I believe that there is a very distorted view of soils in the construction sector. You don’t need to be a soil scientist to see it!
Industry professionals should do better when it comes to specifying and selecting soils that are fit to support valuable natural assets in our existing and future green spaces.
The UK is a nation of gardeners. According to the 2018 Horticultural Trades Association report, over two-thirds of adults visit the garden centre every year! That is a high level of participation by any standard, and so by this rationale, there must be a high proportion of designers, planners, and construction teams who also like to garden – a popular pastime which entails the genus and species selection based on soil type, preparation of the garden soil, careful feeding including the addition of (or making) compost together with dedicated watering, all to ensure that the garden landscape thrives!
By drawing upon horticultural principles, practiced at the weekend or basic plant biology knowledge learned at high school, our current trajectory is undeniable. The standard approach does not always consider the needs of the plant, tree, shrubs, and contents of the landscape, as central to the process of landscape design or soil installation. I draw the defendant’s attention to the copious stunted, struggling trees in supermarket carparks, serving no real purpose other than acting as a softer, less damaging bollard for your car’s front bumper. I rest my case.
Maybe we have allowed ourselves to be too reliant on and exploitative of Standards like BS3882:2015, passing up common sense for compliance instead.
“But clay means compaction which is bad, isn’t it?“
Not always.
Most trees and plants grow well with clay in the soil. This ingredient helps natural processes work efficiently, which supports the plant from the roots up.
However, it is the predictability under load that makes sand the perfect choice in certain situations, like golf courses, which rely on consistency over time, for their playing surfaces.
The Atterberg Triangle is often used to determine the texture of soil
The Atterberg triangle includes three vital components of soil: sand, silt, and clay.
At 100% clay, we may well make a dinner plate or pot instead of attempting to establish a rose. A completely silty situation, on the other hand, might exist at the bottom of a river – no room for growing our shrubs there either. As for sand; I’m thinking of the bright sand of a tropical beach or hot desert dunes.
Should we refer to a material that is more than 90% sand, soil?
Is the <10% ‘other’ sufficient for everything absent from the mix?
There has to be a reason that such sandy grow-media is prescribed.
I thought that I would share some practical advice to help you plan your own compost production.
This is not rocket science, though despite being a biological process (like fermentation), for some reason it doesn’t carry the same prestige a making your own-brew or wine! To start thus journey I would like to iterate precisely why we are concerned with using this amazing soil amendment and why it is so important to restoring soil health, exploiting the soi microorganisms, vital if looking to reduce chemical applications or go organic in plant and crop production.
By the end you will understand a few of the key benefits of this grow media, amendment and conditioner and hopefully be inspired to find out what can be possible with a little work by realising the resources freely available to you.
Before we get to the nuts and bolts of the value of ‘the lovely brown stuff’, let me just give an overview of where it fits in to a grow programme for me and when/where I recommend it when undertaking work for Mind, Body & Soil.
EVERYWHERE!
I love it and the reason I am crazy about compost is because it is a great starting point for soil fertility management. That is because whatever you grow, it is robbing the soil. As you grow plants and harvest you are removing converted forms of the mineral content. Over time the organic matter (long term source of nutrients) is reduced and used up entirely if nothing is put back.
So put it back
After a while you will develop the same view that I have and see the ‘potential soil’ in every load of green waste!
When I talk with growers looking to restore soil life or enhance the living aspect and improve plant performance, I always ask if they have composted first. You could use microbial teas and sure, if you use enough you could probably transform even the most compact soil, eventually. In some instances this may be the best option – fine turf being one example where aeration and liquid amendments are practical solutions in season. However, if the soil itself is not under scrutiny and you really want to give the biology the best start in life, put the right home in – add stable decomposed matter. No excuses. If well-made, the organic matter will naturally be teeming with microbes. Great for increasing the diversity which will be very important for soil and plant interactions and responses to changes in conditions. It will also support these communities by providing some of the foods needed to survive and reproduce.
Let’s begin by talking about the dirty stuff and what it can do. Why YOU should bother.
It can fundamentally alter the physical structure of the soil. That ratio between mineral, air and water is transformed for any plant happening to be in that environment. That includes inert grow media such as rock wool – put a dab of compost around the plant stem, don’t be shy. Good things will start to happen. Mind you, make sure that it is healthy and free of disease (i.e. properly heated and matured). If you were really paranoid, you could always sterilise it, though not everyone has access to a supersize oven or industrial steamers. So, how do you make sure it is healthy? We’ll get to that.
Improve water retaining properties. This means it can increase the water holding capacity of the grow media, so you water less. This is especially useful outdoors and through drier periods when plants are reliant on liquid in the soil to take up nutrients as well as stay hydrated. This is why you will often see plants become deficient when the soil dries and leaves start to yellow. But if you apply liberally and allow to lie on the surface, compost makes a good mulch. It can work the other way with water too – releasing water so that soil does not become saturated, preserving the air porosity.
But let’s be realistic about the physical side of things though: unless you are going to absolutely pile on the compost in one hit, you are unlikely to radically alter the poorest conditions with a magic bullet. I think that little and often is the best approach – just keep topping up at the start and end of seasons and feed the soil in between with a liquid food and microbial booster. Active, lively soil will do much of the work for you and take the compost down to where it needs to be, so just keep adding to the surface, don’t turn it in! Plants have an uncanny knack of finding food themselves anyway.
Just look at this tomato plant:
The roots have worked out where I put the compost and are getting fed. Note the fungi on the cane, from added Liquidlife!
It’s all about chemistry too. Without getting too caught up in the science of this let’s just say, compost is a great broad spectrum food. Add some N, a little P and of course K, but what about all the other elements and trace elements that plants, food and our diets are missing these days? You could live off of bread and water alone (for how long I am not sure), but you would not expect to be full of energy, loving life and filled with vitality. After all, we are what we eat, aren’t we? Would you feed a plant bread and water (metaphor for N:P:K diet) and expect it to be happy and deliver the required 20kg of healthy fruit, on time and to specification, without a hiccup?
Little by little is the way. Well-made compost will have a whole host of goodies which the plant can take as and when it needs them. Kind of like a buffet. It is obvious that compost will not boast the same instant growth properties of a straightforward Nitrogen fix, however efficiency is a different matter. On a normal agricultural spec fertiliser, the nitrogen is attached to a salt (I am vastly simplifying this). Salt is soluble which is great for getting this flushed through and plants using it. It is also a great way to lose a lot of the usable food. So it is not very stable. When you get to the real numbers of useful nitrogen and compare to a natural source of N, you can consider the costs, complete the maths and truly understand the point. That said you could also consider this as comparing apples with pears. In any case, nitrogen use is becoming more important when we consider polluting of our water courses and compost can help feed, whilst minimising the impact.
So that is two of the three key aspects, physical and chemical.
Did I mention the Biological aspectand the effect on soil life? Oh yes, I did.
Crash lecture over. You have now decided that compost is the greatest thing since Iphones and the 2012 Olympics and want to get going with it. How do you know if what you have or are going to get is any good though?
Healthy
If you’re buying then a few basic tips:
Ask to see test reports of the most recent batch of the proposed material, preferably the batch you are buying. PAS100 is the common standard in the UK. Check the report for growth tests and pathogens testing results.
Test some yourself -eat it! No, don’t. Put some in a pot and throw some cress seeds in to germinate. If there are problems in germination, or leaves discolour when growing, you may wish to think again.
The other option is to send some off for testing yourself. There may be one particular pathogen that you are most concerned with, so test for this. Could be expensive though.
There is a practical reality to this though. The most sensible suggestion is therefore to ask around and get empirical user experiences or expert advice. Then do the cress test, apply to the growing area and inoculate with beneficial microbes.
Alternatively, and this is the point of this article, you could make it yourself. In case you hadn’t realised a little goes a long way and what is lacked in volume can be made up by frequency.
When you get it right it looks, smells and feels good. Ooh er missus!
We will deal with the full ‘how to make’ another day, however we should mention quality even at this stage as it is controlled by two important factors, one highly relevant before we even build anything:
Origin and quality of the source materials
Temperature during the early stages.
In order begin composting we need some materials to get going. If working on a commercial scale it is unlikely that you will generate enough waste material yourself to process and reintroduce back to the full growing area, plus material from outside sources brings in added diversity which could help organisms to out compete pathogenic microorganisms. So we are going to have to think about what is available, onsite, offsite, neighbours sites. It is time to get creative and put your thinking cap on.
CONCLUSION
Now is the time to start planning your activity and hunting for materials. Contact me for a copy of our simple Mind map to get you going on you green recycling project. Print it off stick it to the wall and follow it as you get busy on the phone. Then tear it down and add it to the pile as you realise that anything originating from an organic material can be decomposed – everything counts in large amounts! Be inventive, get creative and pull favours. Heck, you are doing others a favour and they should pay you! Unlikely to happen but it really should not cost you to obtain anything. After all, you need to keep costs down as it is pricey stuff if you make it right.
Expensive?
Well, yes. It’s going to cost you your most valuable commodity – time!
If you would like a free copy of our Mind Map for starting off Compost Production, drop us an email at info@mindbodysoil.co.uk
Maybe you have already started and want to take this to the next level?
