THE OWNER BUILT HOME & HOMESTEAD
One of a series of Ken Kern's advice on building your own home and homestead. Here's an article on plant management, sod crops and do-it-yourself painting. This series is taken from Ken Kern's "Owner-Built Home and Homestead".
September/October 1972
By Ken Kern
THE OWNER-BUILT HOMESTEAD, CHAPTER 6
PLANT MANAGEMENT - SOD CROPS
RELATED CONTENT
Sod cropping as defined in this chapter is a balanced method of farming which permits maximum output of soil resources while at the same time maintaining and improving them. It is a method that contrasts with Row Cropping (the subject content of the following chapter) in that sod cropping is basic to water and soil conservation, and essential—in rotation — for the maintenance of high level row crop production.
Without question, sod crops are the most important underdeveloped agricultural resource in the world today. This is true in spite of the fact that they have been around a long time: improved varieties such as alfalfa were known to the Persians and Romans before the time of Christ; clovers were grown in northern Europe in A.D. 800. There are at present 5,000 species of sod grasses in the world, and 1,500 of these are found in the U.S. This number does not include the hundreds of "natives" and weed varieties which agriculturalists refuse to include as economic to American fanning practice.
Due to the numbers involved, it is with some difficulty that we attempt a classification of sod cropping. Some crops are grown annually, some in rotation, and some permanently. Of the annuals, there are warm season and cool season varieties. Grasses are grown in companionship with other grasses or with legumes. And every plant species has an optimum soil and climate requirement. A high-producing sod crop may prove to be valueless on poor soil. And conversely, a sod crop considered undesirable in a productive soil-and-climatic-environment, may be highly regarded on a less desirable site: palatable short grasses like buffalo blue grama, silver bluestem, and sand dropseed are not grown to advantage on fertile sites.
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