creating and maintaining fertility
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An overview of how to create fertile soilsTRANSCRIPT
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Creating and Maintaining Soil Fertility
garden scale
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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
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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’.
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Spotted flycatcherFeeds young in a nest in a hole in the fall, and leaves droppings under its perch. Birds also carry and drop seeds.
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…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…
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From Birnham Bridge…Even a bare stone parapet supports life…
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Mineral contentVaries according to base rock-Volcanic-Sedimentary-Metamorphic-Conglomerates
And may be built through the action of:-wind-water-weather
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The rock helps define the landscapeWest of Ireland
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IsraelBerber fields in the Negev Desert
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Humus helps create a living soilSeaweed traditionally added to sand on the Machair
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Machair, Lewis 2006
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Machair Benbecula 2006
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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
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Willing workers on organic farmsEarthworms are people too…
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Call DucksPest control officers (sideline- aiding soil fertility)
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The Sleat Chicken TractorWork free ground clearance, fertiliser and pest reduction
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How do you know how fertile the soil is?- You can measure soil acidity.- You can use your senses.Any others?
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Plants as soil indicatorsWhat do these tell you about the soil:Buttercup?Dock?
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LaburnumDifferent plants improve the soil in different ways.
Leguminous plants fix nitrogen.
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ComfreyPlants can be dynamic accumulators.
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Bracket fungusFungi are important to soil fertility.
Which part of a fungus is this? Where is the rest of it?
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Red Alder and Flammelina Velutipes 3Jan2010Even in the snow…
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Tomatoes in the Arava, IsraelUnder 10mm of rainfall per annum!
How did they get here?