This document discusses regenerating soil for wicking beds. The most important feature of wicking beds is creating a mini ecology with complex soil biology that releases nutrients to make plants nutrient-rich. Even poor soil can be regenerated by farming the soil biology, such as mycorrhizal fungi and worms, to encourage beneficial organisms while discouraging detrimental ones. Maintaining consistent moisture is key to promoting fungi over bacteria and improving soil structure. The document provides tips for selecting soil regenerating plants, called "soil trees," and developing "bio-packs" containing beneficial biology to inoculate soils.
The document summarizes principles of permanent agriculture that have been known for thousands of years, including growing legumes to fix nitrogen in the soil, using cattle manure as fertilizer, incorporating ashes to replenish minerals, and thorough plowing to aerate the soil. Following these principles through crop rotations, composting, grazing, and minimal exports can sustain agriculture for thousands of years by cycling nutrients back into the soil.
1) The history of soil fertility and plant nutrition developed over thousands of years through early cultivation, experimentation, and the work of scientists and agronomists.
2) Early civilizations in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, and China began improving soil fertility through practices like manuring, crop rotations, and green manures.
3) During the 17th-19th centuries, scientists like Van Helmont, Boyle, Tull, Liebig, and Lawes conducted experiments that improved understanding of plant nutrition and led to the development of commercial fertilizers.
4) Liebig established the concept of plant nutrients and minimum requirements, influencing modern fertilizer practice. Broadbalk field trials
This document provides information about setting up a worm composting bin in a classroom. It discusses the benefits of having a worm bin, including teaching students about habitats, nature's cycles, and responsibilities. It provides instructions on building a bin, preparing bedding, feeding the worms, and harvesting the finished compost. The compost produced from worm castings is a nutrient-rich fertilizer that can be used to help plants grow. The document also provides local resources for obtaining worms and bin building supplies.
This document provides guidance on composting organic waste to reduce landfill waste and enrich soil. It discusses setting up a compost bin or pile with the proper ratios of green/brown materials and size/placement for optimal decomposition. Turning and monitoring the pile is important to maintain optimal moisture, oxygen and temperature conditions for microorganisms to break down the materials into nutrient-rich compost within 6 months. Various composting methods are described and composting provides environmental and gardening benefits.
Composting is a natural process that turns food waste and other organic materials into nutrient-rich soil. There are different scales of composting, from small indoor worm bins to large commercial operations. Whately Elementary School does medium-scale composting of cafeteria food scraps and paper in an on-site bin, which is then taken to Bear Path Farm for large-scale composting. Composting keeps food waste out of landfills, where it would decompose and release the potent greenhouse gas methane.
With a rising world population and declining soil fertility, we could soon be facing a very real food crisis. There are alternatives to the current industrial food system - here's a few to ponder.
With a rising world population and declining soil fertility, we could soon be facing a very real food crisis. There are alternatives to the current industrial food system - here's a few to ponder.
The document summarizes principles of permanent agriculture that have been known for thousands of years, including growing legumes to fix nitrogen in the soil, using cattle manure as fertilizer, incorporating ashes to replenish minerals, and thorough plowing to aerate the soil. Following these principles through crop rotations, composting, grazing, and minimal exports can sustain agriculture for thousands of years by cycling nutrients back into the soil.
1) The history of soil fertility and plant nutrition developed over thousands of years through early cultivation, experimentation, and the work of scientists and agronomists.
2) Early civilizations in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, and China began improving soil fertility through practices like manuring, crop rotations, and green manures.
3) During the 17th-19th centuries, scientists like Van Helmont, Boyle, Tull, Liebig, and Lawes conducted experiments that improved understanding of plant nutrition and led to the development of commercial fertilizers.
4) Liebig established the concept of plant nutrients and minimum requirements, influencing modern fertilizer practice. Broadbalk field trials
This document provides information about setting up a worm composting bin in a classroom. It discusses the benefits of having a worm bin, including teaching students about habitats, nature's cycles, and responsibilities. It provides instructions on building a bin, preparing bedding, feeding the worms, and harvesting the finished compost. The compost produced from worm castings is a nutrient-rich fertilizer that can be used to help plants grow. The document also provides local resources for obtaining worms and bin building supplies.
This document provides guidance on composting organic waste to reduce landfill waste and enrich soil. It discusses setting up a compost bin or pile with the proper ratios of green/brown materials and size/placement for optimal decomposition. Turning and monitoring the pile is important to maintain optimal moisture, oxygen and temperature conditions for microorganisms to break down the materials into nutrient-rich compost within 6 months. Various composting methods are described and composting provides environmental and gardening benefits.
Composting is a natural process that turns food waste and other organic materials into nutrient-rich soil. There are different scales of composting, from small indoor worm bins to large commercial operations. Whately Elementary School does medium-scale composting of cafeteria food scraps and paper in an on-site bin, which is then taken to Bear Path Farm for large-scale composting. Composting keeps food waste out of landfills, where it would decompose and release the potent greenhouse gas methane.
With a rising world population and declining soil fertility, we could soon be facing a very real food crisis. There are alternatives to the current industrial food system - here's a few to ponder.
With a rising world population and declining soil fertility, we could soon be facing a very real food crisis. There are alternatives to the current industrial food system - here's a few to ponder.
This document provides guidance on improving soil quality through composting. It discusses testing soil type through simple tests, making compost by layering brown and green materials, and ensuring the compost pile has adequate water and oxygen through regular turning. Fully decomposed compost/humus is dark and earthy, and improves soil structure, nutrient content, and plant health when added to gardens.
The wicking bed system captures carbon from the atmosphere in the soil through a wet and dry cycle during decomposition. This reduces carbon emissions. It also allows food production with minimal water loss through an underground water reservoir accessed by plants. Organic material decomposes anaerobically, embedding carbon in the soil long-term. The system improves soil quality and structure while efficiently using water resources through capillary action.
This document provides an overview and update on the Rainbow of Hope for Children's Biointensive Garden project in Izalco, El Salvador. Over the past 6 years, Rainbow has supported the organic mini-farming demonstration site by providing equipment, infrastructure, salaries, and technical support. The project has trained local farmers and successfully implemented biointensive techniques to improve food security and nutrition for children at a nearby orphanage. Outcomes include steadily increasing vegetable production, employment and training of local farmers, and supplementing the diets of 90 orphanage children. Rainbow is seeking ongoing funding to maintain the self-sustaining garden and continue supporting the orphanage.
This document provides information on setting up and maintaining a worm composting bin. It discusses finding a suitable location, preparing the bedding, introducing red wiggler worms, feeding the worms food scraps, maintaining proper temperature and moisture levels, harvesting the finished compost or worm castings, and using the castings in gardens or to make compost tea. The goal of worm composting is to use worms and microorganisms to break down food scraps into a nutrient-rich soil amendment called vermicompost or worm castings.
Introduction To Permaculture Weekend CourseKat Szuminska
An introduction to Permaculture Course first given at the Hawkesbury Earthcare Centre in April 2009
http://www.earthcare.org.au/intropermcourse by Penny & Karim http://caughtintheart.blogspot.com/
& Kat http://twitter.com/katska
The course is based on Bill Mollison's "Introduction to Permaculture" http://www.tagari.com/item.php?itemid=156
Research Paper on Vermiculture and Vermicompostingx3G9
The document summarizes a research project on vermiculture and vermicomposting conducted by students. They constructed two vermi beds and introduced red wriggler worms. Over several weeks, they applied various organic substrates to the beds, fed and moistened the worms, and harvested over 200kg of high-quality vermicast fertilizer. The vermicast was then used to fertilize vegetable seedlings, demonstrating the potential of vermiculture for organic waste management and fertilizer production.
This document discusses various topics relating to composting, including:
1) Types of bedding that worms like for vermicomposting, such as horse manure mixed with stable bedding.
2) Methods for harvesting castings from compost bins, such as dividing the bin and dumping parts of the castings in the garden.
3) Uses for compost including as mulch, a soil amendment, in potting soil, and for making compost tea. When used as a soil amendment, initially work in 3 inches and thereafter work in 1-3 inches annually.
Samuel Beckford conducted a crop production project for pop choy from January 2017 to February 2018 at Lennon High School. The project utilized various materials and equipment including a hoe, fork, watering can, cutlass, shovel, seed box, and knapsack sprayer. Key activities included land preparation through tilling and adding compost, transplanting seedlings, applying fertilizer and fungicide/insecticide, irrigating, mulching, and eventually harvesting and marketing the pop choy.
This document provides guidance for growing food in Alice Springs, Australia's arid central region. It discusses the importance of planning garden location and layout, preparing soil, managing weeds, and creating no-dig garden beds. Tips are provided on planting techniques like hardening off seedlings, pruning fruit trees, and hand pollinating crops. The document encourages community involvement in local food production projects and emphasizes that homegrown food has nutritional, environmental, and cultural benefits.
Permaculture in the Arava desert in Israel. Basic soil, water, and waste solutions, natural building, creative recycling, the green apprenticeship at kibbutz Lotan, ecovillage design, and alternative desert technology.
Feb 2012 Louisiana School Gardening News
`
For more information, Please see websites below:
`
Organic Edible Schoolyards & Gardening with Children
http://scribd.com/doc/239851214
`
Double your School Garden Food Production with Organic Tech
http://scribd.com/doc/239851079
`
Free School Gardening Art Posters
http://scribd.com/doc/239851159`
`
Companion Planting Increases School Garden Food Production by 250 Percent
http://scribd.com/doc/239851159
`
Healthy Foods Dramatically Improves Student Academic Success
http://scribd.com/doc/239851348
`
City Chickens for your Organic School Garden
http://scribd.com/doc/239850440
`
Simple Square Foot Gardening for Schools - Teacher Guide
http://scribd.com/doc/239851110
Vermiculture and Vermicomposting Biotechnology for Organic Farming and Rural ...x3G9
1. Vermiculture and vermicomposting use earthworms to break down organic waste into a nutrient-rich fertilizer called vermicast or vermicompost.
2. Vermicompost contains more nutrients than traditional compost and improves soil quality. It can support organic farming and rural economic development by providing income opportunities and a sustainable waste management solution.
3. Setting up vermicomposting requires selecting appropriate earthworm species, maintaining proper temperature, moisture levels, and food sources to break down organic materials into high-quality vermicompost within 30 days.
This document discusses vermicomposting, which is the process of using red wiggler worms and microorganisms to break down food scraps into nutrient-rich humus. Red wiggler worms can consume their own weight in organic matter daily, making vermicomposting a useful way to reduce household waste and produce fertilizer. The document provides instructions on creating optimal conditions for worms, including temperature, moisture, ventilation, and darkness, and describes what foods worms can and cannot eat. It also explains how to use the resulting compost and harvest and reproduce worms.
This document discusses regenerative gardening techniques focused on building healthy soil. It discusses the importance of soil ecology, the soil food web, and companion planting. Some key techniques mentioned include minimizing tillage, growing a diverse mix of crops, keeping soil covered, using cover crops and green manures, and avoiding chemical pesticides and fertilizers. The goal is to help plants maximize photosynthesis while supporting beneficial soil biology to improve soil structure, nutrient cycling, and pest and disease resistance.
Companion Planting and Crop Planning - Agricultural Training Institute, Phili...Fairlee3z
The document discusses crop planning for family nutrition, including which crops to plant to provide proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals; when to plant different crops throughout the year; and companion cropping to make efficient use of space and provide benefits from plant interactions. Proper seed collection and storage is also covered to preserve heirloom varieties and ensure a supply of seeds. The summary focuses on the key aspects of crop planning, varieties, timing, companion planting, and seed saving.
This document discusses soil biology and composting. It describes the various microorganisms that live in soil and their important roles in decomposing organic matter, cycling nutrients, and creating a healthy habitat for plant roots. Bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes, arthropods, earthworms, and other organisms all contribute to the complex soil ecosystem. The document also provides instructions for making compost, emphasizing the need for a balanced mix of carbon and nitrogen sources, water, air, and maintaining proper temperature. Adding compost to soil improves its structure, water retention, and nutrient content.
Join a lively conversation about tapping the power of one of our chief assets in the climate struggle: the soil. The panel will discuss the role of farming in adapting to climate change: how vineyards and working lands can contribute to the recovery of resilient landscapes in the face of increasing climatic instability, how mycorrhizal networks regulate nutrient and energy flows, and how those networks are affected by farming practices. The group will also share practical experience on implementing practices on-farm to build soil, increase organic matter and improve the overall health of the landscape on your own property.
The document discusses Gaia, the living planet Earth, as a complex system made up of interconnected vital cycles that sustain life. These include oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, and other element cycles performed by millions of organisms. It notes humanity's ignorance of these cycles and how disrupting them can harm the system's equilibrium. The class aims to educate students about Gaia's fundamental life-supporting cycles.
This document provides an overview and summary of Masanobu Fukuoka's book "The Natural Way of Farming". It discusses Fukuoka's principles of natural farming which avoid tillage, fertilizers, pesticides, and weeding. Fukuoka argues that scientific agriculture has disrupted nature and caused environmental problems. He believes the only way to restore nature is to stop human intervention and let nature heal itself through natural farming techniques like scattering seed-coated clay pellets in deserts. The document outlines Fukuoka's vision for a more sustainable agricultural system and a future where humanity lives in harmony with nature.
This document discusses indigenous agricultural practices used by pre-Columbian peoples in the Americas. It describes how indigenous farmers developed forest garden systems that mimicked natural ecosystems and grew hundreds of crop varieties using organic mulch and beneficial plant associations. The document outlines seven practices used, including raised beds, mulching, companion planting, and agroforestry systems. It provides details on how to establish these forest garden systems and explains their benefits, such as producing nutrient-rich soils and plentiful harvests while protecting the environment.
This document is an introduction to the principles of natural farming as proposed by Masanobu Fukuoka. It discusses how natural farming aims to restore nature by rejecting human intervention and knowledge. Fukuoka has spent 50 years practicing and refining his approach, demonstrating that through principles like no-tillage, no fertilizers or pesticides, nature can nourish itself. He believes that by abandoning human control over nature and reliance on scientific agriculture, the natural ecological balance can be restored. The introduction also describes how young people come to Fukuoka's farm to learn how to become self-sufficient "quarter-acre farmers" through these natural farming techniques.
This document provides guidance on improving soil quality through composting. It discusses testing soil type through simple tests, making compost by layering brown and green materials, and ensuring the compost pile has adequate water and oxygen through regular turning. Fully decomposed compost/humus is dark and earthy, and improves soil structure, nutrient content, and plant health when added to gardens.
The wicking bed system captures carbon from the atmosphere in the soil through a wet and dry cycle during decomposition. This reduces carbon emissions. It also allows food production with minimal water loss through an underground water reservoir accessed by plants. Organic material decomposes anaerobically, embedding carbon in the soil long-term. The system improves soil quality and structure while efficiently using water resources through capillary action.
This document provides an overview and update on the Rainbow of Hope for Children's Biointensive Garden project in Izalco, El Salvador. Over the past 6 years, Rainbow has supported the organic mini-farming demonstration site by providing equipment, infrastructure, salaries, and technical support. The project has trained local farmers and successfully implemented biointensive techniques to improve food security and nutrition for children at a nearby orphanage. Outcomes include steadily increasing vegetable production, employment and training of local farmers, and supplementing the diets of 90 orphanage children. Rainbow is seeking ongoing funding to maintain the self-sustaining garden and continue supporting the orphanage.
This document provides information on setting up and maintaining a worm composting bin. It discusses finding a suitable location, preparing the bedding, introducing red wiggler worms, feeding the worms food scraps, maintaining proper temperature and moisture levels, harvesting the finished compost or worm castings, and using the castings in gardens or to make compost tea. The goal of worm composting is to use worms and microorganisms to break down food scraps into a nutrient-rich soil amendment called vermicompost or worm castings.
Introduction To Permaculture Weekend CourseKat Szuminska
An introduction to Permaculture Course first given at the Hawkesbury Earthcare Centre in April 2009
http://www.earthcare.org.au/intropermcourse by Penny & Karim http://caughtintheart.blogspot.com/
& Kat http://twitter.com/katska
The course is based on Bill Mollison's "Introduction to Permaculture" http://www.tagari.com/item.php?itemid=156
Research Paper on Vermiculture and Vermicompostingx3G9
The document summarizes a research project on vermiculture and vermicomposting conducted by students. They constructed two vermi beds and introduced red wriggler worms. Over several weeks, they applied various organic substrates to the beds, fed and moistened the worms, and harvested over 200kg of high-quality vermicast fertilizer. The vermicast was then used to fertilize vegetable seedlings, demonstrating the potential of vermiculture for organic waste management and fertilizer production.
This document discusses various topics relating to composting, including:
1) Types of bedding that worms like for vermicomposting, such as horse manure mixed with stable bedding.
2) Methods for harvesting castings from compost bins, such as dividing the bin and dumping parts of the castings in the garden.
3) Uses for compost including as mulch, a soil amendment, in potting soil, and for making compost tea. When used as a soil amendment, initially work in 3 inches and thereafter work in 1-3 inches annually.
Samuel Beckford conducted a crop production project for pop choy from January 2017 to February 2018 at Lennon High School. The project utilized various materials and equipment including a hoe, fork, watering can, cutlass, shovel, seed box, and knapsack sprayer. Key activities included land preparation through tilling and adding compost, transplanting seedlings, applying fertilizer and fungicide/insecticide, irrigating, mulching, and eventually harvesting and marketing the pop choy.
This document provides guidance for growing food in Alice Springs, Australia's arid central region. It discusses the importance of planning garden location and layout, preparing soil, managing weeds, and creating no-dig garden beds. Tips are provided on planting techniques like hardening off seedlings, pruning fruit trees, and hand pollinating crops. The document encourages community involvement in local food production projects and emphasizes that homegrown food has nutritional, environmental, and cultural benefits.
Permaculture in the Arava desert in Israel. Basic soil, water, and waste solutions, natural building, creative recycling, the green apprenticeship at kibbutz Lotan, ecovillage design, and alternative desert technology.
Feb 2012 Louisiana School Gardening News
`
For more information, Please see websites below:
`
Organic Edible Schoolyards & Gardening with Children
http://scribd.com/doc/239851214
`
Double your School Garden Food Production with Organic Tech
http://scribd.com/doc/239851079
`
Free School Gardening Art Posters
http://scribd.com/doc/239851159`
`
Companion Planting Increases School Garden Food Production by 250 Percent
http://scribd.com/doc/239851159
`
Healthy Foods Dramatically Improves Student Academic Success
http://scribd.com/doc/239851348
`
City Chickens for your Organic School Garden
http://scribd.com/doc/239850440
`
Simple Square Foot Gardening for Schools - Teacher Guide
http://scribd.com/doc/239851110
Vermiculture and Vermicomposting Biotechnology for Organic Farming and Rural ...x3G9
1. Vermiculture and vermicomposting use earthworms to break down organic waste into a nutrient-rich fertilizer called vermicast or vermicompost.
2. Vermicompost contains more nutrients than traditional compost and improves soil quality. It can support organic farming and rural economic development by providing income opportunities and a sustainable waste management solution.
3. Setting up vermicomposting requires selecting appropriate earthworm species, maintaining proper temperature, moisture levels, and food sources to break down organic materials into high-quality vermicompost within 30 days.
This document discusses vermicomposting, which is the process of using red wiggler worms and microorganisms to break down food scraps into nutrient-rich humus. Red wiggler worms can consume their own weight in organic matter daily, making vermicomposting a useful way to reduce household waste and produce fertilizer. The document provides instructions on creating optimal conditions for worms, including temperature, moisture, ventilation, and darkness, and describes what foods worms can and cannot eat. It also explains how to use the resulting compost and harvest and reproduce worms.
This document discusses regenerative gardening techniques focused on building healthy soil. It discusses the importance of soil ecology, the soil food web, and companion planting. Some key techniques mentioned include minimizing tillage, growing a diverse mix of crops, keeping soil covered, using cover crops and green manures, and avoiding chemical pesticides and fertilizers. The goal is to help plants maximize photosynthesis while supporting beneficial soil biology to improve soil structure, nutrient cycling, and pest and disease resistance.
Companion Planting and Crop Planning - Agricultural Training Institute, Phili...Fairlee3z
The document discusses crop planning for family nutrition, including which crops to plant to provide proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals; when to plant different crops throughout the year; and companion cropping to make efficient use of space and provide benefits from plant interactions. Proper seed collection and storage is also covered to preserve heirloom varieties and ensure a supply of seeds. The summary focuses on the key aspects of crop planning, varieties, timing, companion planting, and seed saving.
This document discusses soil biology and composting. It describes the various microorganisms that live in soil and their important roles in decomposing organic matter, cycling nutrients, and creating a healthy habitat for plant roots. Bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes, arthropods, earthworms, and other organisms all contribute to the complex soil ecosystem. The document also provides instructions for making compost, emphasizing the need for a balanced mix of carbon and nitrogen sources, water, air, and maintaining proper temperature. Adding compost to soil improves its structure, water retention, and nutrient content.
Join a lively conversation about tapping the power of one of our chief assets in the climate struggle: the soil. The panel will discuss the role of farming in adapting to climate change: how vineyards and working lands can contribute to the recovery of resilient landscapes in the face of increasing climatic instability, how mycorrhizal networks regulate nutrient and energy flows, and how those networks are affected by farming practices. The group will also share practical experience on implementing practices on-farm to build soil, increase organic matter and improve the overall health of the landscape on your own property.
The document discusses Gaia, the living planet Earth, as a complex system made up of interconnected vital cycles that sustain life. These include oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, and other element cycles performed by millions of organisms. It notes humanity's ignorance of these cycles and how disrupting them can harm the system's equilibrium. The class aims to educate students about Gaia's fundamental life-supporting cycles.
This document provides an overview and summary of Masanobu Fukuoka's book "The Natural Way of Farming". It discusses Fukuoka's principles of natural farming which avoid tillage, fertilizers, pesticides, and weeding. Fukuoka argues that scientific agriculture has disrupted nature and caused environmental problems. He believes the only way to restore nature is to stop human intervention and let nature heal itself through natural farming techniques like scattering seed-coated clay pellets in deserts. The document outlines Fukuoka's vision for a more sustainable agricultural system and a future where humanity lives in harmony with nature.
This document discusses indigenous agricultural practices used by pre-Columbian peoples in the Americas. It describes how indigenous farmers developed forest garden systems that mimicked natural ecosystems and grew hundreds of crop varieties using organic mulch and beneficial plant associations. The document outlines seven practices used, including raised beds, mulching, companion planting, and agroforestry systems. It provides details on how to establish these forest garden systems and explains their benefits, such as producing nutrient-rich soils and plentiful harvests while protecting the environment.
This document is an introduction to the principles of natural farming as proposed by Masanobu Fukuoka. It discusses how natural farming aims to restore nature by rejecting human intervention and knowledge. Fukuoka has spent 50 years practicing and refining his approach, demonstrating that through principles like no-tillage, no fertilizers or pesticides, nature can nourish itself. He believes that by abandoning human control over nature and reliance on scientific agriculture, the natural ecological balance can be restored. The introduction also describes how young people come to Fukuoka's farm to learn how to become self-sufficient "quarter-acre farmers" through these natural farming techniques.
THE NATURAL WAY OF FARMING THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF GREEN PHILOSOPHYAyda.N Mazlan
This document introduces the concept of natural farming, which aims to restore nature through abandoning human intervention and knowledge. It describes the author's experience developing a method of no-tillage farming over 50 years, yielding high rice and wheat yields with little labor. Natural farming works by following nature's principles of symbiosis between plants and microorganisms in soil, and avoiding practices like plowing that disrupt the soil ecosystem. The author argues modern agriculture relies on unnecessary chemical inputs and labor due to misguided attempts to control nature through human knowledge, rather than working with nature's inherent balance.
This document discusses creating an environment for growing herbs. It recommends mulching soil rather than digging and provides examples of herbs that grow well in different soil and light conditions, such as mints in shady areas and garlic and onions in sunny spots. The document also discusses bringing some herb plants indoors over winter and integrating herbs into existing flower and vegetable gardens.
This document discusses a technology to improve food security and offset climate change by regenerating topsoil. The technology involves growing plants to take carbon from the atmosphere and embed it in the soil through soil biology. This improves soil structure and water retention while increasing food production and reducing atmospheric carbon. Maintaining moist soil conditions through techniques like wicking beds supports optimal soil biology activity. Managing soil and water resources together in this way addresses issues of land degradation, climate change, and water shortages.
S.K. Worm provides a detailed overview of soil in under 3 sentences. Soil is formed over long periods of time from the weathering of rocks and decay of organic material. It contains important nutrients for plant growth and is composed of distinct horizontal layers (horizons) that vary in composition. Proper soil conservation practices like planting cover crops and using windbreaks are important to prevent erosion and maintain healthy soil.
1. Growing your own vegetables is healthier, more convenient, and kids enjoy watching them grow.
2. A "no dig" vegetable garden requires low maintenance by building layers of compostable materials like pea straw and manure instead of digging.
3. Growing your own vegetables means they retain more vitamins since they don't lose nutrients during long-distance transport and storage like commercially grown produce.
1. Wicking beds were developed as a way for plants to be self-watered through capillary action. Early versions used saucers under pots or separate water reservoirs connected to the soil by "fingers".
2. Later designs replaced rigid water containers with porous materials like stones or cloth to allow larger beds. Maintaining the right moisture levels in these beds is important to support complex soil biology critical for plant and human health.
3. The next generation of "wicking worm beds" does not separate soil from water reservoir, allowing plant roots and air flow throughout. Drain holes prevent saturation. Introducing beneficial microbes, fungi, bacteria, and worms via a "BioPack" inoculant maintains
We could say that the destructo-culture, based on industrialized agriculture, carries a basic dysfunction, which is to see the soil as an inanimate thing, a resource to be exploited, & even something that can be seen as 'property' of human beings.
This paradigm has to change because it is at the base of great injustices & of the destruction of the most important base for life on Earth.
In this class we meet the soil as a living being, an organism of enormous complexity & importance, studying how it works in detail, from the microscopic to the global level.
To know soil intimately is fundamental for any sustainable design & to have a direct & vital relationship with this great organism helps us re-connect, physically as well as emotionally, with the Planet.
Teacher Worm Composting Guide
`
For more information, Please see websites below:
`
Organic Edible Schoolyards & Gardening with Children
http://scribd.com/doc/239851214
`
Double Food Production from your School Garden with Organic Tech
http://scribd.com/doc/239851079
`
Free School Gardening Art Posters
http://scribd.com/doc/239851159`
`
Companion Planting Increases Food Production from School Gardens
http://scribd.com/doc/239851159
`
Healthy Foods Dramatically Improves Student Academic Success
http://scribd.com/doc/239851348
`
City Chickens for your Organic School Garden
http://scribd.com/doc/239850440
`
Simple Square Foot Gardening for Schools - Teacher Guide
http://scribd.com/doc/239851110
This document discusses how volcanoes can affect the lifespan of Earth. Volcanic eruptions can reform surrounding landscapes by enriching soils with ash and mineral deposits over time. This improves the land for agriculture as soils become very nutrient-rich. While individual volcanoes only last a short period of geologic time, their cumulative effects over billions of years through soil enrichment and landscape changes have significantly impacted Earth's long-term development and sustainability of life.
1. Earthworms are beneficial for soil and composting as they break down organic matter, aerate the soil, and produce nutrient-rich castings. Starting a worm farm or vermicomposting bin provides a way to utilize food scraps and bedding materials while the worms break them down into a fertilizer.
2. Proper care of a worm farm or vermicompost bin involves maintaining moisture levels that are damp but not wet, providing a dark environment, and regularly feeding the worms kitchen scraps and other organic materials while harvesting the finished compost.
3. Red worms are best for composting as they can process large amounts of food waste and tolerate a variety of conditions
1. Earthworms are beneficial for soil and composting as they break up soil, aerate the soil, and produce nutrient-rich castings. They can be kept in a worm farm to compost food scraps.
2. A worm farm consists of a container with bedding material like shredded paper and food scraps. Red worms are best as they eat a lot and tolerate various conditions.
3. The worm farm should be kept moist but not wet, and harvested periodically by removing castings while leaving worms in bedding. The castings can be used to fertilize plants.
Plant physiology is the study of how plants function at the cellular and biochemical levels and how they respond to environmental factors. It combines knowledge of plant structure, energy sources, water and nutrient uptake, responses to light, temperature, and stresses. It relies on plant biology, anatomy, ecology, cell biology, chemistry, biochemistry, and molecular biology. Understanding plant physiology has led to advances in agriculture, forestry, pharmacology, and more through improving photosynthesis, tissue culture techniques, irrigation, weed control, nutrition, and use of growth regulators.
This document discusses the complexity of soil and the abundant life within it. It makes three main points:
1) Soil is a 3D habitat that varies in properties over space and time and supports a diverse ecosystem. It contains more organisms per gram than anywhere else, mostly microbes.
2) Abundant and diverse microbes and other organisms inhabit soil, including bacteria, fungi, protists, and more. A single hectare of topsoil contains biomass equivalent to 3 African elephants.
3) Soil organisms perform essential functions like decomposition, nutrient cycling, carbon storage, and soil structure, which all contribute to ecosystem health and support life above ground. Activities are suggested to explore soil biology.
Hui 'Ehā is creating a digital book about sustainable gardening practices in Hawaii. The book will provide information on planning, establishing, and maintaining a garden, as well as instructions for growing common fruits and vegetables. It will emphasize traditional Hawaiian concepts like taking care of the land. The goal is to help the community become more sustainable by growing their own food from garden to table.
Soil is made up of particles of rocks, dead plants, and organisms and contains water and air. It supports plant growth by holding plants upright, providing nutrients, and allowing for water infiltration. Soil is teeming with life, including bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes, arthropods, and earthworms. These organisms help decompose dead organic matter, recycle nutrients, improve soil structure, and support ecosystems both above and below ground.
This document provides a summary of key concepts about sustainable soil management from a publication by the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service. It discusses the importance of soil organisms in maintaining healthy soil and explains how native ecosystems function without tillage or fertilizers by recycling nutrients through soil food webs and plant litter. Maintaining high levels of organic matter and diverse soil life through appropriate management practices helps soils remain productive over the long term in a sustainable manner.
Similar to Soils for Wicking Beds for Drought Gardening (20)
Marthe Cohn was a Jewish French spy who risked her life to gather intelligence for the French resistance during WWII. She infiltrated Nazi Germany using her fluent German and managed to discover key military information. As a result, the French army was able to achieve an important victory. Cohn went on to have a long career as a nurse and nurse anesthetist. She has received numerous honors for her wartime heroism and courageously fights to keep the memory of the Holocaust alive.
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Soils for Wicking Beds for Drought Gardening
1. Soils for wicking beds
Colin Austin 25 March 2013
Summary
Many people think wicking beds are just to save water; the most important feature however
is creating a mini ecology with a complex soil biology which can release nutrients and trace
elements in the soil so the plants are rich in phytochemical to improve health. This article
shows how even poor soil can be regenerated using soil biology.
Index
Who does the public relations for soil? .............................................................................. 2
What a learning experience............................................................................................... 2
Bartering food.................................................................................................................... 2
The mystery of the dead chook – it took 65 years to solve................................................. 4
Farming the soil biology..................................................................................................... 4
Moisture the key................................................................................................................ 5
Bio-packs .......................................................................................................................... 6
Soil dynamics .................................................................................................................... 6
Soil carbon and climate change......................................................................................... 7
Soil for wicking beds.......................................................................................................... 7
Regenerating soil .............................................................................................................. 9
Rectifying your soil - structure ........................................................................................... 9
Regenerating soil - chemistry .......................................................................................... 10
Delusions of self sufficiency............................................................................................. 11
Can we be sure ............................................................................................................... 12
Regenerating soil - biology .............................................................................................. 13
Feeding the soil biology is more complex. ....................................................................... 15
Bringing it together .......................................................................................................... 16
About bio-packs............................................................................................................... 16
2. Who does the public relations for soil?
Dirty, boring, yucky, so 2012 as teenagers say. Now I am a soil nut, we could not exist
without soil, we are totally dependent on soil for our food and clothing - don’t think
hydroponics will save us - most of the feed stock comes from soil anyway.
Many of our environmental problems come down to soil, one of the worst aspects of
deforestation is the destruction of soil, yet soil could hold enough carbon to sequester
manmade emissions for fifty years, giving us time to come up with alternative energy.
Soil is among the world’s most critical resources yet we have a food supply system
dominated by major companies who pressure farmers to destroy their soil to stay solvent.
Let’s face it farmers do not wake up each morning and say ‘I think I will destroy another 400
hectares of soil, I only did 250 yesterday so I must make a special effort today’.
Rich or poor we all need soil.
What a learning experience
Some forty years ago (yes I know I am old) Australia suffered terrible dust storms losing
millions of tonnes of top soil. I realised that at some point in
time people would want to know how to regenerate top soil
so I started a series of experiments. I bought every soil
improver and clay breaker I could find, gypsum, dolomite, sea
weed extracts, sulphur based clay breakers, saw dust, wood
chips and so on plus I also experimented with different ways
of working the soil such as contour ploughing and roto-
cultivation, green manures etc. Whatever else you may say
about these experiments they were certainly obsessive.
What did I find? There is simply no magic powder you can sprinkle on claggy clay that will
convert it to beautiful loam. Pity - it would be worth a fortune, but that is the reality.
But over these last forty years I have found that you can make soil, not instantaneously, but
you can make beautifully productive soil by following a process.
Now I anticipate some readers will want a simple step by step procedure. I do that right at
the end but first I want to have a bit of a yarn to show how the basic principles were
established.
Bartering food
My relationship with soil goes back a long way. I was born and Hitler declared war and tried
to starve and bomb us into submission. Every bit of available land was brought into
production to grow food. To me, as a toddler people growing food and bartering a sack of
potatoes for a few cabbages was the way the world worked.
One of my earliest lessons about soil was the use of the use of the humble potato. A lot of
waste land, basically covered with weeds and overgrown was brought into production. To
get rid of all those weeds would have been a horrendous job, made worse as there were no
people to do it - they were all busy making spitfires. But potatoes are a hungry crop that
could out-compete the weeds and make the land productive for other crops later on. A
useful lesson - look for ways of letting nature do the work.
3. That lesson was rammed home many years later when in a burst of ignorant youth I roto-
cultivated my lawn to break up the heavy clay. When I finished it looked beautiful, a nice fine
tilth. But after the first heavy rain it turned into concrete.
4. The mystery of the dead chook – it took 65 years to solve
Another early learning experience I can recall about soil is when we buried the remains of a
chicken in the lawn. You will not be surprised with all those nutrients that the grass grew
taller and greener than the surrounding grass. But the grass continued to be taller and
greener for year after year well after all the nutrients had been dispersed.
It was some sixty five years later that I began to understand the mystery of the dead chook.
Not that long ago I noticed the traditional fairy ring of
mushrooms on my lawn. These sort of come and go as they
feel like it, we know how they work, a mushroom has a ring of
‘cannons’ ready to fire out spores. When the conditions are
just right, and you need to be mushroom to know when that is,
they all fire off together creating a ring of spores a meter of so
away which makes the fairy ring. But if you look at the grass
inside the fairy ring it is much longer and healthier than the
surrounding grass.
Now we know that the fungi are particularly effective, far better than plants, at extracting
nutrients from the soil, there hyphae are very fine so can exert very high pressures and they
exude enzymes which can dissolve rock particles so the plants have an extra supply of food.
So the mystery of the dead chook was resolved, true the nutrients gave the grass a kick
start, but they also started a fungal colony which year after year helped feed the grass, long
after the nutrients had been distributed far and wide.
Farming the soil biology
Soil is created by the millions of creatures that live in the soil - the soil biology. This is a
complex business which scientists spend life-times studying. But you do not need to know
about every species in the soil, rather you need to know how to farm the soil biology, just like
a farmer looks after his cows.
Soil biology has goodies and badies, mycorrhizal fungi and worms are highly beneficial
creating the structure for the soil while nematodes can eat away the roots, and cinnamon
fungi and phylloxera create much damage.
The aim is to ‘farm’ the biology to create conditions that encourage the beneficial biology
while discouraging the detrimental.
Plants, by photosynthesis, provide the energy for soil biology. Some crops are beneficial for
soil regeneration but generally selecting plants specifically for soil regeneration is faster and
more effective. The plants selected depend on the natural soil type and the climate. I call
these soil trees; they are grown purely to create good soil.
Xiulan, my wife thinks I am mad, ‘you grow rubbish trees’ she says. But this is one of the
few times I am right and she is wrong, growing trees to improve soil may waste a bit of land,
but it makes the crops I do grow much more productive.
Selecting the appropriate soil tree is an important job and it depends on the soil and the
climate.
5. I live in an area which is subtropical, (near what is left of Bundaberg after the floods) it is at
the same latitude as our major deserts and is dry for much of the year, there is no regular
rainfall we just get the edges of extreme weather, mostly cyclones form the North in summer
but sometimes we get a winter storm from the South.
My soil is a seriously heavy clay sticky, claggy and virtually unworkable when wet but like
concrete when dry. These are pretty extreme conditions so I have to search for a seriously
tough plant that can thrive. On the other hand I do not want it too ferocious so it becomes a
weed, there are plenty of weeds that thrive in our conditions but they just get out of control.
The most successful plant I have found to date is Senna
Alata. It can be grown from cuttings but seeds are probably
the easiest and it can reach maturity and flower within the
year. It can be grown as an annual or as a permanent tree to
act as a host for the mycorrhizal fungi and worms.
It produces abundant foliage which I use to feed the soil
biology, and seems to thrive under all conditions and is tough
enough to out compete the weeds. It is a legume, so harvests
nitrogen and is efficient at ‘mining’ phosphorous, so it is a good source of two of the big three
N.P.K. The root system is extremely tough and seems to have no problem in penetrating my
heavy clay. Once I tried to grow it in polystyrene vegetables boxes, - the roots just when
right through.
The only snag I have found so far is that it is does not handle frost which kills of the stem
and branches, but the roots seem to survive so next year the plant just regrows, and it is
such a fast grower that I do not see that as a big problem.
I grow them in my wicking beds (they make great stakes for beans and tomatoes) but also
use them in new system I am experimenting with which I call a sponge bed.
Wicking boxes and beds are fine for smaller use but what
about on a larger scale. This is where I see the sponge bed
could be the answer. There is no plastic sheet to provide a
seal to prevent the water leaking away. Instead I am creating
a highly absorbent layer deep in the soil. It works like a
baby’s nappy - holding onto the water to maintain that
uniform moisture essential for the beneficial soil biology.
Moisture the key
Moisture is the key to soil regeneration. I know that most people think of wicking beds as a
highly efficient way of watering with virtually no loss to evaporation or soaking beyond the
root zone, but to me the way they maintain a uniform moisture to aid the soil biology is
equally if not more important.
But why is moisture so important? To answer this I must talk about the differences between
bacteria and fungi. They are both decayers, taking their energy from the organic material
from plants, but they behave very differently.
Bacteria are everywhere; they can live almost anywhere on earth in the most extreme
conditions form sulphur emitting vent holes deep in the ocean to high up in the atmosphere.
They break down the organic material emitting carbon dioxide while a certain amount of
6. carbon goes into their bodies. But they are short lived and when they die their bodies are
eaten by yet more bacteria releasing more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
The net result is that they are actually reducing the level of carbon in the soil. They are very
small and do not move about and while they do release some nutrients to the soil they do
very little for the structure of the soil.
Contrast this with fungi. They are even more effective decomposers, attacking the hard
material like lignin (hard wood) which the bacteria tend to leave. This forms humates, (or
humus) complex organic chemicals which are stable in the soil for years, both storing carbon
and aiding the structure of the soil.
Fungi are very long lived (in appropriate conditions) and hold a significant amount of carbon
in their bodies, but they are very effective at giving the soil its critical structure, breaking up
the soil and making it porous to hold more water and nutrients and allow the plant roots to
penetrate the soil. Plant roots exude saccharides which feed the soil biology, so there is a
natural symbiotic relationship.
The mycorrhizal fungi form an even more effective symbiotic relation with the plants
attaching directly to the roots, the fungi provide the plant with moisture and nutrients which
fungi are very effective at harvesting (better then plants) while the plants provide the fungi
with sugars and energy. Pretty neat deal!
The fungi are far more sensitive to moisture levels only flourishing in a limited range of
moisture. To improve the soil we want to preferentially encourage the fungi which we can do
by maintaining the moisture level.
Worms, the other great soil conditioner also thrive in moist conditions. However there are
different types of worms which fulfil different functions in soil regeneration. The worms
normally sold are compost worms which do a brilliant job of breaking down organic matter
however they tend so stay in one spot.
Other varieties of worms are much larger and stronger and are deep burrowing; they will
come to the surface to gather food then go back deep into the soil. As they travel they make
the soil much more porous and play an important part in soil regeneration.
The major advantage of wicking bed is they maintain the soil continuously moist, not t wet
not to dry, just the right conditions for the beneficial soil biology.
Bio-packs
But how do we get the right biology into the soil? I have many years experimenting and am
now developing the bio-pack. I am using wicking beds with their consistent moisture levels
to grow what is in effect a complete eco system of plants, mycorrhizal fungi, worms, micro
nutrients and the other components of soil biology. These bio-packs are small enough to be
shipped as an inoculator to initiate the soil biology.
Just scratch out a little hole in the ground, pop in a bio-pack, go and relax and let the biology
do the work. Life may be hard but is doesn’t have to be all that hard.
Soil dynamics
Soil can be created but is also being destroyed by the release of carbon back to the
atmosphere. The organic materials in the soil are essentially long chain molecules with
carbon as the backbone, just like plastics. But UV degradation and oxygen are powerful
7. destroyers of long chain molecules. If you have ever left a bit if plastic out in the sunlight you
will have seen how it first goes brittle then cracks and finally disintegrates. It is the same with
organic molecules on the soil; they are continuously being broken down by the deadly
combination of UV and oxygen.
But to make matters worse, the bacteria are also breaking down the long chain molecules.
The net result is a loss of carbon back to the atmosphere. On the other hand plants are
continuously extracting carbon from the atmosphere so carbon is continuously cycling. If we
manage the system using plants, such as soil plants, to continuously extract carbon from the
atmosphere the carbon content and soil quality will continue to increase year after year.
However if we adopt inferior farming practices (as farmers are often forced into) with a lower
carbon capture then carbon loss will exceed that gained so the carbon level will decrease.
Clay, if left unattended, will always revert back to its original form so it essential to keep the
soil biology fed and watered so they just keep on making the soil better.
It is a bit like pushing a wheel chair up a hill. If you continue to push you will eventually get to
the top of the hill. But if you let go it will roll back to where you started.
Soil carbon and climate change
This cycling of carbon is the fundamental administrative problem with using soil carbon as a
mechanism in fighting climate change. The rules, decided over twenty years ago, say that
the carbon sequestered should be permanent, yet soil carbon is continuously recycling. It is
totally the wrong way to look at the role soil carbon plays in climate change. It will never be
a permanent solution to climate change; we simply have to adopt new energy sources.
But that takes times, but soil carbon is a cheap and immediately available technology which
can give us a window in time while we make that change. On a global scale we could use
soil carbon to stabilise our atmospheric carbon for up to fifty years while we make the
needed energy changes, but we need to rethink the role of soil carbon. The current logic is
just about as sensible as jumping out of an aircraft with a perfectly good parachute but not
pulling the rip cord on the basis that the parachute will be no use after you hit the ground.
Meanwhile people have their houses washed away in the Bundaberg floods.
Soil for wicking beds
Wicking beds may be a very efficient way of watering plants, but they need good soil. One of
the aims of developing the wicking bed was to create those moist conditions for the soil
biology, particularly the fungi, which makes good soil.
So where do we start. We could of course just go and buy some soil. But here is the snag.
Processed soils are deliberately sterilised so any harmful bacteria has been killed, but that
also kills of the beneficial biology.
OK so you can buy top soil. Sometimes you see ‘mountain soil’ advertised, giving the
impression that the soil is imported from the rich mountains of Nepal at amazing expense.
Now what often happens in reality is that the company goes around building sites collecting
the spare top soil, they take it back to their yard and pile up into a mountain then sell this as
‘mountain’ soil
8. So generally I prefer to use local soil and improve this. At least the soil will contain local soil
biology which is well adapted.
9. Regenerating soil
The three basic aspects of soil are the physical, e.g. particle size and distribution, the soil
chemistry, what nutrients (or harmful chemicals) may be in the soil and the soil biology.
Let’s see how we can improve an existing soil – starting with
the soil physics. There is a very simple experiment which is
really quite fun. Just take a sample of the soil (about a cupful)
and put into a glass container. Fill with water and add a little
detergent. Break up the soil until it is a uniformly mixed slurry.
With clay soils this can be a bit of work. Then just let the
particle settle and watch from time to time.
If you have not broken up the lumps of clay properly they will
fall straight to the bottom. Don’t worry just mix them up and start again, maybe squeezing
with your fingers until all the lumps have been broken down.
The larger sand particles will fall out first. This may occur in a few minutes. It always
surprised me that a soil which looks to be totally clay with fine particles may still contain
significant sand particles. Sand can also contain significant amount of fines.
This will form a uniform layer at the bottom of the container. Next the finer particles, which
may be classified by a soil scientist as silts, will start to drop out. This will take a few hours.
Finally the very fine clay particles will settle out. It could take several days or weeks for these
very fine particles to settle out and the water is clear.
You may also find bit of organic material floating on the surface.
It is pretty obvious what the distribution of particles in your soil is like just by looking at the
various layers which are usually pretty clear, but if you like you can drain out the water and
examine the various layers using a magnifying glass or microscope. (You can buy quite
cheaply little magnifying cameras that fit onto your computer. I bought mine on EBay and it is
great fun).
Having found out about the structure of your soil it is time to start rectification.
Rectifying your soil - structure
If your soil is predominantly sandy you are lucky as this is very good for wicking beds.
Normally sandy soils are not considered good as they hold little water or nutrients. The
larger particle size means there is less area for the nutrients to bond to.
But sand is still a pretty good wicking medium, we don’t have to worry about the water
draining away and using the ‘compost pipe’ the plants are fed a compost tea which provides
lots of nutrients.
If the sand level is extreme with no fines then adding a little clay may be beneficial. Clay
particles are so small that they have a larger surface area that the nutrients attach to.
A heavy clay soil is not such good news but still solvable. You need to mix in a combination
of dolomite or gypsum and sand. Don’t be mean with the sand, too little will just make the
clay like concrete without breaking up the clay. Add at least 20% sand.
10. When the clay is wet if is very difficult to mix with the sand and dolomite, it just forms
frustrating lumps. Not much you can do about this other then let the clay dry out when the
clumps can be broken up manually.
Now I have to admit that breaking up lumps of clay is not my
ideal way of spending a Sunday afternoon - so I cheat. When
I have got the big lumps broken down I will fill my wicking box
to within about 50mm of the top, then add a 50mm layer of
vermicast (worm casting) into which I can put my plants. The
worms and soil biology can then take over the job from where
I left off.
Now you have a base soil you need to start working in the
additives to give the soil body and tilth. This will depend on
what is available locally. Vermicast is excellent as is compost
or whatever organic material is available. I use tonnes of mill
mud, a by-product form the sugar mill near where I live, but it
is really up to you to find a local source of organic material.
Compost really needs to be a balance between brown and
green material. Unfortunately much compost is what I call
brown, food scraps may contain a little green material but are
still largely brown. This is where the soil trees come in -
providing a supply of green leafy material.
In principle I prefer direct in soil composting but sometimes
pre-composting is needed.
Regenerating soil - chemistry
Next we have to consider the chemical requirements. This is a mature area of science with
many references, in particular Garden talk by Colin Campbell and The new Organic
gardener by Tim Marshall. Colin’s book has some very useful tips on recognising
deficiencies by inspecting the plants.
If you are going to use a lot of undecomposed organic material you will need to add extra
nitrogen as decomposition takes out a lot of nitrogen. I use chicken pellets and blood and
bone.
But a word of warning, with conventional growing there is always a loss of nutrients by
leaching. This does not normally happen in a wicking bed unless you deliberately flush. This
means that it is very easy to over fertilise. I know you can get all sorts of test done on soils
but the easiest way is let your plants tell you. If you are finding they are growing too fast,
such as lettuce bolting prematurely or radish and carrots splitting then you have too much
fertiliser, particularly nitrogen.
Generally the big three (N,P,K) are readily available so be careful how much you add. I
prefer organic fertilisers as they are slow release, but I am quite happy about adding extra
potassium even as a chemical.
11. Now comes the minor and trace elements and this is where the controversy starts. Soil
scientists generally talk about primary, secondary and trace elements. Plants must have
some of these but the amounts are very small. That is to make the plants healthy.
But we are animals and the amount of these minor and trace elements we need is much
higher than plants, the level of these elements in our bodies it typically ten times that found
in plants. This is also important for the soil biology, worm farmers report that feeding the
worms extra minerals improves their health.
And this is where I must digress.
Delusions of self sufficiency
When Bill Mollison first launched permaculture on the world it created quite a stir. His
arguments about the weaknesses of modern mono-culture agriculture seemed so powerful
that I was hooked and decided I would have a go at self-sufficiency. Now that was a
learning experience. I learned that it is relatively easy to plant the seeds and grow a good
crop; it is a totally different thing to plants seeds every couple of weeks or so and get a
continuous supply of food.
First there is the human fallibility of not planting on a regular basis, now that is my problem -
but then there is the issue of natural variability and the weather. Let me tell you what about
the real world and self-sufficiency. I can put in a quarter of a packet of lettuce and the
germination will be pretty poor so I know that I am not going to get a good enough crop. So I
will race out and plant a full packet to allow for losses. Now as far as I can see I have done
everything exactly the same as last time but this time I will have virtually 100% germination
so I think I am going to be flooded with lettuce.
Now I live near Bundaberg and we were hit by a mind blowing amount of water. We had
820mm of rain in 3 days. We had 300mm fall on the Sunday night (when North Bundaberg
was washed away). I reckon that we had 100mm fall in about three hours; I thought I would
go outside with my torch to see whether the drainage systems I put in after the last floods
were coping. The force of the rain and wind was so great I turned straight around and went
back to bed. This was no place for humans to be outside.
In the morning I inspected, the drainage systems I put in after the 2011 floods went straight
under my house. These had done an excellent job, just some wind-blown rain but no
flooding. But my bumper crop of lettuces was totally pummelled into the ground.
I think back to the war time, when we weren’t playing at self-sufficiency it was for real. How
did we manage? Well we did not have a continuous supply of fresh vegetables, we grew
crops which could be stored, we had sacks of potatoes in the cellar, mum pickled what
seemed like sixty million jars of cabbage, made jam and preserves.
Now I am happy to let nature takes its course and just see
what grows well. The answer on my block is pumpkins, I
don’t think I have every planted or bought pumpkins, many
years ago someone may have given me a pumpkin and the
waste went onto the compost. Now every year we have this
forest of self-set pumpkins that invade our property - enough
to feed us for a year. Yes it would be perfectly possible to be
self-sufficient but in my case that would mean periods of
living of pumpkins and that does not necessarily mean a
healthy diet.
12. Now you have heard my views on our food distribution system, and it is just a fact that plants
are bred for appearance and shelf life rather than taste or nutritional value. But give them a
go; they have been remarkably effective in bringing food from all over the world to the local
shop at remarkably low prices, (even if that means squeezing the farmer on price).
So what do we do? Well I am relatively lucky, I live in a rural area with a local market where
I can buy food grown locally and even our supermarket (run by a local guy) buys in local
produce. So I grow what I can and buy locally what I cannot. But I want to make sure that
the food I grow provides the phytochemicals my body needs.
Phytochemicals are the complex chemicals produced by plants some of which are known to
science while many are not. But as long as we eat some food grown in soil with a high
concentration of the micro elements we need then there is a fair bet they are providing all the
supplementary food we need.
I find it difficult to argue the case, on either economic or practical reasons, for trying to
replace all bought in foods with home grown. But I strongly argue that you can grow high
nutrient rich plants, full of phytochemicals, to provide the necessary minerals and speciality
chemicals (vitamins etc.) needed to health. This is an infinitely better approach than stuffing
yourself full of expensive vitamin pills.
Can we be sure
Now you may ask if science hasn’t even identified all these phytochemicals then how can I
say that these are important for health? Well no one can be sure, but life is about managing
risks. On the one hand I can eat fatty meat and greasy chips or I can eat a combination of
fresh vegetables I buy in, plus some I grow some myself in soil with a high micro nutrient
load.
I look upon these home grown vegetables as a supplement - much better than eating tonnes
of vitamin pills.
Am I right?
Well to help you decide can I tell you a little story from my studies into anthropology. It is a
little known fact that some hundred thousand years ago there were two breeds of human like
creatures on the earth.
The first group were not particularly intelligent and just went about their business of surviving
in the way that seemed best to them at the time and basically having a good time. But at
least they were action orientated and got things done. These were the sort of guys that
would pull the rip cord on the parachute, even if they had not worked out what to do with the
parachute when the landed on the ground.
The second group were super intelligent; a bunch of Fourier’s, Newton’s and Einstein’s who
spent much of their days discussing issues of the greatest significance. Great debates of the
highest complexity but they only took action were they were totally sure with total scientific
proof. (Non rip cord pullers). Now one day they came around to discussing sex. They came
to the conclusion that they did not have a proper understanding of sex and that as DNA was
not going to be discovered for another hundred thousand years that they should wait until
the discovery before having any more sex. WUSP was there motto, wait until scientifically
proven.
13. Despite their super intelligence they became extinct while the other mob prospered. But the
‘smarties’ did not go quite extinct. A few of the lads thought that they should conduct some
scientific experiments on sex, purely for knowledge of course.
So they high tailed it over to the other camp, where things had been quite active. After a
good meal of kangaroo steak George asked Mavis if she fancied a bit of hanky-panky. Now
Mavis thought well washing up won’t be invented for a hundred thousand years, so why not,
so off to the bushes they went to ensure the propagation of the species.
Now the lads from the intellectual camp met up with Mavis’s younger sister and cousin and
started to chat them up - as young lads do. Now these young lasses had not had any
hanky-panky for some time and hadn’t been brain washed into the benefits of abstinence by
the yet to be invented religious orders, so they told the lads to stop talking, grabbed them by
their kangaroo shirts collars and took them off to the bushes. And so their genes survived
which is why we have people saying we should wait until the science had been confirmed
before taking action on climate change (by for example exploiting the benefits of soil carbon).
The solution to that is to incarcerate them all in North Bundaberg which was wiped out in the
last floods.
So we may not be sure that eating at least some vegetables grown in soil rich in micro-
nutrients is the proven way to health but it is certainly the best show in town.
But here lies the snag. It is easy to add the micro-nutrients to the soil, but these were made
by grinding up rocks which are insoluble. Just adding micro-nutrients does not do much good,
the plants cannot access them. This is one of the many roles of soil biology.
Regenerating soil - biology
Biology is what gives soil its structure; it creates aggregates and fine passages which enable
the roots to penetrate the ground and the soil to hold much more water.
Soil biology is what releases the nutrients which may be locked up as insoluble minerals into
the complex soluble chemicals which the plants can take up.
Whether you are starting with a clay or sandy soil the soil biology can convert it to open
quality soil with a good tilth. It is as the heart of making us healthy by eating healthy plants.
You can see I get a bit steamed up about soil biology.
So what do you need to do to get a good soil biology? Well
just take what I am about to say as a bit of a shock treatment,
forget about your plants, whether they have enough water
and food, just be totally obsessive about your soil and its
biology. (I told you I was a soil nut). But this is not as daft
and extreme as it sounds. If you look after the soil biology the
plants will automatically grow well.
Now do not think for one minute that you can just go and buy one of my bio-packs and you
will end up with beautifully rich soil, because you won’t. Putting a bio-pack into your soil is a
bit like having a baby dumped on your door step. If you just leave it there it will simply die -
you have to look after it by feeding and watering it (and let it breath).
Watering with a wicking bed is easy. In a wicking box it is
convenient to use a sight glass, (which also makes them
easy to drain). In the larger wicking bed, it is not so easy to
14. put a sight glass, so even if you use a compost pipe it is still a good idea to have a pipe so
you can see the water level. The only decision is whether to keep the water reservoir topped
up (shallow cycle) or to let the water level drop until almost empty then refill (deep cycle).
I prefer the deep cycle for two reasons. First the deep filling
and emptying cycle is actually sucking and expelling air - like
breathing. Secondly I now fill my wicking bed completely with
soil and do not use a separate reservoir. The plants can then
use the full depth of the soil, the roots do not mind an
occasional saturation you get with the deep cycle but with a
shallow cycle they will not live in the continuously wet soil.
15. Feeding the soil biology is more complex.
Soil biology cannot photosynthesise (generally, algae and
some specialist organism can). They are totally dependent
on the plant for the plants for energy. Mycorrhizal fungi gets
its energy directly from the plants but the rest of the soil
biology has to chump up dead plants.
On my first generation wicking beds I had a plastic water pipe
feeding the bottom of the bed, in the second generation I
added a worm bed, typically a plastic bucket with holes in the
bottom, filled with organic waste and worms. Then I thought
this is silly I am wasting a lot of space in the bed and the
worms are a bit restricted and may not work through the bed
properly, so I combined the pipe and the worm bed into one.
It’s dead simple. When I make a bed I just put a pipe into the box, fill the box with soil and
the compost pipe with (yes you have guessed it) compost. I pull out the plastic pipe making
sure the compost is pushed down. Next put in the bio-pack, then the seeds, water and I am
away. It is really a question of minutes to set up a box.
This is a relatively new method. A hole is formed in the soil
using an old flower pot or a pipe, this is then removed and the
hole filled with compost.
I have had no problem with the water pipe clogging up, but I
have a variety of weapons (see pic) to clear it out or make a
new one if needed. I am also using these tools to make
compost pipes in existing beds.
To maintain the box I water through the compost pipe, this
flushes out a compost tea which flows to the bottom of the
box then wicks up. I can add fertiliser and the trace elements
to the compost pipe. Using chicken pellets and blood and
bone help the compost to decompose.
I do pre-compost some of my rubbish but I also like to add
fresh green material to my compost pipe.
Adding further compost is where wicking bed users seem to have a variety of approaches.
Some like to use it as a mulch around the plants. I am sure this is good but I have a slightly
different view. Surface mulch is broken down both by UV light and bacteria whereas my
approach is to say that all that light that is falling on the mulch can be used to grow more
plants, I like companion planting putting new plants in among the others as a space appears.
I could argue the technology for doing that but the real reason is that I am just a messy
person and just like having a rolling stream of plants filling up all available space – it just
suits my personality. Many people like plants in nice straight rows, if you are one of those I
salute you and please come and tidy up my house which is a mess. (Xiulan is in China so I
can get away with the mess, as the saying goes while Xiulan is away Colin messes up, I
think the original was more to do with cats and mice).
16. Have I had problems? Well yes some of my early beds which used mainly clay with no sand
have become quite hard but that was after about five years. I simply aerated by pushing in a
fork and levering back until the soil cracked. I did not dig or disturb the soil and it worked
fine. I will just have to wait another five years to see how the current system using more
sand, dolomite and the bio-pack work out over time.
I will just mention that in my sponge bed I am putting the cutting from my senna trees into
trenches so it goes into rather than onto the soil, but these are still experimental and the
topic of another article.
Bringing it all together
So at last here is the summary
Check the available soil for sand and clay content.
If the soil is predominantly sandy then you can use 75% soil but if clay is available 50% sand
with 25% clay may give more body to the soil.
If the soil is predominantly clay then use 50% clay 20% sand 5% dolomite or gypsum
Add 20% vermicast or compost
Add 5% organic fertiliser chicken pellets and blood and bone
Build the compost pipe into bed and fill with compost (insert dummy pipe, pack soil around
the outside, carefully pull out dummy pipe).
Create small holes every metre and bury bio-pack level with surface
Plant as you see fit
Ensure compost pipe is regularly filled with fresh compost and add trace elements as
needed.
About bio-packs
Bio-packs are my latest passion to provide a broad spectrum
soil biology. I am trying to create a miniature self-contained
eco-system. I am growing plants which have been inoculated
with mycorrhizal fungi so it is properly established before
shipping. The plant I have selected as a host or mother is
gotu kola. This is a herb with reputed major health benefits,
is tough and fast growing. Upon request I will also
incorporate some senna alata seed. I should point out that
these only germinate when the soil is warm.
The bio-pack is heavily loaded with a mixture of both
compost and burrowing worm eggs and trace elements, certainly sufficient to start a wicking
bed off. You should probably add further trace elements annually. We can supply if needed.
At this moment I would describe the systems as pre-commercial. To be honest I have no
idea what the demand for bio-packs will be, this is the first time I have announced them. For
the moment I have set up a couple of wicking beds and will supply straight from the bed on
17. receipt of request. The senna are setting seeds as I write but these need to be dried out
ready for the spring.
Currently I am looking a price of $25 per bio-pack (plus p&p) which will inoculate a meter
square. If there is the demand I will organise larger scale production by a commercial
organisation. In view of the length of time it takes to establish a mini eco-system in a wicking
bed I doubt if they will do it cheaper than I can.
You should contact me directly if you are interested. colinaustin@bigpond.com