Thrifty Kiwi
Like our Facebook page
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Homesteading
  • Gardening
    • 2021 Garden Blog
    • 2019-2020 Garden Blog
    • 2017-2018 Garden Blog
    • 2016-2017 Garden Blog
    • Kiwi Urban Homestead 2013-2015 Garden Blog
    • Pest & Diseases
  • Recipes
    • Autoimmune Protocol
    • Meals and Snacks
    • Preserving
    • Household Cleaners
    • Health & Beauty
  • Skills
    • Menu Planning & Grocery Shopping
    • Money & Budgeting
    • Preserving How-Tos
    • Housekeeping
    • DIY
    • How to Find Stuff Free or Cheap
  • Animals
    • Critter Blog
  • About
  • Contact

Three Simple Steps To Help Build Luscious Soil

5/1/2015

1 Comment

 
I've discovered an incredibly easy, cheap and effective way to build wonderful, fluffy, dark, soft, luscious soil! I carried these steps out a month ago on the soil in one bed which was pretty average - dry, lumpy, hardish, fairly light in colour despite added compost etc (first pic). I've done this before in several of my other beds, and know the soil in a few months will be incredible - so soft and fluffy and rich (second pic)! Here are the steps:
1) Mow a patch of lawn, then carefully spread a thin layer of grass clippings over the soil of the bed, being careful not to have it up against the stems of any plants. These grass clippings will provide nitrogen, to feed the bacteria that are going to do all the work…..

2) Next I collected a couple of buckets of sheep manure (REAL sheep pellets ;-)) from my paddocks and sprinkled it over the grass clippings. Manure is optional – and you can use any sort – I’m using it to provide some extra nutrition to the plants in the bed, as well as some more nitrogen for those hungry bacteria…..(third pic)

3) Thirdly, and this is the really essential part – I added a nice layer of wood chip (that’s mulched whole tree – wood, bark AND leaves) to the bed, again not putting it up against the plant stems. (fourth pic) And it’s for THIS that the nitrogen is needed – the bacteria that break down woody materials and turn it into incredible soil consume nitrogen when doing so. By providing extra nitogen, I ensure they don’t need to rob it from the garden bed and thus the plants in there. When they’ve finished their job, they die, and release the nitrgen back into the soil. And leave behind that rich, fluffy, lovely soil!

And in the meantime, the manure adds nutrition for the plants, the woodchip acts as a mulch and holds in moisture and suppresses weeds, and the microorganisms in the bed do all the hard work – all I had to do was supply the raw materials.

And by the time this round of plants are harvested, the soil will be magnificent. It will also be easy to weed, as it will be loose and fluffy (I did mention fluffy, right? – it really is the most incredible texture!) and weeds will pull out with no effort at all.

The lawn clippings and manure cost me nothing but the effort to collect them. The woodchip costs me next-to-nothing – I trade some drinks for a truckload every now and then from local contractors. And, for improving your garden soil, woodchip is THE BOMB!

Try this in your garden – you’ll soon be fondling and admiring your magnificent soil too!

Picture
I've discovered an incredibly easy, cheap and effective way to build wonderful, fluffy, dark, soft, luscious soil, like that in my hand in this picture - so soft and fluffy and rich!





I carried these steps out a month ago on the soil in one bed which was pretty average - dry, lumpy, hardish, fairly light in colour despite added compost etc -  the before photo is below.......

Picture
Here are the 3 easy steps:
1) Mow a patch of lawn, then carefully spread a thin layer of grass clippings over the soil of the bed, being careful not to have it up against the stems of any plants. These grass clippings will provide nitrogen, to feed the bacteria that are going to do all the work…..

2) Next I collected a couple of buckets of sheep manure (REAL sheep pellets ;-)) from my paddocks and sprinkled it over the grass clippings. Manure is optional – and you can use any sort (commercial bagged sheep pellets work ok in a pinch) – I’m using it to provide some extra nutrition to the plants in the bed, as well as some more nitrogen for those hungry bacteria….
Picture
3) Thirdly, and this is the really essential part – I added a nice layer of wood chip (that’s mulched whole tree – wood, bark AND leaves) to the bed, again not putting it up against the plant stems. And it’s for THIS that the nitrogen is needed – the bacteria that break down woody materials and turn it into incredible soil consume nitrogen when doing so. By providing extra nitogen, I ensure they don’t need to rob it from the garden bed and thus the plants in there. When they’ve finished their job, they die, and release the nitrgen back into the soil. And leave behind that rich, fluffy, lovely soil!

And in the meantime, the manure adds nutrition for the plants, the woodchip acts as a mulch and holds in moisture and suppresses weeds, and the microorganisms in the bed do all the hard work – all I had to do was supply the raw materials.
Picture
Picture
And by the time this round of plants are harvested, the soil will be magnificent. It will also be easy to weed, as it will be loose and fluffy (I did mention fluffy, right? – it really is the most incredible texture!) and weeds will pull out with no effort at all. In fact, this photo to the left shows the soil just under a month later - already dramatically improved. Not only is it darker and richer, if I squeeze it in my fist, it will hold together in a clump, but if I then rub it lightly between my hands it immediately flakes into crumbles - the perfect soil structure!

The lawn clippings and manure cost me nothing but the effort to collect them. The woodchip costs me next-to-nothing – I trade some drinks for a truckload every now and then from local contractors. And, for improving your garden soil, woodchip is THE BOMB!

Try this in your garden – you’ll soon be fondling and admiring your magnificent soil too!

1 Comment
Lainie
21/1/2015 04:03:01 am

I definitely want to try this, just need to find me a mulched whole tree. Thanks for sharing this!

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Author

    This page is my blog formerly known as Kiwi Urban Homestead.

    I'm a Kiwi homeschooling mother of 5 living in a small town. After growing 1000 kg of produce in my back yard in 2013, I'm now expanding my edible gardens even further.

    Archives

    February 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    April 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012

    Categories

    All
    Bees
    Butchering
    Chickens
    Compost
    Corn
    Diy Projects
    Events
    Everything Else
    Firewood
    Freebies
    Frugal Fortnight
    Garden Diary
    Gardener Of The Year
    Getting Started
    Greenhouse
    Harvest
    Harvest Totals
    Health
    Herbs
    Home Made Cleaners
    Homesteading Skills
    Jungle Taming
    Livestock
    Media
    Monthly Garden Pics
    Moon Planting
    Musings
    Pests And Diseases
    Planting
    Preserving The Harvest
    Recipes
    Salads
    Soil Improvement
    Specific Crops
    Tomatoes
    Weekly Round Up
    Worms
    Yates Vegie Challenge
    Zucchini

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.