Growing active, healthy soils involves four things:
Inoculating soils with new bacteria and fungi
Monitoring PH levels to maintain them at 7.0
Adding carbohydrates (sugar or molasses) to encourage faster growth of bacteria.
Monitor moisture levels (see post – Save Water in Five Steps)
STEP 1
Soil Innoculation
Imported soils in new landscapes may be low in natural soil microbes. You can add these organisms with commercially available products. (cleanairgardening.com) You can also use your own compost pile if you have one. By spreading your aged compost on your lawn the native microbes will take hold and grow. Let me say one thing about buying soil microbes from a commercial supplier. Like plant communities, soil microbes are different genetically from region to region. Commercial products are fine but any naturally occurring populations will be better. As I stated above, changing your soils is hard if not impossible. Yet a layer of active, healthy soils can be achieved with a little patience and a few afternoons a month. It basically breaks down to two things.
- Building a compost bin to catch drainage.
- Applying the drain water to the lawn.
A simple compost bin can be made out of strong wire fencing, a pallet, four cinder blocks, and a refridgerator pan. The wire fence alows air to circulate freely. The pallet will elevate the pile above the tray. Next, running, the water from a hose will soak through the compost pile and pressure wash in napa all the microbes, arthropods, and nematodes down into the tray.
This example was made from recycled metal fence posts, cattle wire, and a cooking tray. The tarp is to hold moisture due to the arid climate where this is located. The wood at the bottom has a hole to funnel water into the catch tray. All made from recycled materials
At this point you can take that liquid and add water, and molassis, then ferment it to make larger amounts of compost tea for larger projects. I feel their is an easier way to do this that skips a few steps by alowing the fermentation to occur in the lawn. It involves using whats called a ‘hose end applicator’.
The excess water is collected in the tray. Then it is filtered to remove large debris like leaves, twigs, etc. This water has billions of good soil microbes. Mix it in the hose end applicator with the right amount of molasses. Then turn on the hose and spray on your lawn and landscape.
A Hose End Applicator is easy to get at any hardware store. It uses the water from your hose to mix small amounts of any material in the
applicator. Then it sprays out the mixture with the hose water to wherever it is needed. Instead of fermenting the ‘Tea’ in a barrel or large bucket, the concentrate from the compost pile is applied directly to the yard with the molasses. The population growth takes place in the soil. Remember to run your irrigation for about 15 minutes after applying the compost tea.
These are handy tools to have on hand. It will allow you to apply small amounts of compost tea to the yard quickly and effectively.
Step 2
Soil Acidity
Soil PH is also very important to plant health. PH is a chemical property of the soil that effects how nutrients are available to living organisms. Many people change their soils PH by adding lime or sulfur to raise or lower PH. This is an area that will be