This is the third, and last of my three major soil building factories – the worm farm. The hardest part was getting the cast iron bathtub. It was on Gumtree as a giveaway, come and get it, bring a trailer. Beauty. What they didn’t say was that it down over the edge of the drive on a slippery muddy slope at the top of a very steep driveway with no…
Chooks and worms do the bulk of my soil building, but compost can only contain the micronutrients of the ingredients that go into it. Using some ingredients from trees that deep mine subsoil, and some weeds that are dynamic accumulators helps, but the hero for micronutrients is seaweed, and the best way I’ve (yet) discovered to process it is by fermenting.
First pick (of many to come) of Madagascar beans for storage. In my subtropical climate, I’m looking at bananas (including plantain), cassava, taro, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, yams and beans as storable calories, and these Madagascar beans look like becoming a mainstay of the system.
I think this is our fourth bunch of bananas in the new house, in three years. And there’s another three coming on, another Ladyfinger and two huge Cavendish bunches. I suspect bananas will make it onto the list of staples in this climate.
The biggest (by far) mistake that I see beginner food gardeners make is underestimating the payoff you get for soil building. Water, sun, the right plant for the season, heritage varieties, pest predators – they are all important, but nothing gives you more harvest for effort than building soil.
One of the very pleasant surprises of living in suburbia is just how abundant sources of organic matter for turning into soil are. One of the very pleasant surprises of living in suburbia is just how abundant sources of organic matter for turning into soil are. Maybe that will change as the need for food security accelerates, but for the moment, nobody else seems to be chasing kitchen scraps, greengrocer…
If you have only a tiny area (or a tiny window of time) for gardening, every one of the first dozen plants I’d go for would be herbs. In pots or courtyard, herb spiral or window boxes, balcony garden or flower bed, these are the 12 plants I’d plant first. In no particular order (choosing just a dozen was hard enough!):