Land fertility

Last week was about preventing soil from washing away and this week is about building up the soil. We have damaged our land, air and oceans but we can also improve them, particularly the land for growing crops. Helping nature build up the soil is something everyone can do.

Cleopatra

Cleopatra declared earthworms sacred because of their contribution to soil fertility. I agree with the ancient Egyptians. The first thing I do in a new garden is to turn over a spade fork of ground and look for those vital creatures. I found one in my 3 by 7 foot section on Grenada. Still, it was more than my Ghana garden of laterite soil or the new home in Missouri.

Laterite soil for my garden (zia pits shown) had almost no organic matter

Years ago I moved into a new house in Missouri. The developer had stripped away the topsoil and the A layer of subsoil leaving second layer clay subsoil for the lawn. This was great for the kids who could just go out and pull some clay to make little bowls, animals, and figures. It was not great for the garden.

My son did a science project about what to add to the subsoil so grass would better grow on everyone’s new lawn (a common problem the first few years). Far and away the best was the addition of compost (worm castings not available for the experiment). The grass grew much faster, was more dense, and greener.

Compost

I’ve never had a garden, never seen a farm, that didn’t benefit from increased organic material in the soil. If one has ready access to large quantities of “brown” and “green” plant material to give a balanced carbon and nitrogen rich diet to the aerobic bacteria then you can make a lot of compost. Turning on a schedule and keeping the mound moist is a fast composting practice. I would use this approach if I was improving a large garden or farm and had access to the material.

Some of my compost piles in the past have been more low maintenance accepting whatever kitchen, garden and lawn wastes onto a pile with little consideration other than watering and turning at some point. This method takes longer, working on the annual cycle for my temperate gardens in the states. In the spring I would take the bottom part of the pile – apply it to the seed rows and plants and put some into the top of the pile to “inculcate” and spread the bacteria.

The method I use now is just to collect the kitchen scraps in a covered pile and then bury in a pattern in my small garden.

If you have a garden, and I think many Peace Corps volunteers live in a rural setting where everyone has one, then I see throwing away kitchen plant wastes as a waste. Filling a land fill with compostable plant material is horrible, particularly for those living on islands with limited land for agriculture.

Top Soil

By grove of cacao, at a road embankment, I noted about 7 inches of topsoil that I haven't seen in the gardens or farms around

We should be working to improve our productive soils and compost helps build up topsoil. The farmers in the Upper West of Ghana recognized the value of composting. I attended a composting training session in Ghana by a friend in the Farmer to Farmer program. The problem there was the scarcity of plant material. It would be much easier in the Caribbean islands.

Roger, William, and I at a composting training given by William

Some of the green (nitrogen) and brown (carbon) material for the pit

In the Upper West of Ghana pits are more appropriate as bins require extra material and they need to conserve water
Other places would probably use the first two methods above ground

The farmers and people I’ve talked to on Grenada like to say that their soil is fertile and they don’t see much need to improve it when I ask about it. Peace Corps staff also seems uninterested in the idea. (I’ve only seen organic rich gardens or farms on the flood plains, so I disagree.)

On the other hand on my first day on Dominica yesterday I was able to talk to a woman about different ways to improve her soil and after listening briefly she will likely use a trench method and maybe a bin for grass clippings. One my second day on Dominica I saw a garden with dark reach soil that looked (without a soil analysis of course) very rich, better than any I've seen on Grenada. (How I miss Dominica and wish Peace Corps would allow me to return. Next week I hope or so I hope to have a post on my visit....)

A demonstration on the value of composting in a garden would be helpful for those who don’t see the benefit. If I extend in Grenada I’ll push the school to build a real three tier bin, hopefully made out of wasted bamboo. And then I’ll do some demonstration work with potted plants.

Other methods to improve the soil

In Missouri I also had several apple trees that I pruned annually. After the majors parts dried I would dig a trench in the garden and organize the branches with newspaper. I would the light the paper and wait until the branches started burning. As the fire moved along I would bury it back – essentially making biochar.

I’ve read about higelkultur, but I’ve never tried it. If I had been allowed to return to Dominica after the hurricane I would have tried to adopt a modified approach to build up terracing of the waste wood from the downed branches and trees - covered with dirt and supported by vetiver on the contour lines.

All of these and other approaches to help nature build up the fertile topsoil layer to increase garden and farm production are easy. Turning waste products into productive use is environmentally and economically valuable for the individual, island nation, and the world.

Kite flying

Last Thursday was the last day of school for the kids and it was a kite flying day – or as I like to call it – “Mr. John give my kite a shoot.” “Mr. John untangle my line.” I was able to get my 35+ year old dragon kite off the ground.