My rocky soil has suffered from multiple years of drought and lacks organic matter. Leaf matter from last fall did not decompose and I only saw two worms when moving most of the pile. Am guessing lack of oxygen for the leaf pile. I am playing with my usual lazy methods of cardboard, cedar bark and leaf matter from a big leaf maple to create some new beds with success. It will take years to get the soil depth. I saw a documentary about the extensive civilizations in the Amazon that were discovered and the fertility of the soil they created. Has anyone created inoculated Biochar? Or know some of the basics? Hügelkultur beds are incredibly productive in my previous home, but I was starting with great soil and lots of living organisms obviously present in the soil. It also took a few years to transform wood to soil. Maybe I am just impatient but I am exploring ideas for adding microorganisms into the soil quickly. Easy is best because I am a simple, lazy gardener. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Maybe you are in the right region to be able to obtain seaweed ? Used as a mulch, this will eventually break down, and before it does it will also repel slugs and snails. I believe the sun makes the stuff go crispy, and what with crispy as well as some salt content, those creatures stay away. Although it will naturally have some salt content, I believe this hasn't been a problem. As for leaf mould, it needs to be kept in a shady place, and regularly watered to break down. Shredding it to begin with might speed the process a bit?
@Tetters Seaweed is an interesting option though not readily available. I use a white vinegar, dish soap and salt spray to keep the black berry brambles at bay so small amounts of salt are much less harmful than Roundup. Guess I should have shredded the leaves. The area I placed the leaf pile was under a downspout where I hoped to plant a couple of blueberry bushes. It is shaded by a big old lilac. Will reorganize my thought process for this challenge.
https://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/grow-plants/how-to-sow-green-manure/ I just thought about green manure - that could be worth a go @Jewell By the way, I understand that harvesting seaweed is quite legal if you get in the water and collect it whilst it floats free - if someone owns the shoreline you mustn't collect it from there!! Maybe you need one of these.....
I am starting see biochar become available at my local stores. Believe I first heard of it on a Dirty Jobs episode.
@Jewell The easiest thing you can do is attract bacteria. Spray sugar water. Biochar is no panacea. Especially fresh. Since it is created in the absence of oxygen, it craves O dearly at first. Not something you want around roots. The Ultisol clay soils in the Amazon had something else. They flooded. The homes were on hillocks connected by elevated walkways. They used pots, and like a kitchen compost tossed into a pot, so too were kitchen ashes, and the charcoal from fires may well have been used in a latrine function as well. The pottery shards found deep indicate a long term practice of fertilizing the fields through this efficient re-use of waste. It took more than a few years to get it 18 meters deep. If you ever heard of a fertilizer called milorganite then you know what biological sludge is, just as Terre Preta has. The dead bodies of bacteria that eat sewage are packaged and sold. The Terra Preta regrows when removed via the biological life. The trick is the amino acids in proteins that they build their bodies out of. It is common to refer to manure compost as some great fertilizer yet the NPK values kinda suck. So why so special? Protein numbers are very high. These are the building blocks of many things in the soil including bacteria bodies, and plant tissues. By ensuring proteins are part of your fertilization, and providing carbon for bacteria to feed upon you will be well on your way. Blood meal is popular because of the amino acids. Same with bone meal. Fish meal etc. You get the why if you get the protein connection.
Dirt thanks for the explanation. Very interesting . Never heard of it before. Always something new to learn from this site..
