Dear Garden Lovers,
What do you know about DIRT?
A fun article on ammending your soil during the winter months is here:
Quote:
We’ve just depleted our soil by growing plants and food in it all year so in late fall to early winter we want to give back to Mother Nature and say thanks. Now is the time to add nutrients to your soil and also to compete with winter weeds that like to hang out on your turf like starving teenagers. You don’t want those hoodlums living off of you! They smell and they text. How do you stop them? By adding a layer of compost and mulch to your soil, by sheet mulching and by planting cover crops. All three of these methods will make your soil healthy.
Continue reading....
Also, do you wish to view the trailer for: Dirt the Movie?
And can you picture 900 lbs. per acre of worms working away all winter?
The topic of soil was covered in this month's newsletter from West Coast Seeds.
Here's an interesting extract:
Article on Soil and what is in it:
Healthy soil should be, as one author titled his book on the subject, “teeming with microbes.” Some soil organisms are present in astonishing numbers, too. Frank Tozer examines this subject in detail in his great book, The Organic Gardener’s Handbook, and describes the presence of various soil microbes in terms of pounds per acre of healthy soil:
Protozoa – 100 to 200 lbs/acre
Actinomycetes – 800 to 1500 lbs/acre
Algae – 200 to 500 lbs/acre
Bacteria – 100 to 2000 lbs/acre
Fungi – 1500 to 2000 lbs/acre
Earthworms – Up to 900 lbs/acre
Even if you don’t care to imagine what 900 lbs of earthworms look like, they and their fellow organisms play a fundamental role in soil health. Each of these different types of soil life acts to break down the nutrients in organic matter into forms that are accessible to plants. Some, like bacteria, may play multiple roles, and act to fix atmospheric nitrogen in the soil. Others, like earthworms, actually play a physical role in soil health by turning the soil, just like we would with a fork. They come to the surface to feed, and drag all of those nutrients down into the soil substrate where they can be reached by the roots of plants, or converted in other ways by the different microbes that exist at various depths.
Supplying organic matter to the soil (literally feeding the life that lives in it) is the central pillar of organic gardening. Soil with a diverse and functioning life within it is inherently more nutritious to the plants that we grow. The process of growing plants is one of drawing nutrients out of the soil so that we can, in turn, enjoy them as food. So organic growers are in a constant rush to push more organic matter down into that soil.
==================
Article 2:
Some soil Amendments
Organic Matter As mentioned in the previous article, adding organic matter to the soil is one of the fundamental principles of organic gardening. It feeds soil microbes, which in turn release nutrients into the soil, increasing fertility. Organic matter also adds body to soil, and can improve the soil’s ability to conserve moisture. Organic matter should be added to garden soil every year, prior to planting.
We like to add a layer of compost, well-rotted manure, leaf mulch, or even plain straw to the surface of the soil during times when the garden is not productive. This creates a lush habitat for beneficial soil organisms.
Interesting articles!
Best, Jen
