Page 24 - Simply Vegetables Spring 2024

Feeding the soil
Feed the soil to feed you. Increase your soil fertility to increase your crop yields and to do this you need to feed your soil with organic matter which is basically anything that has once lived or the waste material (excrement!) from many animals (not cats or dogs). Collect the material whenever you can and stack to rot, do not use it fresh apart from green manure which is dug into the soil. Stack in a heap and cover to allow decomposition to occur and once it is mature it can be spread on the soil surface as a mulch for no-dig or it can be incorporated into the soil by cultivation.
Do not just rely on your own compost, try to add further material to actually increase the soil fertility. Have a look around your
area for possible sources of organic matter these could include stables or horse owners, small holdings with goats, sheep lamas, or alpacas etc. tree surgeons often have woodchip, timber yards may have sawdust (this will need composting with grass cuttings). Odd job gardeners may have garden waste (check it is not diseased or covered in pests). Local markets or farmers markets could have green waste to dispose or local green grocers (not many of these around now!).
Buying farmyard manure used to be an option but less is available these days and many farmers are using it on their own land; it can also be expensive now. Even more expensive is municipal green waste and the material from anaerobic digesters,
Compost heap ready for use
although both are good sources of organic matter, they are not really worth the cost. Ask neighbours if they would let you have their green waste especially in exchange for a few vegetables; this has worked well for me in the last couple of years and I
am producing more compost than I have before!
As well as farm animals, pets can be a good source of organic matter with as I mentioned earlier not cats or dogs which can carry toxocariasis and other parasites. Animal waste and bedding from the following pets are fine rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, pigeons, cage birds etc. this can be added to the compost heap to produce good compost.
Look at other waste materials in your local area to see if it is likely to decompose and be suitable organic matter. The more added to the soil the better and it is very unlikely you will add too much although in theory it can happen but only after a good number of years of heavy applications. To give an example when I first started work the park, I worked in was built in 1932 and had had manure added to the flower beds every year apart from the war years up to 1968 and the beds were only just showing signs of sourness from over application!
I have mentioned some suitable materials above others include:
• Homemadecompost
• Bark
• Straw
• Bracken
• Wool
• Chickenmanure
• Leafmould
• Cardboardfrompacking.
Ensure all materials are well rotted / composted before applying to prevent
Digging in green manure
24 Simply Vegetables