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I have been paying a lot of attention to soil lately. Especially to building the best soil condition and getting rid of expensive chemical fertaliser.
Volumes were written on this but it seems little attention are being paid to what really happens in the soil that gives you stronger, more pest resistant healthy plants without added chemicals.
Everyone agrees that the only things you can actually do to improve the condition of your soil is ad manure or compost. After this concensus we usually find a lengthy discussion about types of soil. Only once did I find someone mentioning earthworms and the actual things the worm brings to the table that benefits your plants.
Here is a picture I received from a friend a long time ago.
It came wit a discussion on healthy soil and shows the inhabitants of the soil in your garden. The deeper you go, the smaller they get.
Less than 20% of these creatures are harmful in any way. The problem is that that is the share we use pestesides for, killing off their natural enemies and soil inhabitants that is beneficial to your plants.
The inhabitants on each level has jobs they do as part of their nature. As an example, in the upper level there are quite a few diggers.
Ants are amongst these and in nature about 80% of the seeds that sprout have been dragged underground by ants. Getting rid of a colony of ants may not be the best idea.
Another inhabitant everyone knows is the earthworm. Also a digger but the less discussed attribute is that the excrement from the earthworms is an amazing natural fertiliser. For years wormfarm owners bottled this worm tea to sell to neighbours because it's an excellent liquid fertiliser.
What is not much talked about is that the solid excrement from earthworms are axpelled as a hard ball with a gell coating. It desolves very slowly, becoming time release feeding for the plants over weeks ans sometimes months. This little ball also improves draining in clay soil. You need a lot to get this but it's easy to get worms to make more.
As you go through the stack, each of these organisms has a roll to play, controlling pests and preventing disease. Each one also provides different solutions of chemicals in their excrement because of the different things they live on.
This then keeps your plants healthy. Growing a healthy garden means growing healthy soil.
To grow healthy soil is simple. Keep adding biomass to your soil and make sure you have sufficient drainage that does not dry out your soil in the dry season.
Here is an idea you should also keep in mind. If you decide to go green, getting rid of all chemical fertilizers keep in mind that it takes three to four years before your garden shows an improvement. The first year or two it can actually look worse while the colony in the soil is establishing itself.
In a vegetable garden especially this brings on an urge to ad some chemical fertilizer to improve the condition of your plants. Adding chemical fertaliser will be amazingly effective at improving the condition and at killing off enough of the colony to put you back at square one.
It helps to have patience and grit your teeth because the prize is healthy pest resistant plants and flavourful fruit and vegetables everyone will compliment you on in bigger harvests than before.
I appreciate your support.
Live life to the fullest.