 Laura here: On Earth Day (April 22), TTJ held a Soil Health panel discussion for an audience of over thirty folks. The panel consisted of local farmers and homesteaders, sharing wisdom gathered over years of experience. A few highlights are below, and to access the entire event, go to: https://archive.org/details/ttojhealthy-soil-healthy-earth-04222024 Christa Alexander from Jericho Settlers Farm kicked off the discussion, talking about soil health within tunnels, hoop and green houses. She recommended doing ‘saturated media soil tests’ for soils used year after year. These tests reveal what nutrients are immediately available within soils, as many get depleted over time and salts accumulate. The latter can be thwarted by moving around the tunnels, Christa said. Watering covered plants is also a challenge; you can let rain in or irrigate, among other options. She talked about managing various crops differently, based on their needs; for example, salad greens are light feeders, whereas tomato plants are heavy feeders. Tom Baribault, an agricultural biochemist at UVM, talked about managing soil for nutrient rich produce. The history of the lands we grow on determine conditions we start with. Tom’s land for example, had been hayed for years. He gradually got away from heavy tilling, and simply uses a broadfork for aerating the soil. Repeated rototilling makes for more bacteria rather than healthy fungi, and adds to carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Ultimately, no till means less work and fossil fuel inputs, though more weeding and hands-on work may be necessary. Tom introduced new terms like glomalin, humates, and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (amfs) in regard to soil health. He said techniques like cover cropping, off season composting, and crop rotation are important both for both soil and plant health. Tucker Andrews from Bone Mountain Farm talking about soil testing, saying it is a “a snapshot in time”, just one data point in soil management. He said soil testing is especially important when breaking new ground, for knowing what’s there and advised doing multiple soil tests in order to observe data collected over time. He recommended observing your soil as much as possible; learning its ecology, the living aggregates in the soil, how it pools after rain. Also observing what’s readily growing there. For example, sedges indicate wet and acidic soil; mullein, recently disturbed soil, possibly lacking in nutrients. Tucker stressed the importance of PH and organic matter in soil as well. Reed Sims, retired Soil Scientist talked about thinking of soil as an ecosystem; understanding the abundance of activity beneath the surface as well as above. Having access to a wide variety of organic matter is an advantage of home gardening, and doing your own composting is advantageous. Organic matter in soil can serve as a buffer for PH and even raise levels. Loam soil is best, striving for a balance of clay, sand and silt components. Many thanks to Angelike Contis and her team at MMCTV public access TV, for filming this event! Comments are closed.
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