Starting the Garden - Soil Improvement

[Francie]

Growing food in the best chemical-free soil will give you the most healthful food that has more nutrients than grocery store produce. Even if you don't have time to garden on a large scale, everyone should grow a few pots of something to eat!

Our garden is in its second year. I did not expect much the first year - I thought it would take a couple years to turn that neglected, clay-filled pasture into good garden soil, especially since we were not going to bust our butts over it. Was I surprised! Most everything grew like crazy! Except a couple of things that although they produced some, we could tell it could be better. Such as the squashes. I think with more soil improvement, they will do better. Maybe it was a watering problem.

The first thing we did when we moved here was take soil samples and send them in for analysis. This is free - you can get the directions from a garden center. The soil analysis told us we had acidic clay that needed fertilizer. We added lime to adjust the pH. The second thing we did (the secret to our success!) was to start making the best organic fertilizer using horse manure and leaves. We built 3 large compost bays. Our horses lived here for 8 months before we started the garden, so that was a head start. Our children "pick the pastures." They scoop the manure and dump it in a pile in a bay. We also add leaves (that kind strangers have raked up and placed in bags on the street!). You could also add newspaper. If you want your mess to be composted quickly, it needs carbon, nitrogen, moisture and oxygen. It also needs to be allowed to produce heat by piling it up and perhaps covering it with a tarp.

If you Google "composting horse manure," (or just composting) you will find pages that explain the carbon to nitrogen ratio of things you add to a pile. It's not as complicated as it sounds. We never had to water our piles. We do own a tractor to turn the piles. The smoke and heat you see and feel when you turn the pile is amazing!

We are reasonably sure our compost does not contain too many parasites or chemicals. We do have to buy hay for the horses and goats during the winter, and we don't always know if anything was sprayed on it. We've found suppliers who say they don't use herbicides, or that they spot use them. Herbicides have been found to survive the horse's digestion and the composting process and so we'd know it if they were there - the garden would not grow! As for parasites, we have chickens that roam the fields and eat them up. Also, our compost pile gets so hot, I'm sure they are burned up, along with any harmful microbes. The manure could contain weed seeds, but they also get burned up during composting. It does not smell, and it decomposes within a couple of months. The compost is finished when it stops heating up and looks like rich, dark soil.

Our kitchen scraps also get composted, sort of. The chickens pick through what they want, and the rest is left on the edge of the garden to get plowed in, eventually. The next thing I need is a table right in the garden, with a knife. It makes more sense to me to toss the produce parts we don't eat directly to the goats and chickens, rather than hauling them in and out of the house. Our goats LOVE all kinds of greens and turnips. We plant extra just for them. And pumpkins are a treat for the animals! We glean extras from our neighbors. The seeds act as a natural dewormer. But that is a topic for another day...

To sum it up, the magical, finished compost is dug into the garden, and provides humus and nutrients. It helps alleviate the "Carolina Bathtub" situation that could drown our plants! In another couple of years, we probably won't have to dig it in; we should be able to just lay it on top.

[Pat Robinson]

Have you chatted with Anna about her 'Master Composter' class? She is having fun!


Thanks for posting. I love dirt. :-)


Pat