Author Topic: Veggies following Pigs (Read 1789 times)

BillsDad · « **on:** October 17, 2012, 03:03:03 pm »

I am hoping, if all goes well

, to use pigs to clear areas of grass/ scrub, for veggie production. Is there anything "unpleasant" that pigs can leave behind in the soil, meaning it would be safer to wait a bit; or could I get on with planting as soon as I'd moved them on?

MAK · « **Reply #1 on:** October 17, 2012, 06:58:20 pm »

I hope not as I planted melons, calabrese, french beans and swede in a bit of land they used last year. This time of year is good to let the pigs loose as when you move them on you will have all winter for the soild to "homogenise" a bit ( sorry if I spelt that wrong but I hope you know what I mean). I would dig it in a bit and remove any roots whilst outlinnning your veg beds before the end of november.
Our climate is a bit different but I am flattening a pig patch that should grass/weed over before I let the ducks into it and their winter house. I say house but their new patch will be up agaimst a barn and I have made a hole in the barn wall with a duck house inside the barn ( used pallets to partition the barn a bit).
Oh - I should add that our pigs eat veg, frui and nuts with little industrially produced nuts. Either way the soild they have worked should be pretty good and I guess that they have a toilet area that you could spread over it.

BillsDad · « **Reply #2 on:** October 18, 2012, 06:14:57 am »

Cheers for that Mak

. Won't be getting organised with it this year now, but it's good to know I'm hopefully not planning a disaster

.

hughesy · « **Reply #3 on:** October 18, 2012, 11:30:30 am »

It can only make sense to make use of "nature's plough". If you leave a pig destroyed patch of ground for a while it'll end up full of weeds, the pigs having brought all the dormant seeds up and let them germinate. We harrow, leave for a little while to let any docks etc stick their heads above ground, spray them off, wait till they've died back then broadcast seed and harrow again to try and hide the seed from the birds. What to sow is up to you. We've just sown a patch of winter wheat to see how it goes. In the spring we'll be sowing fodder crops such as beet or kale.

BillsDad · « **Reply #4 on:** October 18, 2012, 10:09:44 pm »

Cheers Hughesy

. The natural plough idea is exactly what I'm hoping for, I just don't want to start growing food in soil that might affect it - parasites or bacteria from pigs manure etc

, but it seems like everyone's confident enough to go ahead so I'll go with the consensus

.

MAK · « **Reply #5 on:** October 20, 2012, 09:00:47 am »

Just a thought - the pigs may have a well trod path - maybe near their fence. This will get rather compacted and it may be worth a double dig if you plan to plant that area.
Ours seem to have unearthed a quarry - or rather the old building site used to shape granite blocks used to build the barn. No worries as I have detailed the OH to shift them to the front of the house so I can make a wall.

Good luck with the veg plot.

Martin