Tending Your Soil

How you tend your soil affects whether seed germinates and if seedlings develop into a crop. It also affects climate change and bio diversity.

Here are three methods that tend our soil:

· Dig the soil over.

· Sow seed directly i.e. don't dig the soil over.

· Use minimal cultivation techniques.

Digging This is a conventional method of preparing soil. The garden's top soil is turned over with a spade. Further cultivations create a fine tilth that is ideal for sowing and germinating seed.

Direct Sow Sowing seed directly involves broadcasting seed and raking or harrowing it into the top of the ground.

Minimal Cultivations There are techniques of minimal cultivation that compromise between turning all the soil over and sowing seed into hard ground. They disturb enough soil to ensure surface drainage. Discs or tines are used in agricultural situations.

Digging, ploughing or rotorvating top soil make it loose, introduce air and guarantee excess water will flow through the surface to drains deeper in the soil profile. Fresh turned earth looks tidy but small creatures use leaf litter and organic detritus on the surface of the ground for habitat. These mini beasts are mostly beneficial to growing crops. Composting worms and woodlice shred and break down organic material into smaller particles that earthworms can distribute throughout the soil profile.

Digging introduces vast amounts of air into the top soil; aerobic bacteria respond by multiplying. Huge populations need food. Their diet is carbon. The carbon in soil exists in the form of humus and organic material. Large populations of aerobic bacteria digest the humus from between the soil particles. They use oxygen and carbon then excrete carbon dioxide and soluble substances. Soil is a vast sink. It can contain large amounts of carbon as humus, and organic material. When we turn over soil the result is extra greenhouse gas in the atmosphere and soil erosion. Rain or irrigation washes the soil; the organic matter having been processed by the aerobic bacteria into solutions is flushed into drains.

A direct sow method that avoids turning soil can give disappointing results. Seed germinating onto hard ground will establish a patchy crop. The surviving plants sit in surface water and develop stunted roots; stunted roots equal a stunted plant.

Minimal cultivations offer a compromise. If cultivation discs or tines are used to create narrow drainage channels; the surface water can drain. A small amount of loose soil brought up by the minimal cultivation technique, can be used to produce a fine tilth. Seed can be sown in bands of loose soil above narrow drainage channels.

Narrow drainage channels leave the majority of the surface layer undisturbed; providing opportunity for biodiversity within leaf litter. There is permanent soil each side of the narrow drainage channel. The ground is firm we can walk or drive over it without making deep foot prints or wheeling's. The soil keeps its structure it is resistant to compaction. Permanent soil retains moisture and nutrients. Root systems of crops that are propagated using minimal cultivation techniques can break into the surrounding soil that is structured naturally. They find burrows that worms have made or cylinders of space left from previous crop roots that have decayed.

There are various methods of tending your soil. Digging and turning soil over is conventional we know it works and fresh dug earth looks tidy. The alternative minimal cultivation saves time and effort; the crop has many benefits. Self-structured permanent soil is moist in a dry time and slowly releases nutrient. Less soil disturbance sustains wildlife while contributing to slowing climate change.

Andrew Astle trained and qualified as an agricultural agronomist with Fisons/Boots Agriculture in the 1980s. He went on to grow flowers commercially and has grown fruit and vegetables on his own account for thirty years. Andrew wrote the book "TINE" How to Garden Without Digging available from: http://www.soilisalive.com

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Soil Microorganisms - The World You Can't See

Building high populations of beneficial microorganisms in the soil will dramatically increase growing success, soil and plant health, and help to increase satisfaction as a grower. Microorganisms are one major piece of the gardening puzzle. Microbes convert nutrients into (bio-available) forms that plants can use, including fixing nitrogen. A high percentage of nutrients applied to soils go unused, wasting valuable nutrients leading to groundwater contamination in areas with high water tables and wasting money. Microbes also produce enzymes and hormones that are needed by plants to grow. Additionally, beneficial microbes are able to attack pathogenic microbes and breakdown many of the toxic substances they produce. Microbes are great to apply directly to the soil and on the plant as part of a foliar feeding program. However, they are very misunderstood. This is very likely due to the fact that most people think of microbes or bacteria as bad because they associate them with sickness. However, without microbes we would not be able to live healthy lives.

Microbes include bacteria, viruses, fungi, algae, yeast, amoebas, protozoa, nematodes, arthropods, insects, and earthworms. There are aerobic and anaerobic kinds. This means some require lots of air (aerobic) and other do not (anaerobic). In general people tend to think of anaerobic bacteria as pathogens and aerobic bacteria as beneficial, or non-pathogenic. However, there are pathogenic aerobic microbes and not all anaerobic microbes are pathogenic. Pathogens are called such because they produce various substances that can be toxic to humans, animals, and plants. Pathogens are generally associated with a putrefactive (rotting) pathway. The by-products of putrefaction are odorous and very often toxic to plants, humans and animals.

Microbes can be introduced in a variety of ways. These include making compost teas, buying inoculants such as such as EM•1 Microbial Inoculant, that contain a diverse species from several genera, and beneficial fungi such as mycchorizae. There is a trick when adding microbes though. There is a lot of mass and billions of microbes in the soil. It takes regular applications with very high populations of microbes and good land management to make changes. When the numbers of microbes from a inoculant are significant and certain methods are followed, they are able to suppress the growth of pathogens including the above-mentioned bacteria and microbes such as E. coli, Salmonella, Botulinum, etc. This process is also known as competitive exclusion and is very commonly practiced in food manufacturing.

Carbohydrates are food for the microbes and are converted to various beneficial compounds by lactic acid bacteria and yeasts such as trace minerals, vitamins, amino acids, and enzymes, which are utilized by other microbes and macrobes (worms and other insects). A typical conversion of sugar under the lactic acid bacteria type of fermentation will follow the following formulas:

C6H12O6 → CH3CHOHCOOH + C2H5OH + CO2

C6H12O6 → 2 CH3CHOHCOOH

Lactic acid bacteria and yeast both produce small amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2), Oxygen (O2), and hydrogen (H2). However, during anaerobic phases, the Lactic acid bacteria will not produce gas and the yeast will produce carbonic acid instead of alcohol. Several species of photosynthetic microbes grow and increase their biomass by absorbing carbon dioxide, but can also increase biomass by degrading organic compounds including such toxic compounds as 3chlorobenzoate to cellular building blocks. When oxygen is present, R. palustris generates energy by degrading a variety of carbon-containing compounds (including sugars, lignin monomers, and methanol) and by carrying out respiration. ( http://genome.jgi-psf.org/rhopa/rhopa.home.html )

Anaerobic/pathogens produce methane, butyric acid, Hydrogen Sulfide, Ammonia, and promote the growth of pathogenic species. Aerobic/beneficials produce or release oxygen, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, enzymes, amino acids, trace minerals, bio-available vitamins, ammonium, and promote the growth of other beneficial microorganisms.

As you can see, there is a lot going on with microbes. And, this is only a small look into the world of microbes. With the billions of microbes that are in soil, we want to make sure the soil maintains high levels of beneficial microbes to promote healthy soils and plants. This is done through inoculating the soil with various amendments and good management of the soil. It can also be helped along with adding in various inoculants containing high populations of beneficial microorganisms and a diversity of species. From this we can also see the importance of preventing compacted (anaerobic) soils as most pathogens are anaerobic.

As one becomes a biological gardener/farmer, they tend to use their senses more and observations are used to address issues. Watch for compaction. Look at the surface after watering or heavy rains. See which areas drain quickly. Watch plants to see areas that tend to get attacked by pests and/or disease. Look for worms in the soil. Looks for pests and predators. As you explore this new world, think about what you cannot see and think about the billions of microbes in the soil that hard at work to make the nutrients you add available for you plants and how they affect the soil structure. Give them a little help by regularly sending in some reinforcements. Over time you will notice changes in the soil, drainage, plant health, pest infestation, and find that fruits and vegetables get sweeter and sweeter year after year.

Eric Lancaster is Executive Vice President of TeraGanix, Inc., the exclusive North America distributor of Effective Microorganisms® and EM® Bokashi products. He has been using the Effective Microorganisms® at home and commercially for 14 years. Please visit http://www.TeraGanix.com for more information.

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Bacteria Provide the Garden Plant Food But Cause Soil Erosion

The bacteria that live in soil consume and digest organic matter. Aerobic bacteria are the gardener's friend. They excrete soluble substances that are plant nutrients. Given a staple diet of organic material aerobic bacteria will provide the comprehensive array of major and minor nutrients plants need to grow in a healthy manner. Good quality soil will allow aerobic bacteria to provide for plants consistently. The factors affecting bacteria performance are:

• Air, there has to be air in the soil for aerobic bacteria to survive,

• pH, this needs to be 7, nutrient fixing aerobic bacteria enjoy a neutral pH.

• Soil temperature, below 5° Celsius bacteria slow and become dormant.

Aerobic bacteria in the one sense are a gardener's best friend but in another are his worst enemy. The reason for this is they are solely responsible for soil erosion. The organic matter within the soil profile and between soil particles; dead plant material, added farm yard manure, compost and the soil humus are digested by aerobic bacteria. The water soluble substances they excrete are valuable plant food. The problem is rainfall and irrigation washes the soil relentlessly. The organic material is leached out of the soil. Soil eroded in this manner becomes lifeless. Soil particles are pushed together without humus to hold them apart. The airspace is removed from the soil profile.

Bacteria are not essential to grow food crops. Tomatoes, strawberries and barley fodder are grown commercially using a system of hydroponics. This is a sterile aggregate washed regularly with solutions of plant nutrients. These are successful methods but the crops need to have a high value to justify the expensive growing structures, growing media, and continual feeding. In ordinary kitchen gardens bacteria do the work of supplying constant nutrient to growing crops.

Bacteria are important in the right numbers. The scenario of soil erosion due to bacteria activity is only a problem in cultivated soil. Food crops such as: top fruit, soft fruit, asparagus, rhubarb enjoy permanent soil. Permanent soil is a darker colour when compared to cultivated soil just a few metres away. This is because it contains more humus. If we want the plants that grow from seed and yield within one year to enjoy permanent soil we have to consider different methods of cultivation.

Minimal cultivation systems involve drilling or planting directly. This can be disappointing. The plants develop in a stunted manner. Excess surface water prevents root development. Plant root systems develop when the roots grow in search of moisture. When excess water sits in the ground's surface roots are stunted. A stunted root equals a stunted plant.

A compromise between digging over all the top soil and drilling directly is to cultivate narrow drainage channels. A narrow drainage channel 20 mm (3/4 inch) wide and 180 mm (7 inch deep) ushers surface water into deeper soil. Roots grow as they search for moisture deeper in the soil profile. The plants establish and mature in a healthy manner but the amount of soil disturbed to propagate the crop has been minimal.

Andrew Astle has written the book "TINE" How to garden without digging. He has published the website http://www.soilisalive.com to promote his book. People that are infirm or getting old can prepare soil for food crops without the work. Permanent soil offers so many advantages to the crop, wildlife and wider environment the method described in the book "TINE" is best practise for every garden. More at: http://www.soilisalive.com

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