Kitchen Garden

2 min. di lettura

“Without putting something back our veg plots would quickly become unproductive” Ever gazed on beautiful green fields with cows or sheep grazing in the sunshine? The verdant green grass seems to feed the hungry animals without ever receiving anything

HEIRLOOM GARDENER

4 min. di lettura

BARBARA PLEASANT Gardener, and author of several books, including Homegrown Pantry. Read her article about organic pest control on Page 71. QUESTION: Do compost accelerators work? I’ve heard that they speed up composting and result in better compost.

Deer & Deer Hunting

7 min. di lettura

By late summer, it was painfully obvious that the alfalfa plot wasn’t happening. In fact, I was mildly surprised that I had close to 10% of a stand growing, especially with the weather being so uncooperative that year. Luckily, I had a plan, which gr

Organic NZ

2 min. di lettura

Most of us basically understand the carbon cycle. It starts when carbon gets ‘fixed’ by plants (i.e. used to build tissues, along with inorganic nutrients including nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium). The plants get these nutrients from the soil, an

Farmer's Weekly

2 min. di lettura

In many regions, there is a limited choice of crops that can be grown in a particular season. This provides an ideal opportunity to plant a cover crop to keep the soil organisms active and provide material for humus formation. The use of cover crops

The English Garden

4 min. di lettura

At times Terry and Vanessa Winters’ garden seems rather like an opera set, with every detail in exquisite order. You can almost imagine the singers coming through arches to regale you with a Puccini chorus. In the main garden you find yourself amid a

Farmer's Weekly

2 min. di lettura

First, the bad news: if you are starting a small vegetable farm, you will have to wait several years before nutrient recycling takes place in the soil. Now for the good news: if you follow the guidelines in this series, your lands will be productive

Horticulture

3 min. di lettura

LET’S SAY THAT the fundamental currency for exchange in the universe is energy. Even paper and digital money we handle each day is a proxy exchanged for and representing the energy we spent on someone else’s behalf. The plant kingdom (with extremely

Farmer's Weekly

2 min. di lettura

The volume of organisms in any body of soil is dependent on the soil environment and supply of food for them; it is not a static amount. Humus, which is formed by the decomposition of plant material in the soil, provides excellent living conditions f

WellBeing

9 min. di lettura

WORDS / KYLIE TERRALUNA Not composting yet? Experts say composting could be the single most important thing you can do for the planet. Composting food waste not only diverts your food scraps away from landfill, where it would otherwise be releasing m

HEIRLOOM GARDENER

6 min. di lettura

ORGANIC GROWING TECHNIQUES have been practiced for as long as humans have tilled the earth. Only since World War II has agriculture become dependent upon toxic synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. These manmade chemicals temporarily increased the yi

Farmer's Weekly

2 min. di lettura

In my previous article (see FW, 15 & 22 January 2021), I dealt with the chemical and organic fertilisers that need to be worked into the soil. These will not create healthy soil overnight, however; the organic content of the soil has to be increased

Horticulture

3 min. di lettura

WHAT IS THE FIRST COLOR that comes to mind when you envision soil? Is it brown, black, yellow or red? How about white, gray, green or blue? Any of these answers are correct—it depends on where you come from. Several forces, which soil scientists call

MOTHER EARTH NEWS

1 min. di lettura

1 Soil fertility. Organisms will decompose dead cover crops into nutrients that are taken up by the roots of food plants, and add to your soil’s humus content. 2 Soil texture. Mycorrhizal fungi grow in association with plant roots, producing a substa

Organic NZ

3 min. di lettura

Soil is teeming with life. The populations of species fluctuate with the seasons, the presence of organic matter and competition from other organisms. All these changes make it hard to really pinpoint the biological condition of a soil. A soil biolog

Amateur Gardening

6 min. di lettura

These extracts from Amateur Gardening come from issues ranging from 1899 to 1978 136 years of practical advice 1884 The World’s Oldest Gardening Magazine 2020 From 6 May 1899 Q Will you kindly inform me whether hysteria grows quickly, and if it is ha

Woman's Weekly Living Series

1 min. di lettura

1 Try to avoid bare ground. This helps to protect the soil from the sun, enabling the moisture within to stay there to the benefit of surrounding plants. On my veg patch, I use lettuce and herbs, calendula, nasturtium and chamomile as attractive and

Organic NZ

3 min. di lettura

We till the soil to manage weeds, and prepare a seedbed for the next crop. But when we till the soil, we are exposing organic matter, breaking some of the soil organic matter down. Soil organisms and soil structure can also suffer from this disturban

Good Organic Gardening

3 min. di lettura

The success of any gardening endeavour begins and ends with the quality of the soil. Most plants require a soil that drains well but retains sufficient moisture and nutrients for plants to grow. Sandy soils tend to dry out more easily but all soil ty

Harrowsmith

4 min. di lettura

We tend to take for granted the things we view as having the greatest abundance. We are fortunate to live in an abundant place, which means we are prone to lose sight of our good fortune. Often, we are told that Canadians have 20 percent of the world

Pip Permaculture Magazine

7 min. di lettura

As we tread upon our soil, plant into it and harvest from it, it’s hard to imagine the myriad of creatures that live within it. Teeming with life, the sheer number and diversity of creatures in our soil is mind-boggling, and these creatures are cruci

Farmer's Weekly

6 min. di lettura

Twenty-five years ago, farmer Redge Jelliman was fed up. He had been paying a fortune for chemical fertiliser, yet it had failed to generate the yields he expected from his crops. Realising the time had come for an alternative, he had his soil analys

BBC Gardeners' World

5 min. di lettura

Soil matters. Get your soil right and, as night follows day, your plants will be right too. The old adage is a wise one: feed your soil not your plants. The converse is true. It does not matter how much you feed your plants or how much money you spen

Farmer's Weekly

2 min. di lettura

The masses of organisms in healthy soil do far more than break down organic matter; they interact with each other in highly complex ways. Understanding something of these interactions could save you a lot of money on fertiliser. Among the organisms t

Deer & Deer Hunting

2 min. di lettura

Planting food plots for wildlife is the single-most effective way to attract, hold and grow deer on your property, and providing food on a year-round basis is critical. One of the most common times to plant food plots is in the late summer or fall of

BuildHome

1 min. di lettura

“The contour of land and soil classification plays a big part of the end cost of your build as well as the design of the home itself. If the lot contains contours, a buyer has two options: either work with the land through creating a home design that

Good Organic Gardening

4 min. di lettura

Words & photos Angelo Eliades There’s a saying: “Gardening requires lots of water, most of it in the form of perspiration.” Without doubt, digging through heavy, wet soil in cold weather can dampen any gardener’s enthusiasm, but it really doesn’t hav

Futurity

3 min. di lettura

If managed well, soil could “significantly” offset increasing global emissions by  trapping carbon dioxide. In two overlapping papers, researchers call for a reversal of federal cutbacks to related research programs to learn more about soil’s benefit

Horticulture

3 min. di lettura

IF IT’S HARD for you to push a shovel into your garden’s soil, it’s even harder for plant roots to penetrate it. Soil scientists refer to this as soil compaction, or compressed soil that is reduced in volume. Soils are composed of three major things:

Futurity

2 min. di lettura

The minerals in soil can hold on to a significant amount of carbon pulled from the atmosphere, a new study shows. The finding could prove beneficial as the world tries to shift its carbon economy, researchers say. “We’ve known for quite a long time t