PDC LESSON 4.2 SOIL – A WORD FOR ORGANIC GROWERS

 

PERMACULTURE COURSE AGRO-ECONOMY

PDC LESSON 4.2 SOIL – A WORD FOR ORGANIC GROWERS

   A word of caution for organic growers

is the direct planting into fresh manure. Raw manure is manure that has not been composted or put through a worm farm or is less than six months old. Raw manure will also make the soil prone to nitrogen overload and the plants will be very green as a result. Have you noticed that cows don’t graze near the fresh cowpats? This is because the green grass around the manure tastes bitter. In time, the bugs and the microbes will break down the manure and the grass will sweeten up again. This is a natural course of events.

 

I have put raw manure on my garden beds for quite a few years now and not bothered to compost it first. Now there’s a contradiction! But I don’t plant into it straight away. The manure is put onto the garden beds and allowed to break down first before planting. The life in my soil is so active and the humus so well built up that it is teeming with activity. In just a few weeks the manure will have broken down and is ready to be planted in without any worry of nitrogen overload. This simply skips the double handling of putting the manure through the composting process first. It is important not to spread the manure too thick onto the garden beds otherwise it’s a bit like stuffing yourself with a huge meal and having trouble digesting it all! The soil microbes can suffer from overload as well.

If you want to put straight manure onto your garden beds and you are doubtful of the soil life within, you’d do well to speed up the break down of the manure and any other food scraps with some bokashi. Sprinkle the bokashi on top of the manure and make sure everything is well wetted down and covered with mulch.

The mulch will keep everything moist and prevent gassing off of nutrients and in just a few weeks the soil should look like soil and nothing else but soil. Don’t be surprised if you find lots of earthworms and bugs in the process.

Text from the roots, Elisabeth Ferkonia (Aus.) PDC studied with Bill Mollison,




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