How to use Climate Compost Inoculum in Your Garden

Small but mighty – learn how we get the most out of our Climate Compost and transform your growing space.

At The Land Gardeners we have spent years researching and making Climate Compost. We have seen how, unlike other composts, it is alive – full with microbial life – and we have seen how this life has enlivened the microlife in our soils – our dahlias grow taller and stronger, our sweet peas have longer stems and healthier blooms and the garden where we have used it consistently over 6 years has shown a dramatic rise in soil organic matter content. We have seen the balance it brings about in the garden – no need for pesticides or chemical fertilisers – our soil has become spongey and water retentive – our food more delicious and nutrient dense – and there is a balance of wildlife, a harmony. We can feel the life emanating up from the soil. It has become a place of beauty in a real sense – full of life force.

Climate Compost inoculum is abundant with naturally occurring soil microbes, which is why you don’t need to use it in large quantities, a little really does go a long way!

Purchase Climate Compost from our Shop.

The Photosynthesis Machine

What happens when plants photosynthesise? And what can this tell us about the soil and solutions beneath our feet?

Kay Baxter, one of our first soil heroes and mentors, has the most incredible knowledge of soil and how it relates to nature. An organic grower for 50 years and the founder of the Koanga Institute in NZ, she continues to be our source of inspiration along with the other Kiwi in our life, the amazing agroecologist Nicole Masters. Between them they have a depth of understanding how nature both above and below ground dances together.

Kay and her film company Regenerative Productions have made a film with her grandson called ‘The Photosynthesis Machine’ which we go back to time and time again. It describes this simple yet sophisticated machine where plants and soil in partnership regenerate life, build humus to sequester carbon, grow nutrient dense food and breathe out oxygen.

This is a summary:

The more efficient the photosynthesis machine the more effectively the plant and soil microbes work together to build and regenerate the soil and to create healthy nutrient dense plants.

At the start, when a seed is planted its electrical current attracts moisture from the soil. A high quality seed contains lots of sugars (which are made of carbon). The higher the carbon the greater the electrical current and the greater the moisture attracted. The size and strength of the root and the shoot is determined by the energy from the seed.

The shoot produces a leaf which starts photosynthesising, making sugars from the sun’s energy. Up to 40% of these sugars (depending on plant stress and species) are actually pumped day and night, down through the plant to feed the soil microbes.

The microbes, especially fungi, feed off these sugars and in exchange give the plants minerals from the soil, bringing nutrients from far away which the roots couldn’t reach by themselves. Phosphate in the soil acts as a taxi for these minerals.

The higher the sugars and the minerals in the plants the higher the nutrient density or ‘brix’ of the plant (German scientist, Adolf Brix, devised a method for measuring the sugar content of aqueous solution in the early 1800s). The higher the brix the stronger the electromagnetic field of the plant. A highly functioning plant will have a greater nutrient density and arguably a better taste.

Furthermore the healthier the plant the more resistant it will be to insect and fungal attacks. Some insects and fungi only digest simple sugars while plants with high sugar levels contain complex proteins and minerals which do not attract insects and fungi.

To conclude:

The healthier the soil the more efficient the photosynthesis machine–the more nutrients the microbes will give to the plant, the more carbon the plant can extract from the air, the more sugars the plant will have and so on in an everlasting circle of regeneration. This is as Kay Baxter says ‘the ultimate regenerative process’.

Chemical farming with fertilisers (eg synthetic nitrogen), herbicides, pesticides and fungicides does not work in tandem with this photosynthesis machine. The plant is unable to catalyse fertilisers in the way nature intended. They upset the healthy microbe balance in the soil, often killing soil microbes and upsetting the phosphate cycle. As a result we grow low sugar, pest and disease affected crops that do not taste good, nor store well, nor do they support the regeneration of the soil. When we grow or choose to eat these plants we deplete the soil of minerals, carbon, humus and life. Our health and that of the planet suffers.

We need the photosynthesis machine to work effectively so we create humus, producing plants with high sugars, high minerals, high electromagnetic fields and high nutrient density. We need to grow high quality food for the optimal health of animals and humans on earth and we need to sequester carbon permanently in our soils to alleviate climate change and build better soils for future generations.

Compost Cake Recipe

Everything you need to know about baking your own no-turn, microbe-rich compost cake.

We learnt this aerobic Compost Cake from Kay Baxter in New Zealand. It is designed to produce high humus content compost that will provide the soil with minerals needed to make nutrient-rich, healthy plants. This cake requires no turning and produces humus-rich compost in six months. We make our Compost Cakes from spring to autumn; we always make our final fling of cakes when we dig up our dahlias and clear much of the garden in October (always leaving seed heads for birds and insects).

These autumn cakes ‘bake’ throughout the winter, ready for digging into the garden in the spring. For those of you who have got used to the bay-system of making compost these cakes will initially feel frustrating but you can still use your bays as storage as they are brilliant for organising your different ingredients like a pantry–or you can layer up your compost within your bays along the lines below. We recommend you gather ingredients over time, storing them in piles or in your compost bays. Note if you have to store nitrogen for any length of time always layer carbon in between to stop it putrefying (we often keep a pile of leaves, a bail of straw or some young woodchip to layer with grass clippings). On the day of making your cake try to gather some fresh greens as these help to activate the pile.

INGREDIENTS:

CARBON

Carbon sources are essentially mature plant materials that have gone to seed and become brown eg straw, old hay, brown leaves, stalks, seed heads as well as plain brown cardboard. Artichokes, Jerusalem artichokes, lupins, oats, quinoa, millet and amaranth are all sources of carbon which we often grow in rows to feed our Compost Cakes. Young woodchips (from twigs or small branches) or hedgerow clippings are good sources of carbon. Often referred to as Ramial Chipped Wood–these woodchips are from branches which are less than 7cm in diameter. Old woodchips cannot be used in the cake as their higher lignin levels make them too difficult to break down over 6 months.

NITROGEN

Nitrogen sources are leafy, green, immature plant materials that are actively growing eg grass cuttings, fresh weeds and garden clippings as well as organic animal manure. Animal manure is not essential–but organic poultry manure adds high levels of phosphate and even one organic cow pat diluted in a bucket of water will be highly beneficial poured over your pile, bringing valuable minerals and microbes. Fresh weeds are a good source of nitrogen but we would not advise putting in perennials weeds (eg ground elder, bindweed or seeding dock) as the pile may not become hot enough to kill them. We grow comfrey (Bocking 14), valerian, yarrow and nettles in the garden to layer in our Compost Cakes as they are nitrogen and mineral-rich. If you have food waste we recommend treating it with Bokashi before it goes into your Compost Cake.

CLAY

A tiny percentage of clay helps hold the minerals in the pile whilst the humus is forming. It is best if this is dried out and fine before adding to the pile. We often spread it out on a hard surface, let it dry in the sun and then break it up. Alternatively we mix clay with water in a bucket, stir it and form a clay slurry to use in layers in the Compost Cake (ideally we suggest two buckets of clay slurry per cake). We use clay because it acts as a home for the microbes and as a pantry for the food and moisture needed by the microbes. Clay is made up of very fine particles so that the combined surface area of all the particles in a peanut-sized clod equals the area of a tennis court. The particles also carry a negative charge so each one is capable of forming bonds with the positively charged particles (ions) of the essential plant nutrients. The expansive surface area and attraction of clay particles mean that both water and nutrients are attracted to it, acting as a pantry of food for the microbes. If you do not have access to any clay in your garden it is possible to buy bentonite clay.

GOOD LOAMY SOIL AND OLD COMPOST

The existing micro-organisms in good loamy soil and old compost help to start the decomposition process of the pile. The soil helps to hold water, prevents the temperature spiking and holds minerals while the humus is forming.

WATER

Ideally use water from a borehole to avoid chlorine as it harms the microbes. Alternatively attach a simple carbon filter to your hose or leave buckets of tap water outside for a few hours for the chlorine to evaporate before making your cake.

BIOCHAR

Biochar is a high-carbon form of charcoal that is produced by heating organic matter at an extremely high temperature and in the absence of oxygen. It adds a highly stable form of carbon and holds onto minerals and moisture.

OPTIONAL ADDITIONS

There are other optional additions that we often add to our Compost Cakes in thin layers:

Climate Compost - inoculates the cake with beneficial microbes to aid decomposition and the formation of humus.

Seaweed–is rich in minor minerals (including calcium, potassium, magnesium, and iron). Ensure it is from an ecologically

sustainable source.

EQUIPMENT

• 6–8 hazel stakes to form the cake

• Cover for rain - we use Toptex or thatch with old straw bails

• Ideally rainwater or filtered water

• Hose or watering cans

MAKING THE CAKE

The optimal size is 1.6m diameter and 1.2m high. This allows the cake to maintain temperature and a good structure aiding the creation of humus. A 60:1 carbon:nitrogen ratio promotes the development of humus and a diverse range of microbial life, without allowing the cake to overheat. To achieve this in volume terms we use a ratio of approximately 3 parts carbon, to a 1/2 part of greens and a 1/4 part soil/old compost. We build these up in repeated layers.

Place bamboo stakes in a circle of 1.6m diameter, forking the base ground to aerate it.

Start the layering process, making sure the first carbon layer of the cake has structural carbon to maintain airflow, for example, artichoke, cardoon, corn or sunflower stems.

Build up the cake with a 12cm layer of carbon (the sponge), followed by a 2cm layer of nitrogen (the jam) and a 1cm layer of mixed old compost and clay (the cream).

It is important to water each layer as you go. Each layer should be as moist as a wrung out sponge so that a drop or two of water falls when squeezing the material in your hands. Too much moisture means less air flow and anaerobic conditions, not enough makes decomposition difficult.

Continue until the cake is approximately 1.2m high. Cover it with a 15cm thick layer of straw or a layer of Toptex so that the top of the heap forms a mound to allow water to run off. Place a thermometer in the central-top third of the pile to monitor the temperature.

We always finish our cake with a flower.

COMPOST PREPARATIONS

We also like to use biodynamic preparations in our Compost Cakes: Yarrow 502, Chamomile 503, Nettle 504, Oak bark 505 and Dandelion 506 and the liquid Valerian 507, but this is not essential.

When you have finished your Compost Cake make five little balls of clay (you can buy bentonite clay or you may have an area of clay in your garden - you can often find this under your topsoil). Push your finger into one of them and put a pinch of one of the (non-liquid) compost preparations inside it. Repeat for the other 5 preparations. Place these balls spaced out into five holes on the top of your Compost Cake.

Pour half the liquid preparation Valerian 507 into a hole in the middle of the cake and then spray the other half over it to mobilise the phosphate-activating bacteria in the pile.

Stage 1 – DECOMPOSITION

The heap will be damp, the colour light brown/green and the aroma musty. The cake may heat to 57/60°C in the first two weeks but will then go down to ambient temperature over the next few weeks. However do not be alarmed if it does not go over 50°C.

Cakes that stay low in temperature hold more carbon (rather than sending it up into the atmosphere in the form of CO2). Sometimes we make our cakes with vertical perforated pipes to release excess heat as ideally you do not want the temperature to rise over 65°C as this harms the good microbes. Unlike our hot composting windrows we cannot guarantee that the cakes are weed-free but they will be full of beneficial microbial life.

Stage 2 – HUMUS-BUILDING

The temperature and moisture levels will lower and the colour will turn dark brown with an earthy smell. When the compost is crumbly (after approximately 6 months) and you can see life crawling around in it, this is when your compost will be close to maturity. We dig out the material from the middle and use the outside material to form our next Compost Cake.

If you want to see this in action watch Kay Baxter’s course Growing Great Compost or our Create Academy Soil Course.

HOW TO TEST YOUR COMPOST

Whilst we carry out a variety of laboratory tests on our Climate Compost, there are simple visual assessments you can carry out at home to judge if your compost is fully digested and mature. Mature compost should be a rich warm brown colour. Grey or black tones indicate a lack of oxygen (insufficient aeration) and that the organic matter has putrefied. There should be no visible plant fibres (i.e. identifiable organic matter). It should feel crumbly, cool, and slightly sticky (but not wet). It should not feel gritty. The ideal moisture content should be between 50-60%. This can be measured simply by dehydrating a sample of compost in an oven (at a low temperature) and comparing the mass before and after. A mature compost should be within 5°C of the ambient temperature of the surroundings. If the temperature is higher than this, it suggests that the microbes are still ‘working’, so more time is needed for the compost to become fully mature.

An Introduction to Composting Methods

From Bokashi to Johnson-Su, biodynamics to vermicast – compost can be confusing. Cutting through the muck, here's our beginners guide to help find the right method for you.

BOKASHI

EQUIPMENT

• A bokashi bucket – a bin with a tight-fitting lid

• A bag of inoculated bokashi bran

• Kitchen waste

Bokashi is a way of breaking down your kitchen waste through fermentation rather than composting. Unlike aerobic composting it can deal with meat and dairy, and is an anerobic process (i.e. requiring an absence of oxygen) that relies on inoculated bran to ferment the waste. The bran is inoculated with beneficial microbes (or EM - Effective Micro-organisms) that proliferate in anaerobic, acid conditions, similar to the active organisms in yoghurt. You can make the bokashi bran at home (Korean farmers have been collecting and culturing these naturally occurring micro-organisms for centuries) or buy it online.

METHOD

Place your kitchen waste in the bucket, press down and cover with a handful of bran. Repeat each time you add waste.

When the bucket is full, seal it shut and leave it for 2 to 3 weeks to pickle. After 2 to 3 weeks you can bury the Bokashi directly into a fallow spot in your garden as long as it is not near any plant roots. As the Bokashi has fermented the food and neutralised any smells, it should no longer attract vermin when put into your compost.

Alternatively, ‘finish off’ the pickled waste in a wormery (if you have space) or in a Compost Cake. The anaerobic process of the Bokashi bin followed by the aerobic process in the wormery, or your compost, combine to get the most nutrients out of your food waste.

WORMERY

EQUIPMENT

• Worm composter – we like a tray wormery

• Worm food

• Worm bedding

• Compost worms (Eisenia fetida - also known as brandling, manure, tiger or red worms).

This type of worm is ideal for converting your kitchen waste into nutrients. Their worm castings, ‘vermicast’, contain a diverse community of microbes which benefit the soil. Unlike earthworms which are soil dwellers, composting worms live in decaying organic matter.

METHOD

Keep your wormery in a shed or sheltered place in your garden (worms like warm, moist conditions). Place a layer of bedding in one tray; compost is perfect. Add the composting worms and cover with food waste, meat, paper, cardboard, tea bags, flowers or leaves.

Avoid dairy, spicy food, grass cuttings and chicken manure. Thereafter add small amounts of waste regularly to feed the worms.

As the worms are surface dwellers they will eat the waste and then move upwards towards the next tray, allowing you to remove the vermicast from the bottom tray. They will survive for up to four weeks without fresh food so you can go on holiday!

TOP TIP: We advise NOT using the liquid which drains off your wormery. As Nicole Masters says ‘This liquid is a combination of the undecomposed food wastes, dribbling through the worm castings. It can contain diseases and nitrates. The production of liquid is telling you that your worm bed is bacterially dominated, and more carbon-rich materials are needed, such as cardboard and wood chips. Good quality commercially available worm tea extracts (vermiliquid) are extracted by flushing water though the finished vermicast. The chocolate colour in vermiliquid is the humic substances and the golden colour is due to fulvic acid – both essential bio-stimulants and plant health promotants.’

BIODYNAMICS

Biodynamics is a philosophy and an approach to growing. Struck by the damaging route that agriculture was taking, in 1924 Rudolf Steiner launched his Agriculture Course in which he warned against the widespread use of chemical fertilisers, the decline of soil, plant and animal health and the subsequent devitalisation of food. His recommendations formed the basis of the biodynamic method which recognised the interplay of cosmic and earthly influences on the earth.

Jane Scotter grows biodynamically on her farm Fern Verrow in Wales, producing incredible produce for Skye Gyngell’s restaurant Spring in London. As Jane says ‘it gives clarity and understanding of things that are greater than ourselves. It connects you to the unseen forces that work with the polarity of the earth and the planets and the moon. It’s about feel, instinct and intuition’.

We grow biodynamically as often as we can, following the Maria Thun calendar. Observing the lunar effect on plants, Maria divided them into fruit, root, leaf and flowering groups and indicated days for sowing and planting each of them. We also use biodynamic preparations in the garden and compost preparations when we make our Compost Cakes. It seems airy fairy but as Jane say ‘Biodynamics is magic. Not airy fairy silly magic. It is very real’. The more you grow biodynamically the more you feel connected to the seasons, to the rhythms of the earth. And the produce that is grown in this way is undeniably better tasting, healthier and has longer shelf life. You can feel the life force within it.’

BIODYNAMIC PREPARATIONS

There are 9 biodynamic preparations that act like healing remedies for the earth. You can make your own preparations or you can order them through the Biodynamic Association. See Resources for biodynamic books on how to make these preparations and useful websites. We love 500 and 501.

Horn Manure 500: made from cow-manure filled horns buried in September and left in the ground over winter. Spray in the evening or on a cloudy day in spring to bring heat and light forces to pull roots down to give plants a solid foundation.

Horn Silica 501: made from silica-filled horns buried over the summer and stored throughout winter: Spray early on a sunny morning in spring and through the growing season to encourage your plants to stretch upwards like the rising sun and develop their shoots, leaves, flowers and fruits.

COMPOST PREPARATIONS

We use these preparations in our Compost Cakes: Yarrow 502, Chamomile 503, Nettle 504, Oak bark 505 and Dandelion 506 and the liquid Valerian 507.

METHOD

When you have finished your Compost Cake make 5 little balls of clay (you can buy bentonite clay or you may have an area of clay in your garden). Push your finger into one of them and put a pinch of one of the (non-liquid) compost preparations inside it.

Repeat for the other 5 preparations. Place these balls spaced out into 5 holes on the top of your Compost Cake. Pour half the liquid preparation Valerian 507 into a hole in the middle of the cake and then spray the other half over it to mobilise the phosphateactivating bacteria in the pile.

Using Valerian 507: As we allow beautiful, sweet, vanilla-scented valerian flowers to seed freely around the garden, we often make this preparation. Pick the flowers when half open, mix them with water and hang in a bottle from a tree for 3 days. Strain, pour back into the bottle and cork. We use this preparation in spring, spraying it onto plants to protect them against frost and pouring into our Compost Cakes and onto the soil to mobilise phosphate-activating bacteria.

COMPOST BAYS

EQUIPMENT

• Ideally 3 or more bays (untreated slatted or solid wood), 1.2m to 1.7m cubed, sitting on soil

• Compost or turkey thermometer

• Toptex semi-permeable membrane

AS A PANTRY

We use our timber compost bays as a pantry for our Compost Cakes, storing carbon in one bay and nitrogen in another as we gather them until we make our cake. It is important to add layers of fibrous carbon between the nitrogen if we are keeping it for any length of time to stop it putrfiying. For example grass clippings can become a putrified pile of sludge all too quickly so we add layers of autumn leaves, straw, twiggy materials or even cardboard on top of them each time we mow and add them to the pile. We use our third bay for excess turf we have rolled up, clay under a tarpaulin or biochar. When we come to make our Compost Cake all the ingredients are ready and on hand.

TO MAKE COMPOST

Follow the same principles as the Compost Cake to make compost in your existing bays over time.

Start by layering a good depth (30cm) of fibrous carbon at the bottom of the bay and then as you gather greens from your garden or mow the lawn add them to the pile when they are as fresh as possible. These nitrogenous greens fire up the pile but make sure the green layer is no more than 15cm deep otherwise this will become a putrified, anerobic layer.

At this stage, add a layer of carbon such as old hay, leaves, straw, hedge clippings or even cardboard before you add your next layer of nitrogen. We aim for our carbon layer to be two to three times as deep as the layer of nitrogen. To keep the pile moist, water your carbon with a hose as you add it to the pile.

Cover with a layer of toptex to stop it from becoming too wet but still allow it to breathe.

Remember you are trying to ensure there is sufficient temperature, plenty of air and water in the pile. Keep a thermometer in the pile. If the temperature goes over 65 degrees celsius turn it or open up the pile to cool it down.

When the bay is full, turn the pile with a strong fork into a neighbouring timber bay, mixing and watering well and leave for another few months.

When your compost is brown and friable, after approximately 12 to 18 months, it is ready to use in the garden.

JOHNSON-SU BIOREACTOR

A Johnson-Su bioreactor is a method of creating fungal-rich compost developed by molecular biologist Dr Johnson and his wife Hui-Chun Su.

Consisting of a simple barrel of netting filled with dried manure, leaf litter and woodchip with a series of pipes to aid airflow and regular watering, this method produces

microbially rich compost after one year.

STATIC FUNGAL PILE

If you have an abundance of older woodchip you can make it into windrow (Toblerone-shaped pile), water it and then leave it uncovered for 18 months to produce a high-fungal compost. Ideally turn the pile every three months. To learn more about this method see Iain Tolhurst’s website.

HOT AEROBIC COMPOSTING

Hot aerobic composting is a method of producing compost quickly in 8 to 12 weeks. It can either be done manually or with a turner on a farmscale. For those of you happy to make a windrow (Toblerone shaped pile), measure it, and turn it regularly for two weeks, this method is for you.

EQUIPMENT

• Compost or turkey thermometer

• Inoculum in the form of old compost, Climate Compost or biodynamic preparations

• Toptex

Find an area which has a gentle slope in the direction of the length of your windrow to allow rainwater to run off with a stable base (eg. brick, compacted gravel or concrete are best) and protection from the wind.

Start building your windrow (or Toblerone) in layers like a lasagne. You are aiming for a pile 1 to 1.2m high x 1.2m wide and as long as you can manage. We suggest starting with a windrow approximately 2 to 3m long.

Start layering carbon and nitrogen alternately, aiming for a ratio of 3 parts carbon to one part nitrogen.

Innoculate the windrow by adding a bucket of old microbial compost in water or add biodynamic preparations.

Finally add 10% of clay or loamy soil. You can also add layers of seaweed, minerals and bokashi.

Blend the windrow by working along it, turning all the materials in order to mix them up and‘ fluffing’ them with a fork as you go to incorporate air. Keep adding plenty of water as you go. You don’t want it dripping wet, but the heap should always contain about 55 to 60% moisture.

Cover it with a compost fleece such as toptex to protect it from becoming too wet or drying out but allowing it to breathe.

Measure the temperature with a digital thermometer. The windrow must reach 58 degrees celsius for several days (approx. 10 days) in order to kill any pathogens. You may need to add nitrogen if it is not heating up (ideally freshly cut grass clippings).

Turn the pile if it reaches 65 degrees celsius (as beneficial microbial life can only tolerate up to this temperature), adding water as you turn to ensurethe windrow remains moist. You are likely to turn every one to two days during the first week to 10 days, then trailing off as the temperature lowers.

As the windrow cools down there is no need to turn it. When the temperature of the pile reaches ambient temperature and looks and feels fully digested (approximately after 6 to 8 weeks) your compost will be ready to use.

How to Test Your Soils

Five handy soil health tests to help you keep an eye on your land.

While soil health can seem like a tricky thing to master, there are a number of quick and easy tests you can do in your garden or on your farm to check-in with the quality of your soil.

Some of these can be done with the help of apps - with Nicole Masters and Abby Rose from Soilmentor collaborating to make easy-to-use benchmarks for testing and monitoring soils in their Soilmentor Regen Platform.

For those of you happy to do things the old fashioined way though, here are a few we practise regularly.

EARTHWORM COUNT TEST

Count earthworms in early autumn or late spring. Dig a hole of 20 x 20 x 20cm. Place dug up soil on a tray. Count the number of earthworms you have and try to identify if they are leaf-litter, top-soil or deep earthworms (Soilmentor has identification photos).

Put all your earthworms back into the hole. Regularly redo these tests over time to see if the number of earthworms increase.

SLAKE TEST

• Spade

• Small bags to carry soil samples and a marker pen for labelling bags

• Sieve

• Cold water

• Stopwatch

Put your spade in the ground to a depth of 20cm and dig up soil. Gently break it apart to find a fist-size sample of soil and place inside a bag. Then select 1-3mm sized lumps of soil from the bag and leave them to dry overnight (or for longer if they are very wet as they must be completely dry before testing). When dry, place the pieces of soil on the sieve and fully immerse into the water until it reaches the lip of the sieve. Start timer for 5 minutes and observe. Take photos for your records. The behaviour of the soil will give you an indication of how healthy your soil is:

Poor: If the soil dissolves into single grains, the lump collapses completely or if the water is cloudy.

Better: If the soil breaks into angular pieces or stays mainly intact with slight crumbly edges.

Best: If the lump stays intact and the water is clear this indicates that your soil is humifying and is resistant to erosion.

RHIZOSHEATH TEST

Dig out a spade of soil beneath plants (20cm x 20cm). Break soil away from roots lightly and shake gently so any loose soil falls away.

Observe if the soil stays attached to the roots. If your soil is in good condition the coatings of soil particles will cling to the plant roots, making them brown instead of white. This shows there is biological/microbial activity in the root zone (rhizosphere) where the soil particles (rhizosheaths) are bound to the roots by biotic glues, secreted by micro-organisms. The soil is aggregating and indicates good soil structure. Note that brassicas, alliums, and asparagus do not form rhizosheaths.

BRIX

• Refractometer

• Garlic crusher

• Dry cloth or kitchen roll

Brix measures the light refracting through dissolved sugars which gives an indication of the nutrient density levels of a plant based on the presence of a diversity of simple and complex sugars in the sap.

Pick a few leaves from a plant and squash them into a garlic crusher. Hold the refractometer in one hand, flip back the plastic flap to expose the glass face. Squeeze one drop of juice from the garlic crusher onto the glass. Then drop the plastic flap on top of the drop of juice so it spreads across the screen. Hold the refractometer up to the sky and look into the lens. Record the number on the scale where the line changes from light blue below to dark blue above and observe how fuzzy the line is.

Clean and dry the glass screen and the garlic crusher. You are aiming for a brix score of over 12 and a fuzzy (not clean, sharp) line. This means you have a nutrient

and mineral dense plant with a longer shelf life. Brix scores are particularly useful as a comparison of the nutrients in your plants over time. If you are taking comparison brix tests always take them at the same time of day.

ALBRECHT TEST

For those who want a more in-depth knowledge of your soil we recommend an Albrecht test which needs to be carried out in a laboratory. Developed by William Albrecht at Missouri University in the 1930s, this test places great emphasis on the development of soil biological activity and improving the availability of nutrients. It is underpinned by the idea that the ratio or balance of nutrients is essential to proper plant nutrition. Ian Robertson at SSM Soil Management offers a range of soil assessments.

How to Prepare Your Beds

A simple guide on how to prepare your beds for planting.

EQUIPMENT

• Turf Cutter (if making new beds)

• String and stakes (if making new beds)

• Broadfork - 35cm or 75cm width depending on your beds. We use a 75cm width broadfork and set our beds to this but the 35cm broadfork is very handy in borders or narrow beds. Or you can aerate with a long-tined fork

• Soil rake - we use a copper Perseus rake , a heavy bed preparation rake or a nail rake

• Compost - preferably weed free, microbially rich compost

CREATING NEW BEDS FOR PLANTING

If you are creating beds for the first time you must decide on the size of your new beds. It is practical to choose beds that are the width of a broadfork (approx. 75cm wide) or make beds a broadfork width within larger beds and have narrow paths of bricks, grass, straw or low green manures (see our Green Manure Recipes page 48) in between them.

This width is perfect as you can access the beds from either side and there is no need to stand on it.

Mark out the beds using a string and a stake.

If you need to remove turf, we recommend hiring a turf cutter to remove the top 5cm of grass and soil which is where you find most of the weed seed. Roll up the turf and stack in piles to rot down for use in your compost.

Broadfork beds with compost.

REVIVING EXISTING BEDS WITH A BROADFORK AND COMPOST

If your beds are excessively weedy try to remove the worst offenders by hand. If mildly weedy broadfork them to loosen the soil and make weed removal easier. Then broadfork in compost.

MAINTAINING BEDS

It is best to manage the gardens with hoeing and mulching with green manures and leaves in autumn so you do not disturb the soil. However, if you are growing tulips, dahlias or potatoes you will need to dig into the soil, so add a generous amount of compost in the bottom of the planting pockets to add life into the soil.

HOW TO BROADFORK A BED

Ideally do not disturb the soil as the structure is so precious. However if it is compacted or not in good condition we aerate the soil using a broadfork. Never stand on the beds and never have bare soil (ie keep plants growing in soil) so the soil can self-organise and build a humifying structure. This means you can practise no-till and mulch your beds instead of digging. To learn more about no-dig follow Charles Dowding.

METHOD:

Spread 1 to 5cm of microbially rich, weed-free compost on your bed in a strip the width of your broadfork. Starting at one end, stand on the fork so it goes fully into the ground. Lever it back around 45 degrees lifting it gently allowing the air into the soil.

Lift the fork out and walking backwards, put the fork into the ground around 15cm from the first line and repeat. The soil will rise from the surrounding soil by about 10 to 20cm. As you go, the compost will trickle down into the soil. When you have finished go back and then gently rake the soil to prepare the bed for sowing seeds or planting seedlings or plants.

A Guide to Green Manures

Perfect for opening up compacted soils, releasing minerals, supporting biodiversity and suppressing weeds, green manures are a powerhouse for soil health.

We sow green manures throughout the year. They are brilliant infills for bare patches of earth; remember you always want plants growing in the soil to keep the photosynthesis machine working. They also benefit the health of the soil, opening up compacted soil, releasing minerals to the plant or fixing nitrogen and they are good weed suppressors.

We choose a variety of green manures depending on the time of year, how long we need them to grow for and how we want to help our soils. Our favourite green manures are alfalfa, buckwheat, crimson clover, fenugreen, fodder radish, forage rye, mustard, phacelia, white clover, winter tares(vetch) and yellow trefoil.

For varieties and their properties see our book ‘The Land Gardeners Cut Flowers’.

TOP TIP: Be aware that buckwheat, forage rye, vetch and black mustard inhibit the growth of seeds (allelopathic). If sowing seeds, allow four weeks after they have been been cut down. If planting seedlings, they can be planted straight away as they will not be affected.

FOR QUICK-GROWING GREEN MANURES IN SPRING AND SUMMER

Sow buckwheat, fenugreek, phacelia and mustard regularly throughout the spring and summer to fill in bare patches of earth, interplant between other crops and suppress weeds. We grow them until they are in flower, then cut them down, leaving their roots in the soil and using the stems on our compost. Or we grow them as a groundcover for a couple of weeks before hoeing them off at ground level.

TO BREAK UP COMPACTED SOILS

Sow fodder radish (in summer), phacelia (from spring to autumn) or alfalfa (for longer-term coverage) to penetrate compacted soils.

FOR LATE AUTUMN SOWING

Sow green manures to prevent damage from winter rains both washing away nutrients or compacting soil, to improve the structure of the soil, particularly to open up clay soils, and prevent weed germination. After we lift our dahlias in October, we sow phacelia which will survive a mild winter or forage rye to protect the soil through the winter. We also sow field beans over the top of our tulip bulbs in early spring.

In spring, the bulbs appear, we harvest them, then the field beans come up, we then cut down the field beans, leaving the roots in the soil as they fix nitrogen, and plant our cosmos through the remaining stubble. Forage rye is not attractive but is a good choice to withstand winter cold and wet and can be sown late in autumn.

FOR UNDER-SOWING

Sow yellow trefoil, winter tare (vetch) and white clover beneath or underneath other plants (eg roses or dahlias) to suppress weeds and feed the soil. All these fix nitrogen in the soil.

FOR LONGER COVERAGE

Sow alfalfa in summer as it is a frost hardy perennial so it will over-winter. You can grow it for 2 to 3 years, cutting it down regularly for your compost. It is good for dry soils and deep rooting. White clover is another good choice for a long-term green manure, for under-sowing, suppressing weeds and fixing nitrogen.

FOR BEES AND INSECTS

All green manures are good for insect life. We particularly like purple-flowered phacelia, white-flowered buckwheat and crimson clover.

FOR SOWING ON PATHS

A mix of three annual clovers – persian, egyptian and crimson – are good for suppressing weeds and fixing nitrogen between rows in the vegetable garden. You can mix this yourself or The Vineyard Fertility Building Mix is available from Cotswold Seeds.

FOR DIFFERENT SOIL TYPES

For dry soils – alfalfa and phacelia.

For light soils – buckwheat.

For clay soils – forage rye.

For heavy soils–field beans or winter tare (vetch).

For fertile soils – mustard.

For moist soils – fenugreek.

For sandy soils – crimson clover.

Buckwheat

Cosmos Seedling

Crimson Clover planted by Sweet Peas

Field Beans

Laying Field Beans as Mulch

Sweet peas to fix nitrogen

Herbs as Green Manures

Herbs as Green Manures

Teas to Heal Your Soil and Plants

Teas for nutrients, weeds, pests and diseases. Learn from our tried and tested brews and make your own plant and soil remedies.

Teas are a quick and relatively easy way to start making meaningful improvements to your soil quality. For those just starting out however, take a quick look at our top tips before moving on to the recipies.

1) Use unchlorinated water as chlorine harms the microbes we're trying to protect. You can gather this either by collecting rainwater, attaching a carbon filter to your hose or by leaving a bucket of tap water outside overnight.

2) Use your teas straight away on a dull day or in the early morning or the evening to avoid bright sunshine as the UV light also kills microbes.

3) When applying your teas, we recommend spraying them on to the leaves and around the base of the plant with a watering can.

Now you're ready to start brewing!

COMPOST TEAS

WITHOUT A COMPOST TEA MAKER

• A handful of Climate Compost inoculum or similar microbial compost

• 5 to 7 litres water

• Watering can

Place compost into a watering can of water and ‘dynamise’ or stir so you create a vortex in the middle until the compost is mostly dissolved. The microbes are aerobic so by stirring this way you incorporate air into the process.

WITH A COMPOST TEA MAKER

• 1.5 litres Climate Compost inoculum or similar microbial compost

• Muslin bag

• Compost tea maker (we use a 40L Growing Solutions compost tea maker- see Resources)

• 40 litres water

• Catalyst (food for microbes) we use Growing Solutions catalyst or a cup of seaweed

Fill the tea maker with water and catalyst. Place the muslin bag of compost into the basket. Brew for 24 hours.

Dilute 1:1 with water in a watering can.

NUTRIENT BOOSTING TEAS

We regularly use comfrey, nettle, and weeds for nutrient boosting teas. Follow the same recipe for each tea below.

WEED TEA

• An old pillowcase or muslin bag

• A large container of water

• Diverse selection of weeds including roots, stems, and leaves. (Gather weeds after clearing beds, the more varieties the better, to add diverse nutrients such as calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, copper, boron, manganese, and zinc.)

• Leaves and stems of each plant – ideally when just about to flower as this is when they are most nutrient dense.

Place muslin bag of leaves into a bucket of water and leave for 3 weeks. Dilute approximately 1 part tea to 7 parts water in a watering can (it should be the colour of a weak cup of tea) and water onto your plants.

COMFREY TEA

Comfrey leaves (Bocking 14 variety). This is wonderful for all garden plants, especially for fruiting crops like cucumbers and tomatoes as it is rich in potash and trace elements, such as boron, which these plants need to flower and set fruit.

NETTLE TEA

This nutrient dense tea is good for plants and people – full of iron, magnesium, calcium, and potassium. Use for a nutrient boost or when plants are stressed from hot or cold weather or to stop leaves yellowing with chlorosis.

TEAS FOR HEALING FUNGAL ATTACK AND POWDERY MILDEW

GARLIC TEA

• 3 to 4 garlic cloves

• 1 to 2 litres water

• Sieve or muslin

Soak chopped garlic in cold water for 2 days. Strain in a sieve or muslin and spray onto grey mould on plants (Botrytis) without diluting.

YARROW TEA TO DISCOURAGE MILDEW

• 50g yarrow flowers

• 5 litres water

• Sieve or muslin

These sulphur-rich flowers discourage fungal infections and powdery mildew in ornamentals like roses and peonies. Add flowers to water and bring to the boil. Strain and dilute 1 cup in a watering can of water and apply. You can add nettle tea to this if you want to control insects.

MINT TEA TO DISCOURAGE PESTS

• 100g Mint leaves

• 1 litre water

Mint tea is useful for repelling pests and will deter flying insects such as aphids, whitefly and grape worm.

Soak leaves in tepid water outside for 3 to 4 days. Dilute 1 part tea to 4 parts water and apply with a watering can.