by Wally Richards

THE ANSWER IS IN THE SOIL

If you want to grow plants successfully, you have to provide them with a growing medium that is going to help them to grow not only healthily but to their full potential.

The basic medium to grow plants in is the natural soil that has been building up over millions of years full of soil life, microbes and worms. It is under your feet when you walk outside. Called by names such as dirt, mud, earth, loam land, clay, land and Terra Firma (Latin meaning ‘firm land’).

In a previous article I pointed out how the East and in particular China have over thousands of years learned the secrets of earth building, replacing what is taken out and often putting more back in.

The rule they have is not only replace that which has been used while growing crops but add more goodness.

Some years ago I wrote about Haikai Tane who has traveled extensively though China gaining knowledge and is highly regarded in his field of sustainability. He supplied me with his insights found in his travels. He says, “I have found three main traditional ways of fermenting wastes in China’s rural heartland, but only one example of crude composting: a poor old lady whose husband had died, was piling her wastes in a heap not far from the house and shitting on top of it daily: very simple!

“The villagers tell me that composting loses too much nutrient energy from oxidation and volatilisation which they need for growing crops!

“The main way is the sealed fermentation pit with a tight fitting lid: the pit is located beside the house and pig sty, with a pipe syphoning off methane for gas light or gas stove. This method is called the pig gas digester: it consumes all the human excrement of the household. The resulting enriched ‘fermented liquid fertilizers’ smells more like alcohol than effluents: a rich sweet smell. This liquid is highly cherished and used sub-soil before over planting; sometimes with a slurry of sediment when the pit needs replenishing because there is a possibility of pathogens remaining in the fermentation pits: xzit is not used to fertilize growing plants or wet topsoils…”

This is from the Chinese who are the Masters of Earth Building and long term sustainability of the soils.

The western style composting has minimal benefits when compared to other methods which are used directly in the soil, for instance from rural farming days of the past where availability of land for use was no obstacle. A trench would be dug across the vegetable garden a couple of spades deep and about a metre wide. All the kitchen wastes would be thrown into one end of the trench and likely along with any organic material and animal manures. When that bit of the trench was up to soil level it would be covered with dirt.

The next bit of the trench is then used for the wastes and repeated the length of the trench after which a new trench would be dug alongside.

You can imagine the soil life activity in the covered trench: microbes, earth worms having a field day with likely no goodness disappearing into the atmosphere: maximum returns and lots of healthy crops to harvest.

To digress a little; it reminds me of a story that a chap once told me. He used to visit his girlfriend’s house for tea on Sunday nights and would always take a basket of fresh vegetables with him.

Her parents were truly amazed at the size of the produce and its flavour.

They would ask the lad what were his father’s secrets to grow such big wonderful vegetables.

He told me he could never tell them because his father would clean out the septic tank every year and place the contents over the vegetable garden! A true story.

For us gardeners who do not want to divert their sewage into a holding tank for the gardens we can make good use of animal and chicken manures in our gardens, placing them in the planting hole or when preparing a bed or a raised garden, laying the manure across the garden and covering with a purchased compost.

For side dressing existing plants such as roses, spread the manure along with Wallys Real Blood & Bone over the root zone and then cover with compost.

The covering is important as it locks the goodness in.

Now, some of you may have heard of a natural product called Biochar?

From wikipedia:

Pre-ColumbianAmazonians are believed to have used bio char to enhance soil productivity.

They seem to have produced it by smoldering agricultural waste (i.e., covering burning biomass with soil) in pits or trenches.

Biochar is recognised as offering a number of benefits for soil health.

Many benefits are related to the extremely porous nature of biochar.

This structure is found to be very effective at retaining both water and water-soluble nutrients.

Soil biologist say the extreme suitability of biochar as a habitat for many beneficial soil micro organisms.

When pre charged with these beneficial organisms biochar becomes an extremely effective soil amendment promoting good soil, and in turn plant, health.

Biochar has also been shown to reduce leaching of E-coli through sandy soils depending on application rate, feedstock, pyrolysis temperature, soil moisture content, soil texture, and surface properties of the bacteria.

For plants that require high potash and elevated pH, biochar can be used as a soil amendment to improve yield.

Biochar can improve water quality, reduce soil emissions of greenhouse gases, reduce nutrient leaching, reduce soil acidity, and reduce irrigation and fertilizer requirements.

Biochar was also found under certain circumstances to induce plant systemic responses to foliage fungal diseases and to improve plant responses to diseases caused by soil borne pathogens.

You can buy Biochar on line from the likes of these people.

The answer is in the soil, incorporating manures and organic material into the soil or if side dressing plants, covering with some compost for full benefit.

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