Comments on: Soil Fertility. Learning from the Past. http://sustainablesmallholding.org/soil-fertility-learning-from-the-past/ Permaculture, and Sustainable practices on a Lincolnshire Smallholding Tue, 26 Apr 2016 08:13:21 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.5.3 By: Dog poo experiments | The Snail of Happiness http://sustainablesmallholding.org/soil-fertility-learning-from-the-past/#comment-6992 Sat, 17 Aug 2013 14:58:17 +0000 http://deanom.wordpress.com/?p=2815#comment-6992 […] Kettle and that we normally add to the compost or put straight on the garden. I was inspired by Deano’s approach to this problem at the Sustainable Small Holding, but decided to use shredded paper for some bulk […]

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By: Soil Fertility. Learning from the Past. « The Sustainable Smallholding http://sustainablesmallholding.org/soil-fertility-learning-from-the-past/#comment-656 Wed, 16 Jan 2013 18:31:41 +0000 http://deanom.wordpress.com/?p=2815#comment-656 […] This post has been moved and can be read by clicking on SOIL FERTILITY. […]

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By: Deano http://sustainablesmallholding.org/soil-fertility-learning-from-the-past/#comment-504 Thu, 25 Oct 2012 19:24:15 +0000 http://deanom.wordpress.com/?p=2815#comment-504 Hi Patrick
I already ‘drown weeds’, but have never put seedy nettles into a bin before. It might be worth a try to see if that works. I can test it on trays to see if any seeds germinate. I’m not concerned with the nitrogen or the organic matter, I have enough of those. Burning is just a way to recycle the mineral content, and to take some of the fertility away from the weedy areas. The mineral content of wood ash includes 50% lime, 5% Potassium, and 0.5% Phosphorous, which suggest that some/all of the Phosphorous survives the burning process.

I’m going to try to follow the double dig immediately with winter cereals, beans and clover, to see if I can get roots down into the newly formed spaces, and avoid the hard work a second time. That’s in the next post.
Wishing you well.
Deano

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By: Patrick Whitefield http://sustainablesmallholding.org/soil-fertility-learning-from-the-past/#comment-503 Thu, 25 Oct 2012 13:00:13 +0000 http://deanom.wordpress.com/?p=2815#comment-503 Hello Deano,

Another great post from you, as ever combining avid book research with hands-on experience and experiment.

I particularly appreciate your point about forming a more stable humus by putting some clay in the compost heap. I’ve never thought of this in terms of composting before, though I’ve long appreciated the clay-humus complex in the soil. I’ll start putting soil in the compost myself now. I don’t think those of us with less clayey soils need worry – all soils contain some clay.

I agree with you about double digging. Although a great advocate of no-dig gardening, I always contend that if a soil lacks humus in the lower layers – and this is true of most soils which haven’t been gardened intensively before – that they need an intensive period of mixing compost in. This usually needs to be done repeatedly for a few years. It’s especially true on clay soils, where downward movement of materials is minimal. On lighter soils you might get away without it. Once you’ve got a dark colour and good structure throughout the soil profile you should never need to dig again.

But I would part company with you on burning weeds. Not only will you lose the organic matter they contain but also all the nitrogen (and I think the phosphorous – but I’d have to check that). All that remains in terms of plant nutrients are the cations, ie metalic elements such as potassium. Burning brushwood makes sense as it’s hard to use it otherwise – other than in a hugelkultur. Burning herbaceous plants doesn’t. If your main aim is to kill the seeds, submerging them in water should do the trick. I don’t know how long you’d have to leave them under water, but I expect it would a long time.

all the best, Patrick

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By: To dig or not to dig « The Snail of Happiness http://sustainablesmallholding.org/soil-fertility-learning-from-the-past/#comment-502 Sun, 21 Oct 2012 16:30:54 +0000 http://deanom.wordpress.com/?p=2815#comment-502 […] frequently hear about the value of using a no-dig system when growing vegetables, but a recent post by Deano on his Sustainable Smallholding blog has made me think quite a bit about this issue and […]

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