Creating and Maintaining Soil Fertility

garden scale

Soil fertility requires:

Good• Enough Air• Enough Water• Enough nutrients• Living material• Beneficial relationships….so….• No bare soils• Mulching

Bad• Not enough/too much air• Dry/waterlogged• Nutrient poor• ‘Dead’• Lack of beneficial

relationships….so….• Minimise tillage

First signs of soil

Nature produces soils through deposition, erosion and the action of living and dying plants and animals. Technically soil is a ‘rock’.

Spotted flycatcherFeeds young in a nest in a hole in the fall, and leaves droppings under its perch. Birds also carry and drop seeds.

…And Starts a ForestOn a bare basalt driveway first clover appears. Then pampas grass grows. Out of that a hazel takes root. All in three years…

From Birnham Bridge…Even a bare stone parapet supports life…

Mineral contentVaries according to base rock-Volcanic-Sedimentary-Metamorphic-Conglomerates

And may be built through the action of:-wind-water-weather

The rock helps define the landscapeWest of Ireland

IsraelBerber fields in the Negev Desert

Humus helps create a living soilSeaweed traditionally added to sand on the Machair

Machair, Lewis 2006

Machair Benbecula 2006

Humus in soils

Can be from• Compost• Leaf fall• Mulching• Animal wastes• Run off

Benefits• Brings nutrients• Increases soil life• Enables nutrient availability• Holds on to water• Reduces run-off

Willing workers on organic farmsEarthworms are people too…

Call DucksPest control officers (sideline- aiding soil fertility)

The Sleat Chicken TractorWork free ground clearance, fertiliser and pest reduction

How do you know how fertile the soil is?- You can measure soil acidity.- You can use your senses.Any others?

Plants as soil indicatorsWhat do these tell you about the soil:Buttercup?Dock?

LaburnumDifferent plants improve the soil in different ways.

Leguminous plants fix nitrogen.

ComfreyPlants can be dynamic accumulators.

Bracket fungusFungi are important to soil fertility.

Which part of a fungus is this? Where is the rest of it?

Red Alder and Flammelina Velutipes 3Jan2010Even in the snow…

Tomatoes in the Arava, IsraelUnder 10mm of rainfall per annum!

How did they get here?