- There’s one bed in the OEG garden that we didn’t do anything with this winter. We have weeded it, but it’s now compacted and could possibly have become acidic from the rain.
- In order to ascertain the soil’s acidity or alkalinity, we’ll first do a pH test. 7.5 is alkaline and 4.5 is very acidic. Neutral is 7.0. Instructions on how to conduct the test are in the kit or follow Rob.
- It takes about 10 minutes for the test to work, so in the meantime we’ll use a fork to aerate the bed. We’re not turning it over, rather lifting the soil to give it some air. This way we don’t disturb the soil structure.
- Our soil test has ended up at 7.0 or Neutral, so we’ll apply gypsum (also known as Clay Breaker). Gypsum adds calcium to soil which helps build strong cell walls in vegetables. We would also add gypsum if our results had been Alkaline. If the test had shown the soil to be Acidic, we would have added garden lime to the soil instead to balance its pH. Apply at the rate of 2 handfuls per square metre.
- Next we add rock dust which helps our vegetables to become nutrient-dense. Rock dust is also high in phosphorus which is good for the root vegetables we intend sowing.
- Then a couple of barrow loads of compost goes in. Rake it evenly over the bed. Compost returns all-important carbon to the soil which may be depleted of it after the winds and rain of winter. And finally we distribute a barrow load of well-rotted chicken manure. This adds primarily nitrogen to our garden bed.
- Leave for a week or two before sowing or planting and it’ll be fizzing with microbial activity!
Camera: Tom Neunzerling
Editor: Thomas Asche
