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An interesting article about soil

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  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    Interesting article @B3
    Also about willow wood chip aiding plant health.

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    As a lazy gardener, I thought the but about churning up the soil exposing the bacteria etc to sun and death was really interesting too
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Traditional mixed farming, replenishing the soil with micro-organisms and bacteria, and providing the right conditions for fungi etc, kept farmed soil healthy and productive for many centuries. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    Dovefromabove said:
    Traditional mixed farming, replenishing the soil with micro-organisms and bacteria, and providing the right conditions for fungi etc, kept farmed soil healthy and productive for many centuries. 
    But different these days - 
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-63285821

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    edited October 2022
    The last thing we need is "100,000 new-build homes". The problem is regulation of the market, not more housing stock.

    🙄

  • MikeOxgreenMikeOxgreen Posts: 812
    Thanks for posting, it's very interesting.
    Some of the stuff is outdated - lots of farmers haven't ploughed for years now, but other bits were new to me.
    It backs up what some were saying in the other recent soil thread about how little we actually know about soil!
    I've long since realised that I (and most gardeners) have no idea exactly how fertile our soils are. If you're growing tomatoes for instance, how do you know when to add fertiliser?
    Most of us just guess.
    At a quick glance the soil testing kit looks very useful and affordable, i'm going to read some more and may buy one if it'll do what I want. It's something i've been looking for for ages.

    One of our closest neighbours rents his land off to a sheep farmer, as do we and he's been looking into soil and grass technology just lately. Amazingly many sheep farmers put sheep on land and leave them all year round so the grass doesn't recover. Some do absolutely no maintenance whatsoever.
    What he's found out is that if the grass gets nibbled X amount of times for longer than 3 weeks it takes ages to recover. By taking the sheep off the grass by 3 weeks the grass recovers much quicker.
    So what they're doing now is a 3 week on, 3 week off system on the fields to let the grass grow back faster and there be a better yield overall.
    He said he's found some super food to put on the land too, i'll have to quiz him about that.
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    You're not going to try the underpants test then?
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    A few years ago I put a long, thick 100% wool sock in my compost bin to see if it would break down.
    A couple of years later it was still almost perfect - just the original hole in the heel!

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • WoodgreenWoodgreen Posts: 1,273
    Pete.8 said:
    A few years ago I put a long, thick 100% wool sock in my compost bin to see if it would break down.
    A couple of years later it was still almost perfect - just the original hole in the heell!


    Obviously no darning mushrooms in there @Pete.8
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    😁
    I'll try pants next time :)

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
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