Ten Tips for a Problem-Free, Super Productive Home Garden

[itchybromusic]

Part 3 http://blog.nutri-tech.com.au/ten-tips-home-garden-3/

 

In this third instalment, we will focus upon the multiple reasons why organic matter really matters. We will explore exciting new composting options and we will consider the productive use of humic acid in your garden.

7) Organic Matter Matters – Compost, Mulch and Humic Acid

A revealing study, funded by National Australia Bank, investigated the dynamics of profitability in agriculture. To the surprise of the researchers, the single most important determinant of profit was the percentage of organic matter (humus) in a given soil. While financial profit may not be the driver in your backyard food factory, the bank study is of equal importance when building a different form of wealth.

The markers of a successful life include peace, happiness and health. The more of this trio that you achieve in a short life span, the greater and more "prosperous" that life. It is difficult to separate this threesome, but it is safe to say that your home garden delivers an abundance of each. There is nowhere more peaceful, and there is an undeniable joy in working with nature to feed your family. Finally, of course, your health is your wealth, and your home garden is your ultimate wellness tool.

Humus is the essence of soil health. This sweet-smelling soil chocolate is created by microorganisms, and it serves as their home base and support system. Humus is the storage and delivery system for all minerals and it also houses a soup of microbial exudates that help create disease suppressive soils. The higher the humus levels in your garden, the greater the nutrient density and medicinal value of your produce and the less the need for stressful pest management. This problem-free outcome is the key to maximising the pleasure potential in home food production.

So, how do we build this magical material most effectively? It is all about compost, mulch and humic acid.

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Compost, Compost, Compost

Compost is the cornerstone of garden vitality. Every home needs a compost bin/pile and a vermicompost station. Compost recycles garden and household food waste to create a profound source of biodiversity (over 30,000 different creatures within the 5 billion organisms found in a teaspoon of good compost). It is both an invaluable source of stable humus, and a triggering mechanism to reclaim the humus-building potential of your garden.

Building a compost heap is simple and satisfying. You build your pile 25 cm at a time while alternating carbon layers (straw, council mulch, prunings etc) with nitrogen layers (manure, lawn clippings, green waste etc). Lime, previous compost (which serves as a starter), and other nutrients can be sprinkled on each level of your layer cake before thoroughly wetting down that layer. When the pile is complete and thoroughly hydrated, you cover it with wet sacks or old carpet and turn it several times over the next 3 to 4 months until the heat diminishes.

There is much more detail about this process in my recent article entitled "Humus Gardening - Healthy Soils, Hardy People, Happy Planet". Here, we will look at three productive new ways to benefit from the magic of compost in the home garden.

Three Exciting New Compost Initiatives

1) A Disease Suppressive Compost

In my recent article on Trichoderma, I overlooked an important new finding about this multi-function, bio-balancing fungi. The Philippines government have recently published a set of best practice guidelines relative to maximising the potential of Trichoderma. These guidelines may offer a great new strategy for the home gardener seeking a disease suppressive, super productive soil. A Trichoderma-packed compost can be produced in just 4 weeks using their proven technique. Here's how you do it:

• Create a DIY circular composting frame by wiring together 1 metre high chicken wire.
• Mix together equal amounts of straw and animal manure and add the mixture into the circular wire bin in 25 cm layers.
• Wet down each layer with a watering can containing diluted Trichodermainoculum (Nutri-Life Tricho-Shield™), at the rate of one watering can per layer. It will take four layers to fill your bin. Tricho-Shield™ is included at the rate of two heaped tablespoons per watering can.

The wire bin should be positioned on a pallet to allow oxygen to enter from below, and on all sides (via the wire frame). There is no turning involved in this compost, so it is essential that the ingredients can breathe.

The completed compost is ready to use in just four weeks and you now have a wonderfully protective compost that can be added to all garden beds and around all fruit trees. Trichoderma are voracious cellulose-digesting organisms, hence the fast-tracked production of compost. Your new compost creation will deliver disease resistance, immune elicitation, plant growth promotion and improved nutrient density of your produce.

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2) BAM™ Composting

When we think of composting, we think of turning the compost regularly to speed the decomposition process, via controlled oxidation. However, there is another effort-free way to compost that involves a completely different group of beneficial organisms. Anaerobic bacteria are often undesirable, opportunistic organisms that erupt and destruct when soil oxygen levels are depleted. Compaction, a tight, closed soil structure, or a poor calcium to magnesium ratio are likely contributors. However, there is another group of anaerobes that are not pathogens. In fact, they are an immensely valuable workforce that can protect from disease while creating humus, stimulating plant growth, delivering minerals and improving soil structure.

This group includes fermenting fungi, Actinomycetes and a unique group of photosynthesising organisms called purple non-sulfur bacteria (PNSB). However, the most prevalent beneficial anaerobes amongst this group involve the same organisms that dominate our microbiome (organisms that inhabit the human body). These are a diverse group of bacteria called Lactobacillus.

NTS has developed an inoculum based upon productive anaerobes, called Nutri-Life BAM™ (Beneficial Anaerobic Microbes). The name suggests a big impact, and these organisms will not disappoint. They can be applied to the soil or the leaf surface and there is an immediate growth and resilience response. However, here, we are talking about a new way to compost.

BAM™ composting creates a beautiful, humus-rich end product. There is no turning involved and the conversion rate from raw organic matter to completed compost is much higher than in aerobic composting (910 kg per 1000 kg of raw materials in BAM™ composting vs 670 kg for conventional composting).

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Here’s how you create your low effort, super protective and productive BAM™ compost:

• Begin with your 25 cm layer of carbon (straw, dead leaves or fine council mulch). Sprinkle that layer with lime, previous compost, clay-based material (like soil or soft rock phosphate), crusher dust, zeolite and perhaps a trace mineral blend.

• Apply BAM™ concentrate at the rate of 1 L per cubic metre diluted in enough water to thoroughly wet down that layer before forming the second layer.

• The second 25 cm layer consists of nitrogen-based materials like lawn clippings, manure, green leaves or lucerne hay. Once again, you can sprinkle this layer with the additives described above, including the diluted BAM™ concentrate applied at the rate of 1 L per cubic metre of raw materials. It is not essential that you add extras like zeolite, minerals, etc, but if you are seeking a fertilising compost, it is a great strategy.

• Once again, you thoroughly wet up this layer and then add another carbon layer. Alternate carbon and nitrogen layers, with the optional add ons, until your pile is around 1.5 – 2 metres high. This will typically involve a total of eight layers.

• At this point, it is is a good idea to fork through and turn the heap to blend together the total mixture, but this is not essential.

• When the pile is completed, you need to cover it completely with a large, heavy duty plastic tarpaulin. The pile must be free from oxygen so the anaerobes can thrive. The plastic tarp must be held down on all sides with weights to keep the tarp in place and to keep the air out. You can tie ropes to concrete blocks on either side of the pile. This lace-like network of blocks and ropes will hold the tarp in place, even in windy conditions.

• Eight weeks later, you can lift your tarp and marvel at the rich, black, wonderfully productive compost you have created. There has been no labour, no smells, no CO2 or methane losses, and no additional water required, to produce 25% more compost than the aerobic alternative. It is a major breakthrough for vegetable gardeners!

3) Vermi-composting – Let the Worms do the Work

Many home gardeners have experimented with plastic worm farms to create a little vermicast or worm juice to boost their gardens. You feed the bins with food scraps, and a tap at the base allows access to the worm juice. However, in this segment, we will investigate a vermicast adventure that can make a serious difference. Most gardeners need much more than the shovelful of vermicast created by these toy bins. Let’s look at how we might produce much more of this special compost, and how we can achieve this abundance cost-effectively.

Firstly, you may be wondering why worm compost is so special. Well, the evidence has shown that vermicompost has no equal. In one Queensland study involving six different composts, vermicompost was shown to be 20 timesmore potent than the second best compost tested. There are several reasons for this superiority. The composting worms digest organic matter with a unique group of highly beneficial bacteria incubated in their own gut and the vermicast is teeming with soil life.

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Secondly, the earthworms create humus four times faster than any other form of decomposition and that humus is absolutely mineral-packed. Analysis of earthworm castings reveal that these little fertiliser machines produce poo with 10 times the nitrogen, 7 times the potassium, 5 times the phosphorus, 3 times the magnesium and 1.5 times the calcium of surrounding soil. The castings are also very rich in trace minerals. The worms produce antibiotics that can remove pathogens from your soil and they produce hormones that stimulate root growth and plant resilience.

So, how can we produce enough of this magical material to benefit our entire garden, rather than the pot plant quantities associated with the small farms? Here's how you can do it for under $250 (AUD):

How to Build a Large Scale Worm Farm

There is a way that you can produce over 100 kg of vermicast per year and hundreds of litres of worm juice. It involves converting a 1000 L shuttle, or tote, into a highly productive worm farm.

You begin the construction by removing the top rung of the aluminium cage that encases the 1000 L plastic tank. You can use a grinder, or something similar, to cut off that top layer. Next you slice of the corresponding top portion (25 cm) of the plastic tank within. Leave the screw top lid attached and then drill multiple 1.5 mm holes in the recently removed top, to create a sieve-like effect. That top, through which worm juice can now drip, is then positioned into the bottom of the tank, creating a large storage tank beneath the worm farm destined for above.

You have effectively reduced the internal depth of the 1000 L container by 50 cm by cutting off the top and putting it in the bottom. This creates a worm farm with more favourable dimensions, as the worms do not favor such a deep bin.

Now you have an open top that needs to be enclosed. First, you create a 1 m2frame with 2x2 pine and bolt it to the top of remaining aluminium cage. Then create an identical 2x2 square pine frame that is hinged to one side of the first frame. Next, you screw some corrugated iron onto the top frame, fix a handle to the lid you have just created, and your new worm farm is almost complete.

The new worm farm should be positioned on concrete blocks so that you can put a large bucket beneath the tap, to easily access the worm juice.

The last step is to paint the entire bin in a dark color, to keep out the sunlight. Worms hate sunlight almost as much as vampires fear daybreak. This blackout is rapidly achieved with a compressor and spray gun, or it is a bit more tedious process with a brush.

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To start your farm, you will need to invest in 1 kg of composting worms for $100 (AUD) and a compressed pack of coco peat for $15 (AUD). Place the peat block in a wheelbarrow and fill the barrow 3/4 full with water. Thirty minutes later you will have a barrow full of moist peat that you can place in your worm farm to house the new inductees.

You can feed your farm with food scraps, coffee grinds, lawn clippings (in thin layers) and manure. Every six weeks the worms double up and six months later you can begin selling worms for $100 (AUD) per kg. More importantly, you will have an ongoing supply of solid and liquid vermicast.

There is a dual benefit associated with the liquid vermicast reservoir you have effectively created in the bottom of the tank. You now have a liquid fertiliser on tap, and this reservoir also serves as a cooling system to protect the worms during heatwaves. We have many of these bins on our Nutrition Farmsproperties, and we did not lose a single worm during the heatwave last summer.

You can buy these bins secondhand for around $100 (AUD), but make sure that they did not previously contain anything toxic. We have clean ones at NTS. You can pick up used corrugated iron sheets for $5 (AUD) from Resource Recovery Centres (the fancy new name for the dump), so the total cost of this project, including the worms and peat is around $250 (AUD). This is a small price to pay to maximise the benefits of your ultimate family wellness tool, and it can be fully recovered with worm sales within the first year.

The Mulching Imperative

Mulching retains moisture, protects the soil from extremes and, most importantly, it feeds and stimulates soil life. It is a critical strategy for Nutrition Gardening®. You might protect your soil with straw, council green waste or cane mulch. You may even opt for a fertilising mulch like lucerne hay.

You will observe the positive changes in your soil as the mulch converts to humus. There is great pleasure in observing the pampered soil life and shrouded top soil, flourish in your nurturing. Again, there is more information about this strategy in my earlier article entitled "Humus Gardening - Healthy Soils, Hardy People, Happy Planet".

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Help from Humic – Understanding this Natural Phenomenon

When you make compost, you are effectively producing a natural acid called humic acid. If your soil is thriving and biologically active, with high levels of humus, then your soil naturally contains good levels of humic and fulvic acid (humates). These natural substances are actually the key players in organic matter. The good news is that they can be extracted in heavy concentrations from ancient plant matter (brown coal) and used, almost as substitutes, in gardens lacking all-important humus.

Humic acid serves as a soil sponge, holding seven times its own weight in moisture. It stimulates plant roots and feeds beneficial fungi in your soil. This remarkable biological acid helps create crumb structure, where plant roots, and the organisms surrounding them, can breathe more freely. It also deactivates toxins in your soil and helps to boost plant immunity. When you combine humic acid with fertilisers, you increase their performance by one third, via a process called cell sensitisation. This well-researched phenomenon increases cell membrane permeability, so the plant can uptake 33% more.

Humic acid has become one of the most popular inputs in modern agriculture, but NTS is one of the very few companies offering high-quality humic acid to home gardeners. Life Force® Instant Humus™ involves soluble humic acid granules that can be finely spread or diluted in a watering can. A 1 kg container of these potent granules is sufficient to treat more than 400 m2 of soil.

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Next week, in the final part of this series, we will consider the gains associated with feeding your soil life. You will also learn why your self-conscious soil hates to be naked, and I will discuss the importance of plant selection and rotation in your food garden.

[AussieBogan]

Hope all is well itchy! Hook in for a read for sure when I get time...

[cardrona]

Encourage these money spiders 

[itchybromusic]

Hope all is well itchy! Hook in for a read for sure when I get time...

i'm well , right back at ya 

have a read & get your mulch on aka get jiggy wit it

 

Encourage these money spiders 

yep spider mites have given spiders a bad rap

 

[itchybromusic]

Ten Tips for a Problem-Free, Super Productive Home Garden (Part 4)  

18 OCTOBER 2017

 

In this fourth segment of this series, we will discuss the sustenance and support of your soil life

and the importance of always avoiding naked soil.

 

8) Supporting the Workforce

If you can begin to see the trillions of microbial creatures in your garden as your hidden workforce,

then you are on the path to happy gardening. When we recognise that we are dealing with a workforce,

then we understand that if we mistreat our workers, there will be increasing problems. Conversely, if

we can look after them, they will look after us. Nutrition Gardening® is essentially a workplace health

and safety issue. Health is about providing food and ideal living conditions for your workforce, while safety

is about protecting them from toxins and poor soil management decisions.

 

The foods to help your soil microbes survive and thrive are now readily available for home gardeners.

The bacterial component of your soil loves simple carbohydrates. Molasses is a good option, but even table

sugar is of benefit because we are chasing the energy factor more than the extra minerals found in molasses.

The ideal dose rates for both involve two tablespoons of either sugar or molasses, in a watering can full

of water, applied to 10 m2 of soil.

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However, there is a natural acid that is more potent than simple sugars. Fulvic acid

can be extracted from certain forms of brown coal, and it is regarded as the most

powerful known bacterial stimulant. Your bacterial workforce is well worthy of

support. These tiny creatures (500,000 on a pinhead) fix nitrogen from the atmosphere,

solubilise and deliver mineral nutrition, support plant immunity and protect from disease.

The second natural acid, extracted from ancient organic matter, is humic acid, which

we have discussed previously. This material involves more complex carbohydrates and

it is the preferred food of beneficial fungi in your soil. Fungi are often missing in action

in our soils through the use of fungicides, herbicides, acid/salt fertilisers and over-tillage.

Fungi create stable humusfrom crop residues. This stabilised carbon remains in our soils,

and therefore out of our atmosphere (as CO2), for over 35 years. Fungi also protect plants

from disease, deliver nutrition and support immunity.

The most important benefit of fungi, however, is their capacity to create crumb structure

in your soil. This is the most desirable characteristic for garden soils. A soil with crumb

structure can breathe freely while allowing ease of root growth and ideal water infiltration.

Earthworms move unimpeded through these aggregates, as do beneficial nematodes and microarthropods.

You can plunge your hands deep into this medium and it smells good enough to eat. Gardening

is pure pleasure when you have achieved this holy grail of good soil management, but it is not

possible without nurturing your fungal workforce. Life Force® Instant Humus™ involves

super-concentrated soluble humic acid granules. Two teaspoons of these black crystals are

added to a watering can full of water, and applied to 10 m2 of soil. You will almost hear your

fungi rejoice!

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Kelp as a Microbe, Plant and Human Food

 

Kelp is another Nutrition Gardening® essential. It is also a fine fungal food, as it is replete

with the long chain sugars favoured by these creatures. Kelp also contains the full spectrum

of minerals from the ocean, to offer complete nutrition to microbes and plants alike. This

gift from the ocean offers many other plant support benefits. It is the highest known natural

source of iodine, for example. This protective mineral is missing in most soils and consequently,

in most diets. Thyroid malfunction, reproductive problems and susceptibility to heavy metal

contamination are just some of several consequences of our widespread iodine deficiency. There

are multiple benefits associated with providing kelp to the soil and to the tissues of plants,

animals and humans.

Kelp contains substantial levels of a powerful chelating agent called mannitol. This ensures

that the rich mineral lode found in seaweed is made more plant-available. Additional minerals

you might choose to include with kelp will also be naturally chelated and, hence, are more effective.

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Finally, kelp contains very high levels of four plant growth promoters that are required

for every stage of healthy, resilient progress during the crop cycle. Cytokinins, gibberellins,

auxins and betaines are produced by the plant, from mineral building blocks in the soil.

Beneficial microbes also build these hormones from minerals and feed them to the plant in

a “give and you will receive” relationship.

Extractive agriculture has seen the long-term, persistent removal of these broad spectrum

trace minerals with no replacement. In fact, it could be argued that most plants no longer

have the associated hormonal support to achieve their genetic potential. The exception is

the seaweed plant, which exists in a soup comprising the perfect balance of all minerals.

Consequently, this plant contains forty times more of these hormonal helpers than land

plants. What does this mean for this sea plant? Well, it is the fastest-growing plant on the

planet, producing 30 cm of new growth every day. We can boost our hormone-deficient, garden

plants with seaweed fertiliser. In this context, kelp becomes an essential supplement for a

healthy, vigorous, food-producing garden.

You might be thinking at this point that seaweed might also be a good inclusion in your diet,

and you are right. Minerals are the precursors for everything that makes our food our medicine.

All of the phytonutrients, including vitamins, come from minerals, and this sea plant is bathed

in the perfect balance of these building blocks. One of the best ways for us to access this

medicine is to source dried kelp (wakame) from a health store or Asian grocer. The creation

of delicious seaweed salads is as simple as adding water and a tasty dressing.

 

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9) Naked Soil is Never Good

Your body builds vitamin D3 from 17 minutes of full sun exposure each day and the more

unclothed the better. However, soils do not appreciate naked exposure at any time. That

is the reason Nature fills the void whenever soil is uncovered. Plants provide a living,

protective cloak over precious topsoil, to shelter, insulate and sustain that vibrant medium.

Plants feed beneficial soil life with a constant flow of glucose, some of which is converted

to humus (to offer more long term support to both microbes and crops). There is a constant,

dynamic flow of communication between plants and plants, plants and microbes and between

all forms of soil life. This ceaseless chatter is all about maximising the health and vitality

of this inextricably interrelated universe beneath our feet. When you remove the plants

from this community, the system crashes very quickly. That is one big reason why you never

leave soils bare.

While a living cover is preferable, at least a mulch provides food and protection to the soil

and its inhabitants. Nutrition gardeners gradually embrace this nurturing instinct, as they

develop a genuine reverence for their soil. They become soil lovers.

 

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Learning to Love Cover

 

Cover cropping has become something of a global phenomenon, as farmers discover

the benefits of this sustainable strategy. However, home food producers need to know

why they would also benefit. The concept obviously involves avoiding a naked soil,

for the reasons already considered, but there are many other benefits.

 

7 Reasons To Run For Cover

 

To provide biodiversity

we are learning to work with Nature, and biodiversity is the dominating principle

throughout this realm. The simple fact is that plants do better in the presence of

other plants. People tend to congregate in cities, and the more ethnic diversity

present, the greater the fun, food and culture. Imagine how boring Australian cuisine

would be in the absence of Asian, African and European influence. We might just

as well stay at home munching our meat pies and two veg, to the music of Tex Morton

and Slim Dusty. The point is that diversity is critical for microbes, plants and humans.

“The more the merrier” is a driving dynamic when considering species diversity.

Ignoring this natural law is a fatal flaw in the monoculture model of modern farming.

In one study involving cover crop trials in multiple US states, it was found that,

in every case, the plots with the greatest diversity delivered the best outcomes.

 

To help manage weeds

if you have raised beds in your garden (and you probably should for optimal drainage),

then the inter-row could host a cocktail cover crop rather than providing a haven

for weeds. You are effectively “choosing your weeds” in this instance, by replacing

unwanted invaders with functional plants offering multiple benefits

 

To feed soil life

your cover crop means you are achieving more photosynthesis per square metre.

50% of the glucose produced from the sugar factories in the leaves is pumped down

to feed the roots. 60% of that carbon is then exuded into the soil to feed the army

of organisms surrounding the root. Some of that sweet feedstock is converted to

stable humus. In this manner, your cover crop is a means of carbon sequestration,

to help reverse global heating. It is also important to realise that different plants

feed different microbes, so the greater the biodiversity above ground, the greater

the biodiversity below.

 

To build humus

the carbon sequestration opportunity involves more than glucose exudates to the

root zone. When the cover crop is turned in, or slashed with a line trimmer, it can

decompose and further increase organic matter. The oxygen pathways introduced

by deep-rooted cover crops, like daikon radish, can further stimulate humus-building

organisms.

 

To prevent erosion

in the US, 3 – 5 tonnes of topsoil per year is lost through erosion. There are just 60

years until zero topsoil remains on our planet, unless we change the way we grow

food. We cannot survive without topsoil! This problem is worsening with the dramatic

increase in extreme weather events associated with climate change. A naked soil is

an invitation for erosion, as there is no plant root-stabilising effect, and no building

of the ‘glue’ (humus and microbial exudates) that holds everything together.

 

To manage pests and nurture bees

plants like mustard and marigolds are very effective in countering the most destructive

of all crop pests, root knot nematodes. Brassicas emit biochemicals from their roots,

which can reduce root disease in other food crops. However, it is important to rotate

brassica plantings in your garden with other species to avoid a buildup of these chemicals.

Cover crops can also serve as trap crops for pests to keep them away from your

vegetables. Alternatively, they can also be host plants for beneficial predators. Flowering

cover crops can also attract and feed pollinators. This will boost production in your

garden while feeding the all-important honey bee. These creatures are really struggling

around the globe at present. A condition called Colony Collapse Disorder is decimating

beehives, to the point that beekeeping is no longer a viable profession in some regions.

Insecticides called neonicotinoids, GMO crops and electromagnetic radiation from phone

towers seem to have combined to mess up the immunity and communication skills of these

critically important creatures. Einstein suggested that the world lasts just four years

in the absence of the honey bee and their pollination gift. Your garden can serve as a

chemical-free haven, to help preserve our bees

 

To supply nitrogen

I have fond memories of my Dad planting his blue lupin cover crop in our vegetable garden.

I was paid ten cents an hour to chop up and turn in this dense, metre-high mass. A few weeks

later the soil was churning with happy earthworms and our nitrogen-rich soil was ready

to plant. Legumes, like lupins, clovers and lucerne, fix nitrogen from the atmosphere and

deliver this desirable ammonium form of nitrogen into the root zone. The ideal ratio between

ammonium and nitrate nitrogen is 3:1 (in favour of ammonium nitrogen) and this ratio is a big

player in pest resistance. You may struggle to achieve this resilience ratio in your garden

without some legumes present in the planting mix.

 

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Cocktail Cover Crops – a Soil-Building Breakthrough

Brazilian agronomist Aldemir Caligari is responsible for a revolutionary cover

cropping finding with wonderful outcomes in agriculture. However, this super-productive

strategy, called cocktail cover cropping, is equally valid for home gardeners

seeking to fast-track improvements in soil structure and humus generation.

Caligari shared a momentous finding. He has demonstrated that, when five specific

plant families are included in a cover crop blend, something amazing happens. The

plant roots begin messaging each other and then initiate an outpouring of phenolic

compounds into the soil. Phenolic compounds are the reason that we drink green tea.

These powerful antioxidants affect us at a cellular level, and it turns out they have

a similar impact upon the trillions of tiny creatures beneath our feet. The soil-life

moves into hyperdrive in the presence of these root exudates and all of the good

things that microbes bring happen much more rapidly. There are some growers claiming

that they are seeing a four-fold increase in positive changes when adopting this 

cocktail cover cropping strategy.

The hyperdrive effect only happens when all five species are involved. The five families

involved include grasses, cereals, legumes, brassicas and chenopods. There are some

cover crop blends that include the first four, but they usually exclude the essential

chenopod component. Chenopods comprise a small group of plants that include the beet

family, spinach, amaranth and quinoa. They are only required at 1% of the total blend but

if they are missing, then so is the big kick. Brassicas should also be seen as something

of a seasoning spice in the recipe. They should not comprise more than 6% of the total mix.

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Once again, it is always better to have as many different plants in the blend as

feasible, in recognition of the “more the merrier” principle. A good home garden

cover crop blend might include ryegrass, barley, wheat, lucerne, three clovers,

daikon radish, kale and silverbeet. You will note that all species are edible here

and you could easily snip as required for a chlorophyll-packed addition to your

green smoothie. You could even juice the young wheatgrass and barley grass at

the height of their antioxidant powers.

 

Next week, in the final segment of this series, we will look at the need to rotate

your food crops. We will also consider the emerging science of companion planting,

and a phenomenon called allelopathy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[itchybromusic]

http://blog.nutri-tech.com.au/ten-tips-home-garden-4/

Edited October 19, 2017 by itchybromusic

[Thirstyman88]

Awesome, never saw this the first time around. Might get some reading in while the wife watches Bachelorette later!

[Mr Brown]

Good read, thanks itchy

 

Posted from the OZ Stoners mobile app

[itchybromusic]

Awesome, never saw this the first time around. Might get some reading in while the wife watches Bachelorette later!

turn the tv off bro ,

it's a " Wealth Hazard "

 

 

Good read, thanks itchy

 

Posted from the OZ Stoners mobile app

no worries Mr B

[Thirstyman88]

Read all of this the other day, fucking amazing article!