Squirrel's Garden

Blogging the highs and lows of my attempts at allotment gardening

Name:
Location: Sherwood Forest, United Kingdom

Tuesday, March 08, 2011

The Start of Another New Planting Season

This year i am intending on doing a fair bit of experimenting on the allotment. I have been reading lots, and after much internet searching I am intrigued and excited about the prospect of trying to work much more with my soil health rather than concentrate on plant health.
I have just finished reading
The Secrets of Fertile Soils by Erhard Hennig.
This book has blown me away by its ability to explain the construction and workings of soil in a way that links with how my own body is contructed and works.

  • I am now the proud owner of a new tool kit for my soil.
  • Bottles of Effective Microorganisms (EMs) ready for activation and use.
  • Mychorizal fungi.
  • An amount of Basalt rock dust
  • an amount of clay minerals (my soil is very sandy)
  • Bokashi buckets for composting kitchen waste I would not normally compost
  • Two compost bins on the allotment full of garden waste enriched with crushed charcoal and bokashi composted solids. (I use the liquid and a plant feed)
  • A plan of how to try my usual way of working with this new one and compare the results.
  • And of course a new found sense of direction and purpose as I attempt to restore the humus health to my soil.

The first beneficiary/victim of my enthusiasm will be my bean row. half the trench will be filed with normal composted material and normal feeding, whilst the other half will have the enriched compost and be treated from my new toolkit.

Its then a case of sit back and wait.