the first ragi crop was an over-documented story.
and gratefully the output was commensurate to the documentation.
but more importantly, it was the first step on the move towards fukuoka's 'no-till' farming.
coming back to ragi.
it remains our most commonly eaten millet.
in the summer, 3 out of 4 breakfasts are ragi koozhu.
so the math was simple, one crop a year did not seem adequate. we would need at least 30-40 kgs of ragi per year for our own consumption.
and this was the season for any crop and we wanted to take a shot at a 3 month variety.
since we got the seeds from the guys who grow, consume and seed-save it regularly, we assume that this is not a hybrid seed variety.
the locals call it 'kulla kevaru' - short ragi.
since we had already used around a third of this mulched field for our vegetable scale up, we have attempted the transplant method on the balance of this field and have tried a simple broadcast approach on a nearby field.
the major differences from the previous planting were:
1. closer spacing - approx 6" between the saplings.
2. no inter-crop - last time we used cow pea - karamani.
3. and of course - the seed variety is a 90 day crop
the method was very similar to the previous time.
the nursery...around 25 days.
and the transplanting (much easier this time as the soil was softer and the team was more experienced.
and the final field...
as we always say, keep watching this space.
and gratefully the output was commensurate to the documentation.
but more importantly, it was the first step on the move towards fukuoka's 'no-till' farming.
coming back to ragi.
it remains our most commonly eaten millet.
in the summer, 3 out of 4 breakfasts are ragi koozhu.
so the math was simple, one crop a year did not seem adequate. we would need at least 30-40 kgs of ragi per year for our own consumption.
and this was the season for any crop and we wanted to take a shot at a 3 month variety.
since we got the seeds from the guys who grow, consume and seed-save it regularly, we assume that this is not a hybrid seed variety.
the locals call it 'kulla kevaru' - short ragi.
since we had already used around a third of this mulched field for our vegetable scale up, we have attempted the transplant method on the balance of this field and have tried a simple broadcast approach on a nearby field.
the major differences from the previous planting were:
1. closer spacing - approx 6" between the saplings.
2. no inter-crop - last time we used cow pea - karamani.
3. and of course - the seed variety is a 90 day crop
the method was very similar to the previous time.
the nursery...around 25 days.
and the transplanting (much easier this time as the soil was softer and the team was more experienced.
and the final field...
as we always say, keep watching this space.
2 comments:
In case you haven't seen this already, some interesting info on Muringa, particularly growing it as a crop. The "productivity" narrative is irritating, but the info is really interesting.
http://www.treesforlife.org/documents/moringa/presentation/Moringa%20Presentation%20%28General%29.ppt
will check from broadband when in madras next.
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