9 Things Chickens Bring To A Permaculture Garden

Chickens are often the gateway animals for permaculture gardeners. They are one of the best ways to gain an introduction to keeping livestock, and may well, space permitting, give you the bug for incorporating other types of creature into your site. There are many things that chickens bring to a permaculture plot. These are considered the chicken’s products and a very varied. As long as you provide for the birds’ needs, you will enjoy all the following benefits of keeping chickens.

Food
One of the primary reasons to keep chickens is that they provide food. Given the right sort of conditions, many species will produce eggs on most days. The Rhode Island Red, for example, averages 300 eggs per year per bird. Not only does this give you a consistent supply as tasty food, you can be sure of exactly what has gone into the production of the eggs, from the welfare of the birds to the food that has been processed by them. In modern egg production facilities, cramped unnatural conditions and the use of antibiotics are common.

Chickens can also provide meat. It can be quite a confronting thing to consider killing animals you have raised, but you can be secure in the knowledge that you have given them a happy life, one that met their needs and allowed them to live as natural a life as possible.

Recycling
And what is it that these birds are processing to become food in the shape of eggs and meat? Well, one of them is the scraps from your kitchen. Chickens are omnivorous and are a very good way of recycling so-called ‘waste’ material. They will eat most fruit and vegetable scraps (although onion and citrus peel should be avoided to prevent tainting the taste of the eggs), as well as red meat. It goes without saying that you should not feed chickens the remains of their own kind.

Manure
Once the chicken has eaten its food and its physiological processes have extracted the parts it requires to sustain it as well as produce eggs, what happens to the remainder? Well, it becomes manure. But even the chicken’s waste product is a valuable product that the permaculture gardener can utilize. Chicken droppings are rich in urea, meaning the have good levels of nitrogen. This chemical element is one of the essentials ones required by plants in order to grow and produce fruit. Providing sufficient nitrogen to plants is one of the key things to ensuring a good harvest. Chicken manure added to the soil is one of the best ways to achieve this. However, the manure should be composted first as used directly on garden beds it carries a risk of burning plant roots and stems.

There are other uses of chicken manure as well. Some permaculturists use it to sustain fish in an aquaculture system. The fish feed on the nutrients in the manure and then the fish droppings are used as food for plants in vegetable beds. Some gardeners have made this ecological cycle even more self-sustaining by siting their chicken coop over the aquaculture tanks, meaning the droppings are fed directly into the water, rather than being manually distributed. In such a system, all the gardener has to do is feed the chickens and harvest the crops.

Heat
Chickens, like all warm-blooded animals, give off heat, which is another prod cut of the chicken that can be utilized by the permaculture gardener. One common way of doing so is to site your chicken coop either inside a greenhouse (you will need to ensure droppings don not build up too much as the ammonia they release can be detrimental to the plants inside) or next to it so that while the birds do not access the greenhouse, the heat they give off radiates into it. Another option is to place you chicken coop next to the outside wall of your bathroom in order to help heat it, thus saving on your energy bills.

CO2
Another product that the chicken produces just by virtue of being alive is carbon dioxide. Like all air-breathing animals, chickens use oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. Plants use carbon dioxide to grow and give off oxygen. Siting your chicken coop inside or next to the greenhouse allows you to make use of chicken breath as well as body heat.

Soil Turning
One of the natural behaviors that permaculture gardeners should ensure that their chickens are allowed to exhibit is scratching at the ground. The birds do this to uncover worms, insects and seeds to eat, but is helps the gardener too, turning the topsoil so it aerates and improving the structure so nutrients and moisture can penetrate. The Sussex breed is well regarded for its soil-turning abilities. They can also be used to help turn compost.

Pest Control
As chickens scratch at the ground, they uncover insects and other animals to eat. Not only is this a natural source of food for the birds, the behavior can help the gardener by keeping pest populations under control. For instance, chickens eat slugs and snails that can damage vegetable crops, while in an orchard will eat fruit fly maggots in fallen fruit and help prevent this insect, which damages fruit crops, from breeding.

Enjoyment
It must also not be forgotten that having chickens in your permaculture garden will also bring you enjoyment and pleasure, simply by their presence. Different species are known to have different characteristics (such as the Orpington being known to actively seek human company), but individual chickens have their own personalities as well. Some may be shy and need time to develop a trusting relationship, while others can be upfront and demand attention.

Learning
Keeping chickens is also a very good way not only of providing children with the pleasure of observing and interacting with the animals, but also of teaching them about where food comes from. If you have young children, an easy-going breed is recommended. Consider the Wyandotte or the Delaware as species known to have placid natures.

12 Beneficial Insects For Your Permaculture Plot

Insects are the most numerous type of animal on the planet. With tens of thousands of different species and billions of individuals alive at any one time, they are among the most important creatures as well, providing a food for many other animals, and helping to pollinate plants. Insects are, therefore, important to a permaculture site as well.

Some insects are, however, more beneficial to your garden than others, primarily because they help keep populations of “pests” – insects that damage crops – down. Here are some of the little critters that will help keep your permaculture plot in balance.

Lacewings
While the lacewing gets its name from the delicate green tracery of veins on the wings of the adult, it is the larvae of the species that is of most benefit in terms of pest control. Sometimes called “aphid lions” for their voracious appetite for said pests, the larvae also prey upon small caterpillars, mealy bugs and insect eggs. As soon as the larvae hatch they search for food and can eat as many as 40 aphids per day, often, in rather macabre fashion, placing the desiccated husks of their victims on their backs as camouflage. . They have large jaws with which they grasp their prey, immobilizing them so they can suck out their juices. Attracting adult lacewings obviously increases the likelihood of larvae, and they feed on pollen, nectar and honeydew.

Ladybugs
Not only are ladybugs one of the most aesthetically pleasing of insects, they are also one of the most beneficial in controlling pests on the permaculture site. Both the adults and the larvae feed on plant-eating insects, particularly aphids but also mites and mealy bugs. Many ladybugs secrete a foul-tasting substance from their bodies to ward off predators, so once in your garden, they are likely to maintain a population if there is sufficient food.

Ground Beetles
There are approximately 2500 different species of ground beetle, and all of the most common varieties eat a wide range of smaller insects, including caterpillars, potato beetles, cutworms, snails, slugs and vine borers. Predominantly nocturnal, ground beetles prefer to lie low under rocks and plant material during the daylight hours, so make sure you have ground cover crops if you want to attract them. A few species of ground beetle are omnivorous and can consume weed seeds, offering another service to the permaculture gardener.

Braconid Wasps
Adult Braconid wasps only eat pollen and nectar, but they certainly ensure that their young have plenty of prey to feed on as soon as they hatch – by injecting their eggs into other insects. The female will lay an egg in a moth or beetle larvae, leaf miner, caterpillar, fly or an aphid, and when the wasp larvae hatches it eats its way out. Fortunately, the wasps’ fearsome reputation is reserved for other insects; it doesn’t sting so humans have no reason to fear them.

Trichogramma Mini Wasps
Similar to the Braconid wasp, these tiny creatures lay their eggs not inside other insects, but in their eggs. The young mini wasps develop inside, preventing the original insect’s young from developing. They tend to favour the eggs of moths and butterflies, but will also lay in those of some species of worm.

Assassin Bugs
Like their human namesakes, assassin bugs stalk their prey before delivering a killer blow – piercing their victim with an elongated mandible. Both adults and larvae feed on aphids, caterpillars, spider mites and all manner of insect eggs. Be careful if handling assassin bugs as they can bite you as well!

Minute Pirate Bugs
Small they may be (around two millimeters in length), but minute pirate bugs will attack insect prey many times their own size. But while they will take the occasional caterpillar, the majority of their diet is made up of mites, thrips and aphids. While their entire life cycle lasts little more than a month, eggs develop rapidly so, given the right conditions, populations can cycle through several generations during spring and summer. Minute pirate bugs are known to be good pest control additions to greenhouses.

Tachinid Flies
Tachinid flies resemble the common housefly, but are distinguished by having a hairy abdomen. The adults are pollen feeders, but the larvae feed upon grasshoppers, beetles, bugs, caterpillars and earwigs. All species of Tachinid flies are parasitical, meaning their eggs develop either inside or on a host that the larvae predates when it hatches. Different species employ various methods of getting their eggs a host, from injecting it inside, placing it on the back, or sticking eggs to foliage that the prey animal will eat.

Soldier Beetles
An all-round predator, these beetles, which average around half and inch in length when fully grown, can both scuttle along the ground and fly. They are usually easy to spot, with yellow and black or red and black markings on their wings. Adults and larvae feed on soft-bodied pest insects like caterpillars and aphids, while the adults will also feed on pollen and nectar.

Hover Flies
Aphids form the largest part of hover fly larvae’s diet, although they will prey on other soft-bodied insects when they get the chance. The adults tend to lay their eggs among aphid colonies so the emerging larvae have food immediately. The adults, which look a lot like yellow jackets, are solely pollen eaters.

Spined Soldier Bugs
Preying on caterpillars, fly larvae, cabbageworms, potato beetles and grubs, spined soldier bugs are a type of stink bug, but are distinguished by their spined “shoulders” which gives their carapace a shield-like appearance. They range in color from brown to bright red.

Preying Mantids
Preying mantids are arguably the oddest-looking insects you might find on your permaculture plot, at least if you can spot them, they are. Masters of camouflage, preying mantids use their body shape and coloring to blend into plants, from where they attack any other passing insect. This does mean that they will take other beneficial insects, but with healthy populations, their benefits outweigh the loss of a few ladybugs.

How to Grow Asparagus

Asparagus is a vegetable that belongs to the allium family, which also comprises leeks, onions, chives and shallots. It is native to the Mediterranean and Asia Minor areas, but has since been cultivated in most countries around the world. Contrary to many people’s conception, asparagus is a hardy plant and adaptable to most climate conditions, and indeed, as a perennial that overwinters in the ground, they thrive in places that have winter ground freezes. Asparagus is also a very healthy vegetable, providing good levels of a wide range of nutrients. These include potassium, B vitamins and calcium. And with no fat and virtually no calories, asparagus delivers all these positive benefits without any downside.

Position
Choose a position where your asparagus can stay permanently. They are a perennial plant and, given the right conditions and maintenance, can provide you with crops for years, even decades. Indeed, you won’t be harvesting them until at least the third year after planting, as the root system takes some time to grow strong enough to withstand harvest. Ideally you want to give the asparagus a position in full sunlight. They will tolerate partial shade, but full sunlight produces the most vigorous growth and the healthiest plant. The location also needs to drain well, as standing water will rot the roots.

Soil
Asparagus plants like a soil that is well drained and rich in organic matter. They develop very deep roots, so you want to try and make sure the soil is loosely structured for quite a way down the soil profile, enabling the roots to grow well and for moisture to percolate and aeration to occur. The best way to prepare the soil for asparagus plants is to dig a trench of around 75 centimeters and then add lots of organic material to it. This can include compost, manure, worm castings, leaf litter and so on. You can then layer soil over the top. The lower layer of organic matter will draw down the roots of the asparagus plants, making them stringer and more resilient. It will also help keep the pH of the soil balanced. Asparagus prefer a soil of between 6.5 and 7 in pH, so if your soil is acidic consider adding some organic lime along with the organic material.

Planting
Asparagus is typically planted either as seeds or seedlings. In either case, ensure you have organic specimens. Plant approximately 40 centimeters apart. This may seem like a lot but it is to prevent the extensive root systems from competing with each other for nutrients. Water the newly planted specimens well, ideally with harvested rainwater. You can also plant asparagus as ‘crowns’. These are nodules with roots already growing and are typically about a year old. Plant in trenches around six inches deep and well composted. Place each crown on a small mound and spread the roots out in different directions to ensure robust growth. Planting crowns will mean you should be able to harvest in the second year after planting rather than the third. However, make sure you source crowns from an organic supplier, and do not use any that are more than a year old, as the shock of transplantation is more severe with older crowns. In all cases, mulch around the plants to help preserve moisture and protect the plants during the winter.

Companions
A common companion plant for asparagus is tomato. The tomato repels the asparagus beetle that feeds on the roots, while the asparagus is thought to repel certain nematodes in the soil, which may damage the tomatoes. You should avoid planting asparagus in close proximity to other alliums as, given the similar genetic profile, they will be competing for the same nutrients and inhibit one another’s growth.

Water
Water regularly, as the soil should be well drained. The asparagus plants need more water in their first two years of growth to establish themselves. You may want to consider installing a drip irrigation system.

Maintenance
Compost around the plants each spring to help support growth. The extensive roots of the asparagus plants typically out-compete weeds for nutrients, so they shouldn’t be a problem after the first year or two. After the first frost in winter, or when the foliage of the plants turns yellow or brown, cut the asparagus back to ground level. This will help stimulate growth in the spring. When you cut back the foliage try to avoid letting the berries fall to the ground as they can germinate and your garden bed will have too many plants to be support.

Harvest
In the third year after planting, you can harvest the spears over a four-week period, while by the fourth the harvesting period can be extended to 8 weeks. Looks for spears with tightly formed tips and thin, strong stalks. As the weather warms up over the harvesting season, more and more spears will appear and you can harvest every other day or so, depending on the number of plants you have. Snap the spears off at ground level.

Kitchen
Like most vegetables, asparagus are best used as soon after harvest as possible. This is when they are at their fresher and so replete with the maximum amount of nutrients and flavor. However, uncooked asparagus spears will keep for up to three days in the refrigerator and still be tasty. However, the spears should really be kept damp, so either wrap in a damp tea towel or, alternatively, place the base of the stems in a jar with about an inch of water in the bottom then cover the tops loosely with a plastic bag. Asparagus can be used raw in salads, but that method means the stalks remain somewhat fibrous and only the tips are generally used. To use all of the spears they should be quickly boiled or steamed, for two or three minutes at most. This softens the stem to make it more appealing but also retains most of the nutrients. The key is to retain the bright green color of the stems – if they start to leach color they are leaching nutrients and flavor. A good tip is that once you have finished boiling or steaming, plunge the spears into ice water to preserve the color and flavor.

Making Your Own Seed

HEIRLOOM, Open-Pollinated plant varieties are your only bet for a successful personal Seed Bank.
You have probably heard of Seed Saving, where you save a plant’s seeds at the end of a growing season to serve as the seed source for the following year. This is great, because choosing the proper plants and practicing proper Seed-Saving methods gives you to a free, self-perpetuating garden year after year. Saving seed also means you can share seeds with friends and neighbors, so everyone can start growing their own.
Many people, however, are not as familiar with the concept of a personal seed bank. A personal seed bank has you saving seed for the coming season’s planting, but you also bank seed for longer storage, just in case.
What that “just in case” might be varies. Some people have created a personal seed bank as insurance against crop failures. Others believe a personal seed bank is necessary in the event of a partial (or total) societal collapse. Many people just like the idea of being Sustainable and Self Sufficient. Seed saving can also be a fun hobby. 

PLANNING YOUR SEED BANK
The most important thing to remember when planning your personal seed bank is that you can only save and store HEIRLOOM Open-Pollinated, Non-Hybridized, Non-GMO seeds. Why? Because genetically modified and hybridized seeds have been tinkered with by large corporations such as Monsanto, which don't want you to be able to save your own seeds. Why? Because they want you to have to buy seeds from them year after year. Hybridized or GMO seeds frequently have sterile first generation offspring (F1 is a designation you might have seen). This means that while you’ll get viable plants from the seeds you buy, the seeds you save from those plants will likely be sterile. If they’re not sterile, they’ll produce offspring that are so unlike the parents with such a wide variety of characteristics that they will be a disappointment and not useful. Only buy HEIRLOOM, Open-Pollinated seeds from trusted sources.
The second thing to decide when planning a seed bank is what kinds of seed you want to save. The best seeds to save are from fruits and vegetables you enjoy eating the most, but experience comes into play, too. If you’re a beginning seed saver, to start it’s best to bank seeds that require the lowest skill set. This way you can focus your first growing season on learning seed saving techniques and still have viable, usable seed banked in preparation for the following growing season, at which time you’ll expand your skill. The easiest seeds to save and bank are self-pollinated seeds.
The third thing to decide when planning a seed bank is what seeds would be best to save. This can vary greatly depending upon the reason why you are choosing to create a personal seed bank. If you’re banking seed as insurance against a crop failure in your garden or to be more Self-Sufficient, then banking what you like is the best option. If you’re banking seed as insurance against a societal collapse, then you’ll need to bank a wider variety of seeds and include many types that you may not have ever grown before, including grains. Be advised, though, that in these cases it is a good idea to get some experience growing these seeds before a collapse occurs; your seed bank will be useless if you don’t know how to grow the seeds you have.
Ready-to-order Seed Banks, or Seed Packages, are great options until you have a chance to store your own varieties

Here at THE SEED GUY, we offer a 55 Variety Heirloom Seed Bank, all Non GMO, with 23,000 Seeds all individually packaged, and then put in a 10 x 14 silver mylar bag for longer term storage. All Heirloom Seed is Home-Grown and fresh from the 2013 harvest. Price is $50. You can see our Seed package, and Free 10 Variety Heirloom Herb Seed Bonus we are offering now, at our websitehttp://theseedguy.com/13-the-55-variety-heirloom-seed-package.html

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Ways to Feed Your Soil

Soil is the bedrock of any permaculture garden. The quality of your soil will affect the plants you can grow, how well they thrive and the harvest you can yield. The soil is also key in the health or otherwise of natural wilderness. Too often in the modern world, the intricacies and important role soil plays in the health of the planet and the productivity of an environment is overlooked. Modern agricultural practices and removal of vegetation and trees has caused many areas to suffer a complete degradation in the quality of their soil, meaning that either very little grows there, or any crop requires a lot of artificial fertilizers and pesticides. These in turn further deplete the soil of its natural goodness until eventually it becomes barren.

Permaculture seeks to preserve the unique characteristics of soils in different ecosystems. It also tries to repair damaged soil and protect it from further degradation. The primary means of doing this is to increase the amount of organic matter in the soil. Organic matter puts essential nutrients back in the soil, which in turn promotes healthy plant growth and an increase in the bacteria and microorganisms that help to transform those nutrients into forms that are available to plants. On a permaculture site there are several ways that you can ‘feed’ your soil more organic matter.

Compost
Compost is an excellent way of utilizing so-called waste material for a useful purpose in your permaculture garden. By composting food scraps from your kitchen, prunings from your trees and scrubs, grass cuttings, dead animals and, basically, anything that was once alive, you can create a rich, fertile compost. There are many different recipes for compost but as a general ule you want about two-thirds brown matter – the prunings, animal droppings and so on – and one-third green-matter, such as food scraps, leaf litter and grass. Water your compost well and make sure it is aerated, and soon bacteria and microorganisms will colonise your compost pile and turn it into useable material for adding to your soil. Compost is often a valuable addition to plantings in zone 1 of your site.

Animal Manure
Animals have an important relationship to the health of the soil. This stems from the tiny microorganism, beetles and bugs that break up the soil to give space for plant roots to grow, water to percolate and air to circulate to the larger livestock animals who can provide manure. Animal manure is key to getting nitrogen back into the soil. Omnivorous animals for which meat can form a part of their diet, such as pig and chicken, have more nitrogen in their droppings than grazers like cows and horses, but all will benefit the soil if placed around plants. Just be aware that sometimes, animal manure may contain undigested seeds, which may come from plants that you don’t want to encourage on your permaculture site.

Organic Mulch
Organic mulches such as straw, grass clippings, newspaper and woollen clothing break down more slowly than other forms of organic matter provision, but they offer other benefits that make them incredibly useful. So, as they slowly break down, releasing nutrients back into the soil, they provide insulation from extremes of temperature, cooling the soil in the summer and keeping it warm in the winter. They also ensure that moisture is retained in the soil and that it is protected from erosion by rain and wind. And, of course, one of the main functions of mulching is to act as a weed barrier or to cover existing weeds and break them down into organic matter.

Legumes
Legumes are essential for a healthy soil. They are the family of plants that have the best nitrogen-fixing ability. Certain bacteria that live in their roots convert nitrogen into a soluble form of the element that plant roots can take up and use to grow. Species such as peas, beans and acacias are legumes and by providing available nitrogen they help stimulate plant growth and bacterial activity that, in turn, helps develop the organic matter in the topsoil.

Cover Crops
Permaculturists know that cover crops serve a lot of functions. They help to minimize water evaporation from the soil, they provide shade and, importantly, they add organic matter. This is because cover crops, such as potatoes and pumpkin, have deep roots that open up the soil, allowing water and nutrients to penetrate into it and stimulating microorganism activity. These roots also help maintain the integrity of the soil, and the leaves of cover crops rot in place and return their nutrients to the topsoil.

Green Manure
Green manure crops are similar to cover crops, but rather than remaining in the soil and naturally decaying in winter and revitalizing in spring, they are deliberately cut and then left on the surface or forked into the soil to add organic matter. Species such as rye grass, barley and lucerne are commonly used as green manure crops, and are slashed back several times when growing as they regrow very quickly. Just make sure you slash before the crop flowers and seeds to retain control over the crop.

Biofertilizers
Biofertilizers have been used among ancient faming cultures for centuries, but it is only recently that they have become better known among modern gardeners. Biofertilizers offer an alternative to artificial fertilizers that are potentially damaging to the soil, crops and the environment (polluting rivers and so on). They are microorganisms that are cultivated on natural material in laboratories and then added to the soil in large numbers. They help increase the biodiversity of microorganisms in a soil, they reduce pests, and, of course, increase fertility. They can also be used to heal soil that has been depleted by chemical fertilizers or exhausted by monoculture practises.

However you choose to do it, adding more organic matter to your soil is almost always a good thing. The animals in the soil will become more productive, your plants will flourish and the productivity of your site will increase. What’s not to like?

Five Elements of Healthy Soil Composition

Good, healthy soil is essential for any permaculture garden. As the growing medium for your plants, it is the foundation on which everything else is based. A healthy soil’s main task, besides giving the plants something to physically be in, is to break down organic matter into forms that can be utilized by plants and other organisms. There are five elements of a healthy soil that interact to enable this function to be performed.

Moisture
The moisture level in a healthy soil is important for the health of the plants growing in it. The water that is in the soil, either from rainwater or irrigation, provides the vehicle through which soluble nutrients become available to plant roots. While you don’t want soil to become waterlogged, as a general rule, it is preferable to slow the rate that water leaves the soil. Some moisture in a soil will transform from liquid to gas and evaporate into the air. This depends on temperature and atmospheric pressure, and occurs particularly in places with little rain. Adding ground cover plants and preventing direct sun or strong winds attacking the soil can help retain moisture in the soil. To slow the rate of water percolation through the soil – meaning that it takes nutrients away from plant roots before the plants have had a chance to access them – add more organic matter such as compost to the soil.

Mineral Composition
Of significant importance in the retention of moisture in the soil, is the mineral composition. This refers to the proportions of different types of particles in the soil. A soil with a larger proportion of clay minerals, which are very fine, drain more slowly and hold water well, but form a hard, impenetrable surface in dry conditions. Soil that has a greater proportion of larger particles, such as sand, drains more quickly − which can be good for areas of high rainfall. For most areas, a mixture of the two is preferable, allowing for a medium level of drainage, which means nutrients are still available to plants but the soil does not become waterlogged. However, the ideal type of soil for your permaculture site will depend on the specific weather conditions that act upon it.

Gases
The three primary gases present in a healthy soil are oxygen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide. Plants use carbon dioxide to help with photosynthesis, a byproduct of which is oxygen, which is then used by animals in the soil. Nitrogen is an essential gas for plants to build proteins, perform photosynthesis and form DNA. When the levels of these gases are in equilibrium, the soil is healthy and plants and microorganisms thrive. To ensure a healthy level of gases in the soil, there needs to be an effective exchange of gases between the soil and the atmosphere. This exchange ensures that there is an adequate supply of oxygen in the soil to allow plants and microorganisms to thrive. Without the exchange potentially damaging levels of other gases, such as sulphur dioxide, can build up. The effectiveness of the exchange of gases is linked to the structure and composition of the soil, and takes place via two main processes.

Mass flow refers to the exchange of gases that takes place after rainfall or irrigation. As the water percolates through the soil, gases are displaced and enter the air. Conversely, when water from the soil evaporates, atmospheric air enters the soil. Diffusion, the more common form of gas exchange, involves the exchange of gases between the soil and atmosphere depending on the respective pressures of the gases. So, if the pressure of, say, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is greater than that in the soil, it moves into the soil to create an equilibrium, and vice versa.

Organic Matter
Organic matter is the magic ingredient in a healthy soil. It gives the soil nutrients, can help the mineral composition (making clay soil moreopen, and helping sandy soils preserve water and nutrients), will add nitrogen to the soil, and affect the retention of moisture. The organic material also provides food for the microorganisms. Thus, you really can’t have enough organic matter in your soil. There are many ways to increase the amount of organic material on your plot. Composting turns food scraps, garden prunings and anything else that was once living into nutrient-rich humus that can be added to soil around plants. Cutting back crops such as barley and wheat and leaving the cut plants on the ground will allow them to break down directly into the soil, while mulching offers the duel benefit of a slow release of organic matter from the mulch itself (which can be anything from branches and leaf litter to woolen carpet underlay or old jeans) and the breakdown of weeds beneath the mulch as they are deprived of sunlight, and then rot into the soil.

Microorganisms
When there is a good balance between the gases and water levels in the soil, and there is sufficient organic matter, microorganisms will be abundant in a soil. This makes it healthy, as these organisms – bacteria, fungi and insects – have many positive effects on the soil to keep it in good condition. They break down nutrients in the soil and so make them available to plants. They break up the soil, providing space not only for plant roots but also air and water to penetrate the soil. And when they die they become part of the organic matter, returning their nutrients to the soil in the cycle of life. The more microorganisms – and the greater range of species – the better, as the ecosystem will become self-regulating, preventing any build up of pest populations.

All five of these elements are interacting all the time. Initially, it can seem daunting to think that you need to balance all of them correctly to ensure your plants survive and thrive. However, remember that nature will naturally try to find a way to achieve that balance, and by observing and replicating nature, it shouldn’t be too had to create ad maintain a healthy soil.