On our farm we rotate alfalfa every 4 years on the land, the next 3 after it nitrogen use is half of what we would normally use, never considered using it in the garden, this year I’m starting my garden fresh, I bought and built a home had to move 300 loads of sand and clay in to build up the home area, now starting a garden in this clay sand mix, ( from where I moved I had 5.5 feet of black dirt) going to build garden way to big to be able to cover crop and have compost in garden. Your videos are so great cat get enough of them thank you
I love alfalfa, I grow the spouts and microgreens in the kitchen as well as cover crop and use in landscape. I also love dandelions because they also have deep tap root that brings up calcium from deep in the earth. Dandelions help compaction and fertilize. I count my blessings for their presence in my lawn, field and garden. The weeds I hate the most is bindweed and a Bermuda grass.
In school atm. Our soil science class had been trying to revive a patch of land with different cover crops and tilling with no luck. They're actually going ti try a no till alfalfa cover crop for thus next year. It's growing popularity down here in North Dakota
Based on your recommendations, I've bought a bag and will start planting ASAP. As always, your videos are so informative and easily understood. Can't thank you enough!
Hello ty for the video. I use a sandwich starter mix to make my compost tea. It has a mix of seeds which include clover mustard alfalfa and a few more. My garden is now stocked with these plants and was unsure what was what. Now I know what alfalfa looks like:] It has been great so far for a cover crop/chop and drop. The mustard is great as well grows huge leaves that you can eat and the flower really attracts bees. It grows 6 ft tall or so but has been a welcomed part of the garden until I go into terminator mode that is.
Great presentation, thanks for putting it together. Alfalfa seed meal is an excellent cheap organic source of nitrogen. I use it when I mix my own fertilizer and you get it at the farm & feed stores as well. I've experienced rye and mustard which are both good cover crops that also have biowarfare element that kills bad nematodes and a few others. Alfalfa makes sense to add with those two, I'm working out a cover crop rotation for my beds.
Great Info! You mentioned a July termination; are there benefits when growing for a shorter period of time - home gardeners? Also, any comments on alfalfa meal or pellets as fertilizer for home gardeners? I'm looking forward to your follow-up videos on your test plots. Thank you
I watched one of your videos on Sphagnum Peat Moss about two years ago and forgot the name of your channel and I'm SO happy to have found you again! THANKS FOR THE AMAZING INFORMATION :D
You post right after my lunch hour - so I get to return from lunch and boom - more fun stuff to do before I get totally focused on work. Thank you for helping me slack a little hahahaha!
Thanks for the video. I am now growing it in my market garden to grow on the paths between the rows. I could get wood chip for the 40cm paths, so I upgraded to a living path cover. I line trim the paths into the crops. Look like it need trimming every month at the moment. Its good for mining the deep minerals and for redox reduction of nutrients.
Hi Ashley. I'm thinking of putting in a smaller alfalfa stand as a way to continuously harvest green manure. Did you ever plant your own? I didn't see a follow up video on this subject in your library. Thank you!
This is fantastic! I recently found out that my native soil has 0 Nitrogen, so I sprinkled some really old (around 8 years) alfalfa seeds all over the garden thinking that nothing would germinate. 🤣 I think they all germinated, so hopefully that will fix the nitrogen problem. I'm glad you included when to terminate. I was wondering how long I should let them do their thing. My husband also keeps bees so I'm considering letting a few of them flower.
I'm all in! I'll do the intercropping. That was a nice going down memory lane! My grandma was chopping alfalfa as animal feed! Never seen it so tall, as in your video! Too frequent of haircuts :)!
I have rabbits and goats, and want to try this. I’m in the process of converting all my lawn to gardens through tarping, cardboard, and mulch. Can I direct seed this into a lawn and will it take over?
Haha it’s a crop that’s so applicable to so many ranges in land size. I’d be comfortable support the plant in a container garden all the way to an entire pasture or fallow farm land
I’m starting a small food forest this spring and I’ve bought alfalfa to sow as a cover crop while I’m getting my first trees and berry bushes established! Thanks for this great info... I now have a plan for where to sow and how long to leave it go!
I just might try that with some of my taller plants like tomatoes....I'll need to figure out when to terminate it for zone 4-5 tho....and how soon you can sow it....(If you have an idea let me know 😉)
The alfalfa seed is good, been using it for a while from TSC out in Ontario. I have some red clover too. I checked out the link, and they have orchard grass and timothy as well at great prices. Thanks! 5 rabbits in the house hold. I grow it all indoors. I also have a shallow 4.5" deep 2x4 bed inside a tent growing many things, with many alfalfa in there. Always got fresh greens for the buns.
This gives me some hope for my garden but it seems like in my climate, this could become such a vigorous grower that it could be a nightmare to get rid of. I love growing but like everyone, I hate weeding. I read that each alfalfa mound can be 12 inches across at 1 yr and the answer to "how do I get rid of alfalfa?" seems to be herbicide. (Tillage does away with 80% if you go deeply enough.) Is there another interplanting crop that wouldn't make woody stems that wouldn't retire herbicide to eradicate it? Thanks for sharing!
Great timing for this video. Been thinking about inter crop plants. Alfalfa was one of my considerations. With its deep roots and nitrogen adding ability, this seems to be a great inter crop. Question, doesnt termination of crop mean killing it? Giving a hair cut , would be managing crop?
Yea I mean it depends on how low to the ground your going. So buzz cut vs a trim. obviously buzz cut would be terminating and a hair cut would be managing. But if you green manure with the haircut and leave it in place you may terminate naturally based on simple choking out the light. I like the flowers haha so I’m down with haircuts
Just purchased 2 acres of land and it's all alfalfa! I'm building permaculture forest with guilds and such. Should I leave all the alfalfa and plant right into it or should I sheet mulch areas? Torn on what I should do, it's been vacant land for years just growing and seeding every year.
There are about 199,000 alfalfa seeds per pound. If that one pound was evenly spread over one acre (43,560 ft. 2), there would be in the neighborhood of five seeds per square foot. So using 1/4lb of seed per 25 square foot would be 50,000 seeds and in turn that would result in 2,000 seeds per square foot.
Hope I haven't missed the boat on this completely, but I do have a question. I garden in a raised bed. The bed is maybe 3 feet above the ground, with some wood from a fallen tree filling the bottom third and purchased garden soil the rest of the way up. I do have some alfalfa seed and thought I'd spread the some of the seed on the soil surface as soon as I have done the fall clean up. If I do this now (it is Oct 1 today & I am in Southern Ontario), will I be wasting my seed, or is there a chance I would see some benefit for next year's garden. I'm a beginner gardener, so any advice is much appreciated. thanks
I have seriously only found alfalfa seed for growing micro greens. Another TH-cam gardener recommended alfalfa pellets, which I also got at Peavy Mart and I have been sprinkling those on the garden. My question then is, is the nitrogen fixed into the soil through the growth and root system or from decomposition of the terminated plant? Maybe my pellet plan isn’t so well thought out 🤔
Wow Manitoba girl! Always ask a scientist! Thank you. I am headed to Italy next summer in July- so I was thinking of only harvesting spring g lettuces and adding a “cover crop” for the remainder of the summer and into the fall. I’d love to dump nitrogen into our soil and we have dense clay soil. The massive tap root system sounds awesome too! Is this still advice given your observations?
Great video! Thank you! I have a shit ton of Bermuda grass around my fruit trees and would love to use alfalfa around the trees.. do you think this would be a good idea?
I would definitely try this. I presume my chickens will like it. Also, terminating before the flower stage, does this mean it doesn't have the benefit for leaf cutter bees? I take it that you do not recommend letting it flower, because of the ease of spreading by seed? Terminating sounds like the death of the plant, but you mentioned it is perennial, so just confirming that it will come back the next year if you "terminate"? If you wanted only to have a one year break, how would you got about truly killing the plant (if you don't want to use herbicide)? Sorry for so many questions!
Chickens would love it! And yea they will be around next year just not as prolific when you cut them back. And that’s a great point the bees won’t reap then rewards of flowers if you choose to cut them back.
I was planning on using crimson clover instead of alfalfa primarily because it is an annual but I believe it has all the benefits of alfalfa....would this be a good option as well?
Would rabbits find alfalfa tastier than say, my berry bushes that they attacked last year? We have a large rabbit population and I'd like to find a way to co-exist as a new gardener. Last year I over-seeded with clover (white in lawn/beds, crimson in borders) and it didn't distract them as much as I'd hoped.
I would think so I know my rabbit when I was younger loved alfalfa. The folks to ask are actually the wild edibles subscribers/commenter in the comment section actually. Just reply to their comment asking that question they will know because they raise rabbits it’s a couple and they share the account.
Will cutting the alfalfa at the soil level kill the plant? If not will nitrogen still be available for my main crop after cutting or giving it a "haircut"? Stay Well!!!!
Great video!!! What would happen if you just let it go and grow without cutting it? Or just leaving like red clover and not doing anything with it either? Do they just smoother themselves out after a year or what? How long would the last this way? Thank you!!
Great question. So you can leave it but what can happen is something call autotoxicity and it’s simple a combination of poor conditions. What you do in that scenario is reseed the area. It’s called periodic “overseeding”
It’s usually once every three years in my experience. some fields I’ve seen push five years but it depends on what the consecutive growing years look like. Flooding vs drought, pests etc.
I would send him a message and just ask if they can mail to the USA. They maybe able too if not talk to a farm and garden centre they will have Packets there you can grab from. Otherwise you maybe be able to inquire to the green thumbs organization you’re working with about doing a group purchase for all the community gardens that maybe interested.
for the US they can try to order from Green cover seed ❤️ super great company and great helpful employees.. ask for Noah if u need help in person or online. They even make seed mixes ❤️ they are epic!
@@GardeningInCanada yes super great company I found here, they were actually featured in the movie living soil ❤️ And Noah has always helped me with my cover crop question❤️ I have like 5 mixes I’m ordering with them 😂😂 bc I’m indecisive
Ashley, I am kind of surprised that you endorse using Alfalfa in a home garden... Specially after telling everyone not to release worms... Alfalfa is a semi-invasive plant, south-central Asia... I just emailed you a list of about 1600, native to North America , legumes, many of which are a much better choice from an environmental perspective.
I’ll take a look! To be fair the reason why I’m taking about it is because it’s easily accessible and if managed properly (green manure style which is what I’m pushing for) if won’t spread. We are chopping it down long before flowering stage. We can go keep it nice and short just for the simple fact that it would smother your vegetables based on its sheer size But I agree it’s important to mention if you allow it to go to seed it will reseed.
@@GardeningInCanada I have no fault with using an introduced species as a crop, I know how to manage it, you know how to manage it, but it doesn't sound to me,like most of your commenters do...
@@trollforge totally agree. Had I not done my own research on this plant and then watched the video again, it would've created a big enough mess I would've ended up letting my garden go back to lawn. By mid-July, "haircut time", I envision hard, woody stems I couldn't walk on without impaling myself. I might try this in a forage garden with some squash first but definitely not in the vegetable garden.
@@GardeningInCanadaHi I liked the video and appreciated the info. Was super enthusiastic about getting started...but then...I did some more research and watched the video again. it's unclear that you are "pushing for a green manure" approach. It sounds like an optional way to use this, or maybe interplanting each year for 3 or 4 years. With a haircut each July and maybe having to reseed the spent grasses in year 4 or 5. Going to seed doesn't seem like the problem. The fact that the original planting creates hundreds of thousands of grass clumps that are 12+ inches across and have 12 ft roots.... I don't know, but that sounds like a REAL PROBLEM. It sounds like the only way out of it would be a ton of round up. Which i don't want on my food. (It's one part of why i grow instead of buy.) I think a lot of people in Southern USA gardens might be unable to use their garden, maybe for years if they follow the instructions here. I would've probably given up entirely if faced with all of those monster grass clumps with herbicides as the only solution. That is actually what has me online, ready to throw in the towel if I can't find some workable solution. Also in one part you say it's just like weeding but in another you say "one haircut vs weeding every week". I'm confused. How would one make this work in a garden where we have a 6 month season starting in early May, high temps in the 100's Fahrenheit and alternating torrential rain and drought periods? (Great weather for growing deep rooted grass to maximum size.) Should I avoid alfalfa altogether, given my climate? I think they grow it as hay here. Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.
Yes but what consideration has been given to the fact that all you are doing by planting alfalfa is baiting deer and rabbits and other animals to come and decimate your crops?
Yeah native seed snobs would make you feel guilty for this, and tell you all the awful things that you're doing by planting this. Hah. But I still love you.
Thanks for watching! Here is the link to grab alfalfa www.acceleratedseeds.ca
This link is something wrong, can't open it...
Thanks! It’s .ca not .com 😆
@@GardeningInCanada that doesn't work either
This is becoming one of my favorite channels. Very digestible content with practical use. Thank you.
Wow, thank you!
On our farm we rotate alfalfa every 4 years on the land, the next 3 after it nitrogen use is half of what we would normally use, never considered using it in the garden, this year I’m starting my garden fresh, I bought and built a home had to move 300 loads of sand and clay in to build up the home area, now starting a garden in this clay sand mix, ( from where I moved I had 5.5 feet of black dirt) going to build garden way to big to be able to cover crop and have compost in garden. Your videos are so great cat get enough of them thank you
I love alfalfa, I grow the spouts and microgreens in the kitchen as well as cover crop and use in landscape. I also love dandelions because they also have deep tap root that brings up calcium from deep in the earth. Dandelions help compaction and fertilize. I count my blessings for their presence in my lawn, field and garden. The weeds I hate the most is bindweed and a Bermuda grass.
In school atm. Our soil science class had been trying to revive a patch of land with different cover crops and tilling with no luck. They're actually going ti try a no till alfalfa cover crop for thus next year. It's growing popularity down here in North Dakota
very cool!
Love Canadians! Researched tons, and your info was by far the most beneficial. *hat tip* from Texas.
Based on your recommendations, I've bought a bag and will start planting ASAP. As always, your videos are so informative and easily understood. Can't thank you enough!
Let me know how it goes!
Hello ty for the video. I use a sandwich starter mix to make my compost tea. It has a mix of seeds which include clover mustard alfalfa and a few more. My garden is now stocked with these plants and was unsure what was what. Now I know what alfalfa looks like:] It has been great so far for a cover crop/chop and drop. The mustard is great as well grows huge leaves that you can eat and the flower really attracts bees. It grows 6 ft tall or so but has been a welcomed part of the garden until I go into terminator mode that is.
I came looking for alfalfa sprout information and found a 15 min master class of Gold!
Great presentation, thanks for putting it together.
Alfalfa seed meal is an excellent cheap organic source of nitrogen. I use it when I mix my own fertilizer and you get it at the farm & feed stores as well.
I've experienced rye and mustard which are both good cover crops that also have biowarfare element that kills bad nematodes and a few others. Alfalfa makes sense to add with those two, I'm working out a cover crop rotation for my beds.
Great Info! You mentioned a July termination; are there benefits when growing for a shorter period of time - home gardeners? Also, any comments on alfalfa meal or pellets as fertilizer for home gardeners? I'm looking forward to your follow-up videos on your test plots. Thank you
I watched one of your videos on Sphagnum Peat Moss about two years ago and forgot the name of your channel and I'm SO happy to have found you again! THANKS FOR THE AMAZING INFORMATION :D
Thank you so much!!
You post right after my lunch hour - so I get to return from lunch and boom - more fun stuff to do before I get totally focused on work. Thank you for helping me slack a little hahahaha!
Hahah you’re so very welcome 😊 I completely support that’s
Thanks for the video. I am now growing it in my market garden to grow on the paths between the rows. I could get wood chip for the 40cm paths, so I upgraded to a living path cover. I line trim the paths into the crops. Look like it need trimming every month at the moment. Its good for mining the deep minerals and for redox reduction of nutrients.
Sounds great!
Hi Ashley. I'm thinking of putting in a smaller alfalfa stand as a way to continuously harvest green manure. Did you ever plant your own? I didn't see a follow up video on this subject in your library. Thank you!
This is fantastic!
I recently found out that my native soil has 0 Nitrogen, so I sprinkled some really old (around 8 years) alfalfa seeds all over the garden thinking that nothing would germinate. 🤣 I think they all germinated, so hopefully that will fix the nitrogen problem.
I'm glad you included when to terminate. I was wondering how long I should let them do their thing.
My husband also keeps bees so I'm considering letting a few of them flower.
I use pulverized garden-grade alfalfa to add nitrogen to my soil a few weeks before the growing season so it has time to break down.
Thanks for the video. A video on cover crops for container plants would be interesting...
I wonder if it works for clay soil?
I'm all in! I'll do the intercropping.
That was a nice going down memory lane! My grandma was chopping alfalfa as animal feed! Never seen it so tall, as in your video! Too frequent of haircuts :)!
Hahaha yea if you cut often then you don’t get that giant bush looking plant.
Going to try this in my garden
(old hay field) thank you!
Oh yea! It’ll do awesome there
I was thinking about purchasing alfalfa seeds for feeding solitary bees in my garden. Im glad to know it has other benefits too! 😃
It has soo many benefits and bees so love the flowers
I have rabbits and goats, and want to try this. I’m in the process of converting all my lawn to gardens through tarping, cardboard, and mulch. Can I direct seed this into a lawn and will it take over?
That was quite a verbal tightrope walk between farm and garden
Haha it’s a crop that’s so applicable to so many ranges in land size. I’d be comfortable support the plant in a container garden all the way to an entire pasture or fallow farm land
I’m starting a small food forest this spring and I’ve bought alfalfa to sow as a cover crop while I’m getting my first trees and berry bushes established! Thanks for this great info... I now have a plan for where to sow and how long to leave it go!
That’s awesome good luck!
Thank you very much for the information. Would it be possible to get access to the studies you reference?
Great info, thank you! I have some space I'm putting raised garden beds in, and I'm planning to cover crop ahead of that. I'll definitely try alfalfa!
That’s awesome! A new garden install I’m jealous
I just might try that with some of my taller plants like tomatoes....I'll need to figure out when to terminate it for zone 4-5 tho....and how soon you can sow it....(If you have an idea let me know 😉)
How do they fare in tropical areas?
I'm trying alfalfa as a cover crop for my indoor plants
I also use it as mulch. Although, it's not too cold here in Oklahoma.
Yea! It’s great for that. And it’s not cold exclusive, I just out that in the title so I can compete in TH-cam search
Your presentation is awsome
Thanks!
The alfalfa seed is good, been using it for a while from TSC out in Ontario. I have some red clover too. I checked out the link, and they have orchard grass and timothy as well at great prices. Thanks! 5 rabbits in the house hold. I grow it all indoors. I also have a shallow 4.5" deep 2x4 bed inside a tent growing many things, with many alfalfa in there. Always got fresh greens for the buns.
Haha oh my the bunnies are going to be happy!
This gives me some hope for my garden but it seems like in my climate, this could become such a vigorous grower that it could be a nightmare to get rid of. I love growing but like everyone, I hate weeding. I read that each alfalfa mound can be 12 inches across at 1 yr and the answer to "how do I get rid of alfalfa?" seems to be herbicide. (Tillage does away with 80% if you go deeply enough.) Is there another interplanting crop that wouldn't make woody stems that wouldn't retire herbicide to eradicate it? Thanks for sharing!
I would try it in my garden.
Great timing for this video. Been thinking about inter crop plants. Alfalfa was one of my considerations. With its deep roots and nitrogen adding ability, this seems to be a great inter crop.
Question, doesnt termination of crop mean killing it? Giving a hair cut , would be managing crop?
Yea I mean it depends on how low to the ground your going. So buzz cut vs a trim. obviously buzz cut would be terminating and a hair cut would be managing. But if you green manure with the haircut and leave it in place you may terminate naturally based on simple choking out the light. I like the flowers haha so I’m down with haircuts
Just purchased 2 acres of land and it's all alfalfa! I'm building permaculture forest with guilds and such. Should I leave all the alfalfa and plant right into it or should I sheet mulch areas? Torn on what I should do, it's been vacant land for years just growing and seeding every year.
I would sheet mulch or you will have to much competition
There are about 199,000 alfalfa seeds per pound. If that one pound was evenly spread over one acre (43,560 ft. 2), there would be in the neighborhood of five seeds per square foot. So using 1/4lb of seed per 25 square foot would be 50,000 seeds and in turn that would result in 2,000 seeds per square foot.
Hope I haven't missed the boat on this completely, but I do have a question. I garden in a raised bed. The bed is maybe 3 feet above the ground, with some wood from a fallen tree filling the bottom third and purchased garden soil the rest of the way up. I do have some alfalfa seed and thought I'd spread the some of the seed on the soil surface as soon as I have done the fall clean up. If I do this now (it is Oct 1 today & I am in Southern Ontario), will I be wasting my seed, or is there a chance I would see some benefit for next year's garden. I'm a beginner gardener, so any advice is much appreciated. thanks
It will likely just grow in the spring. It is pretty good at taking the cold.
Buy the seed from health food shops. You can plant it and then if you let it go to seed (The seed is edible and healthy ) you can harvest your own
I have seriously only found alfalfa seed for growing micro greens. Another TH-cam gardener recommended alfalfa pellets, which I also got at Peavy Mart and I have been sprinkling those on the garden. My question then is, is the nitrogen fixed into the soil through the growth and root system or from decomposition of the terminated plant? Maybe my pellet plan isn’t so well thought out 🤔
the pellets just need to decompose a bit first
Wow Manitoba girl! Always ask a scientist! Thank you. I am headed to Italy next summer in July- so I was thinking of only harvesting spring g lettuces and adding a “cover crop” for the remainder of the summer and into the fall. I’d love to dump nitrogen into our soil and we have dense clay soil. The massive tap root system sounds awesome too! Is this still advice given your observations?
Ohhh I’m jealous very cool!
Sorry for the silly question, if you cut it back before flowering won't it continue to grow after or is it done for the year?
i will continue to grow. similar to a grass
How did the alfalfa cover cropping turn out? Are you planning to do it yearly?
I didn’t love it because it have a really short season.
Great video! Thank you! I have a shit ton of Bermuda grass around my fruit trees and would love to use alfalfa around the trees.. do you think this would be a good idea?
Yea sounds awesome
Excellent!! Thank you!!
I would definitely try this. I presume my chickens will like it. Also, terminating before the flower stage, does this mean it doesn't have the benefit for leaf cutter bees? I take it that you do not recommend letting it flower, because of the ease of spreading by seed? Terminating sounds like the death of the plant, but you mentioned it is perennial, so just confirming that it will come back the next year if you "terminate"? If you wanted only to have a one year break, how would you got about truly killing the plant (if you don't want to use herbicide)?
Sorry for so many questions!
Chickens would love it! And yea they will be around next year just not as prolific when you cut them back. And that’s a great point the bees won’t reap then rewards of flowers if you choose to cut them back.
I was planning on using crimson clover instead of alfalfa primarily because it is an annual but I believe it has all the benefits of alfalfa....would this be a good option as well?
Would rabbits find alfalfa tastier than say, my berry bushes that they attacked last year? We have a large rabbit population and I'd like to find a way to co-exist as a new gardener. Last year I over-seeded with clover (white in lawn/beds, crimson in borders) and it didn't distract them as much as I'd hoped.
I would think so I know my rabbit when I was younger loved alfalfa. The folks to ask are actually the wild edibles subscribers/commenter in the comment section actually. Just reply to their comment asking that question they will know because they raise rabbits it’s a couple and they share the account.
Will cutting the alfalfa at the soil level kill the plant? If not will nitrogen still be available for my main crop after cutting or giving it a "haircut"?
Stay Well!!!!
Great video!!! What would happen if you just let it go and grow without cutting it? Or just leaving like red clover and not doing anything with it either? Do they just smoother themselves out after a year or what? How long would the last this way? Thank you!!
Great question. So you can leave it but what can happen is something call autotoxicity and it’s simple a combination of poor conditions. What you do in that scenario is reseed the area. It’s called periodic “overseeding”
@@GardeningInCanada about how long can you go until you have to seed again? Is it a yearly thing maybe or what do you think? Thanks!!
It’s usually once every three years in my experience. some fields I’ve seen push five years but it depends on what the consecutive growing years look like. Flooding vs drought, pests etc.
@@GardeningInCanada ok, thank you!!
Anytime!
Hey Ashley is it not possible to buy it from him because I’m in NYC/USA?
I would send him a message and just ask if they can mail to the USA. They maybe able too if not talk to a farm and garden centre they will have Packets there you can grab from. Otherwise you maybe be able to inquire to the green thumbs organization you’re working with about doing a group purchase for all the community gardens that maybe interested.
for the US they can try to order from Green cover seed ❤️ super great company and great helpful employees.. ask for Noah if u need help in person or online. They even make seed mixes ❤️ they are epic!
Okay! Thank goodness! I was hoping someone would have an American option
@@GardeningInCanada yes super great company I found here, they were actually featured in the movie living soil ❤️ And Noah has always helped me with my cover crop question❤️ I have like 5 mixes I’m ordering with them 😂😂 bc I’m indecisive
Oh wow that’s awesome
good video and good info.
Thanks so much!
Why would you pull dandelions out of your garden?
Depends on the city are in. Some cities will require you to weed your lawn and garden.
@@GardeningInCanada but dandelions are so beneficial to your bodies. The whole plant, root and all is edible.
Dandelions are also an early food source for pollinators as not much else is available.
💚💚
❤️❤️❤️
Ashley, I am kind of surprised that you endorse using Alfalfa in a home garden... Specially after telling everyone not to release worms... Alfalfa is a semi-invasive plant, south-central Asia... I just emailed you a list of about 1600, native to North America , legumes, many of which are a much better choice from an environmental perspective.
I’ll take a look! To be fair the reason why I’m taking about it is because it’s easily accessible and if managed properly (green manure style which is what I’m pushing for) if won’t spread. We are chopping it down long before flowering stage. We can go keep it nice and short just for the simple fact that it would smother your vegetables based on its sheer size
But I agree it’s important to mention if you allow it to go to seed it will reseed.
@@GardeningInCanada I have no fault with using an introduced species as a crop, I know how to manage it, you know how to manage it, but it doesn't sound to me,like most of your commenters do...
@@trollforge totally agree. Had I not done my own research on this plant and then watched the video again, it would've created a big enough mess I would've ended up letting my garden go back to lawn. By mid-July, "haircut time", I envision hard, woody stems I couldn't walk on without impaling myself. I might try this in a forage garden with some squash first but definitely not in the vegetable garden.
@@GardeningInCanadaHi I liked the video and appreciated the info. Was super enthusiastic about getting started...but then...I did some more research and watched the video again. it's unclear that you are "pushing for a green manure" approach. It sounds like an optional way to use this, or maybe interplanting each year for 3 or 4 years. With a haircut each July and maybe having to reseed the spent grasses in year 4 or 5.
Going to seed doesn't seem like the problem. The fact that the original planting creates hundreds of thousands of grass clumps that are 12+ inches across and have 12 ft roots.... I don't know, but that sounds like a REAL PROBLEM. It sounds like the only way out of it would be a ton of round up. Which i don't want on my food. (It's one part of why i grow instead of buy.) I think a lot of people in Southern USA gardens might be unable to use their garden, maybe for years if they follow the instructions here. I would've probably given up entirely if faced with all of those monster grass clumps with herbicides as the only solution. That is actually what has me online, ready to throw in the towel if I can't find some workable solution. Also in one part you say it's just like weeding but in another you say "one haircut vs weeding every week". I'm confused.
How would one make this work in a garden where we have a 6 month season starting in early May, high temps in the 100's Fahrenheit and alternating torrential rain and drought periods? (Great weather for growing deep rooted grass to maximum size.) Should I avoid alfalfa altogether, given my climate? I think they grow it as hay here. Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.
@@donnadunlap9445 there are more than a dozen native legumes that could fill that role...
Yes but what consideration has been given to the fact that all you are doing by planting alfalfa is baiting deer and rabbits and other animals to come and decimate your crops?
Yeah native seed snobs would make you feel guilty for this, and tell you all the awful things that you're doing by planting this. Hah. But I still love you.