keep me going over winter.

As usual if you click on the photos you'll get a bigger picture.

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