Hello everyone!
By now we are just about going stir crazy from winter so lets get outside and start getting our gardens ready for spring planting.
First, I would like to start this topic off with a saying I heard a long time ago and I always come back to.
"A bare soil is a dead soil. " Unknown
Now this may not be completley true, but it is to a certian extent. Mulch is essential to keep the good bugs and worms working over your soil and organic material that you add throughout the year. Keeping the soil moisture constant throughout the year is essential to key soil life. Dry or wet soils can lock up nutrients and minerals as well as kill off soil life that is essential in organic farming.
So first thing is, is your garden bare?
If it is, this is a perfect opportunity to add in some organic amendments, and possibly a cover crop or mulch. I suggest adding in a balanced blend of nutrients and minerals that will break down throughout the season to feed your soil which in turn feeds your plants. You can find a similiar mix on our website called the Nutrient and Mineral Blend.
You can also add compost or worm castings to add in organic matter and to help build your soil life from the cold of the winter. Compost is one of the most underrated inputs in organic farming. People forget or just simply overlook the uses of compost. Add it in if you can, most likely your local garden store sells it by the yard.
Once you have applied your amendments, you can either mulch with straw, or a composted wood and bark mulch or grow your own mulch as a cover crop. At this point you can add a little water, or let the spring rains water it naturally until you are ready to plant your seeds or starts into your garden.
If it is covered you can simply add your amendments right on top of the mulch, then add compost on top of the amendments, and then a straw or bark mulch on top of that. This is also known as a NO-TILL style of growing or layering, in which you do not till up the soil, but yet leave the valuable bacterial and fungal networks intact and thriving.
This will get your garden ready for planting within a week or two, and it will be alive and ready to feed your plants when you plant.
Second. Start stocking up for the year on quality compost and worm castings to make actively aerated compost teas (aact), and a quality mycorrhizael fungi innoculant to innoculate the roots of your plants for healthy overall root growth. There are also some amazing microbial innoculants you can use throughout the year to help solubilze more minerals that usually take a long time to become available.
And last but not least, if your going to start your own seeds, you should be starting 4-6 weeks before you plan on planting them in your garden, depending on variety.
Most plants can be potted up, or you can bury the stem underground to have bigger healtheir root systems which in turn grows you bigger healthier plants.
I hope this helps everyone have a great start to an awesome season of organic farming.
As always, if anyone has any questions please feel free to email us at :
MakeOrganicSoil@gmail.com