This blog has been a fallow plot for almost exactly a year now. Not intentionally an exact year, just by mysterious happenstance. My actual garden plot lay fallow for a year as well, although I couldn't bring myself to break from gardening entirely so I rested the soil in two hitches: half one summer and half the next. This summer has been my first season to work the full plot again, and the benefits seem to be proving themselves with more fruitful plant life.
A little research gives the following information: fallowing the land for a summer presumably offers better moisture levels (if you've kept the weed population from taking over the space and drinking up the moisture) and replenished soil nutrients for the sake of future growth. On the other hand, soil left fallow too long leads to disadvantages related to exposure, things like loss of organic matter, increased soil salinity and eventually, erosion.
While the goal is a larder full of delights, the larger implications in the effort to achieve that purpose are surprisingly diverse.
I'm looking at the fallow ground of this blog and wondering if it is time to begin working its ground again. Do I have the time to tend it for a season? Dare I leave it too much longer lest it become a worthless plot for growing anything good?
Maybe it is time for a little soil testing...
