Harvest Your Mistakes

Reader Contribution by Charlyn Ellis
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“Harvest your mistakes” is one of the key principles of permaculture — the idea that we can at least learn from our choices, if not eat them in the garden and in life. I have been harvesting my mistakes this month, as the season winds down and the leaf mulch piles up. What have we learned this year?

1. Austrian Field Peas are an excellent summer mulch!

I planted the field peas right after bringing up the potato crop in mid August. They germinated quickly with light irrigation, put on considerable growth, and survived the rampages of one hungry bunny and four chickens before I fenced them off. For three months, they grew lushly — then we lost them to mini-slugs. However, three months of nitrogen-fixing cover crop, followed by a pile of leaf mulch, is nothing to sneeze at. I will do this again.

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