Most Czechs unknowingly dispose of “soil gold” in their garden, without which nothing will grow

Thanks to humus, the soil is loose and water and nutrients are not easily leached from it. This extremely valuable substance is almost the last link in a complex chain in which all nutrients are returned to the soil from organic matter. That substance is, for example, a fallen leaf, a blade of grass or a piece of bark. A giant army of microorganisms and fungi, as well as larger soil crustaceans – protozoa, mites, pinworms, roundworms, millipedes, earthworms – gradually take part in their processing. And when they process everything that is easily digestible for them, humus remains. Its complex molecules are largely made up of carbon compounds and their surface is rich in oxygen atoms. These have a negative charge, due to which they attract positively charged elements – calcium, magnesium, potassium, copper, zinc or manganese, as well as an ammonium cation containing nitrogen. Therefore, humus retains nutrients in the soil. Water does not wash them away, but plant roots can take them from the humus. Humus can also hold up to six times its weight in water than it weighs in its dry state. And even alternating drying and swelling is useful – it serves as a very gentle, gentle, but still effective loosening of the soil.

Full or hungry?

Humus is quite durable, but if soil microbes are starving and do not have enough fresh organic matter available, they will process humus out of necessity – until there is almost nothing left. That is why it is so important to constantly feed the soil. Or let the plants feed it themselves with their dead bodies and leaves.

The easiest way to give the soil organic matter immediately is to saturate it with honest manure or compost. Soil life is best supported by raw compost, not yet completely decomposed. Green manure (plants enriching the soil with nitrogen, which are incorporated into it during flowering) and fermented plant extracts are also beneficial. While compost is a foundation that releases nutrients slowly and gradually, leachates from weeds or poultry droppings that you give your plants along with watering act as a quick boost. In addition to basic nutrients, they contain a whole complex of natural substances that support not only growth, but also the health and defense of plants. And unlike industrial fertilizers, they also take care of soil health and benefit soil microorganisms.

Satisfied under the bedspread

In addition to organic fertilization, you can increase humus content and promote soil health and fertility by mulching or layering with organic matter that gradually decomposes. Leaves, straw, old hay, grass and weeds without ripe seeds will do. A mixture of material with a suitable ratio of nitrogen and carbon, similar to composting, is ideal.

Because as soon as one element predominates significantly, the soil microorganisms rush to it, but then they need to supplement the other element as well. And then they can quickly exhaust it from the soil, and if it is no longer available, they can even suffer. However, they always consume more carbon, which is why the ideal ratio is one part of nitrogen-rich materials to three or more parts of carbon-rich material. A source of nitrogen is grass clippings and any seedless wild plants such as nettle, plantain, sedge or dandelion. Nettle is particularly rich in nitrogen, grasses also contain a large amount. The ideal material, rich in carbon and available in large quantities in autumn, is leaves – fresh they even have a balanced ratio of carbon and nitrogen. An alternative is straw and wood chips, which decompose more slowly and contain more carbon, but also benefit the soil. There is no need to mix the wood chips with the grass – the missing nitrogen can be replenished using the bottom layer of manure, compost or leaven from nettles or poultry droppings.

The bedspread has several functions. It gradually releases nutrients, while protecting plant roots and all soil life from temperature fluctuations or rapid drying. While bare soil is at the mercy of the wind, which carries away valuable particles from it, and the interaction of water and sun creates an unwelcome crust on it, mulched areas are naturally protected from erosion and hardening of the surface. Exposed soil is rarely found in nature, and any such space encourages fast-growing and proliferating plants to occupy it. In the garden, there are weeds, always more capable than our cultivated vegetables or flowers. Mulch inhibits the growth of weeds, although if persistent weeds are hidden under it, it cannot completely suppress them. In that case, a cardboard base is used, or a suitable shoulder eye must also be passed under the mulch.

Tips

• Mulching can not only serve a good purpose, but also look good. For example, paths lined with wood chips or beds lined with leaves or straw are also nice to look at.
• Are you bothered by slugs? It is true that they like to hide under the mulch. Then, following the example of English gardeners, you can lay out the raw compost itself.
• For drought-loving plants, sensitive to winter moisture, too high a layer of bedding could damage them if it touches their root necks. Therefore, use wood chips only in a thin layer or mulch them with gravel or charcoal.

Full of life

Fungicides and other pesticides can threaten the diverse soil life, especially if they are used excessively or widely. And often they only help temporarily. It is the balance of soil life that is an effective prevention of many diseases. Once it is violated, the fungal pathogens have no control over their proliferation. All decomposers in the soil not only eat organic material, but also each other and thus maintain a natural balance. Diversity promotes health. Often, only the strongest survive the impact of toxic substances, and unfortunately these are not the most desirable for the health of the soil and plants.

Mineral, industrial fertilizers can also have an adverse effect on soil life and it is not prudent to use them without thinking. It does not have to kill the microbes directly, but rather damages their perfectly connected network by disrupting the natural cycle of nutrients and elements and the ratios between them. Soil life can be exhausted by a sudden and unnatural excess of nitrogen, phosphates or sulfates. However, since these substances are soluble in water, most of them are washed out of the soil without the plant roots having a chance to capture them. The only thing that keeps the minerals in the soil is humus particles or soil microorganisms that eat them. Soil without humus is dead matter, to which more and more mineral fertilizers need to be supplied, and most of it will be washed away anyway.

Soil life can produce the necessary minerals by itself, in the process of mineralization, when it is in the last stage of decomposition – when all the carbon (an element of organic matter) has already been consumed. Minerals also enter the soil from rocks, although very slowly – both plant roots and microbes can easily etch them with their acids and enzymes and release elements. Sometimes this is not enough, but you can also use a completely natural form, such as rock flour or wood ash. Elements will be released from them slowly, but also in the long term, as microbes and roots will gradually take them away.

Diligent rose gardeners

Thanks to earthworms, a piece of leaf that has begun to slowly decompose by bacteria will quickly skip weeks. They enjoy it and turn it into luxury fertilizer in a few days (the bacteria also work diligently in their digestive tract). The digestive tube of the earthworm takes up almost the entire body, and while the remains of leaves, grass, flowers and husks constantly travel into it at the front end, a delicate and nutritious finger leaves them at the other end. Earthworms organize up to as much organic waste per day as their own weight. It not only fertilizes the soil, but also gently and effectively makes it lush. In search of food, they tirelessly dig millions of tunnels. And precisely these corridors, if there are enough of them due to the abundance of earthworms, will perfectly aerate the soil and increase its ability to absorb water. No-dig gardening, which greatly benefits soil life, relies directly on earthworms. Instead of turning over the soil with a spade, you only gently remove the weeds with, for example, a digging fork, and spread the bed with compost and mulch. Earthworms will aerate the soil for you. They are more difficult to cope with very heavy clay, but they are perfect gardeners in good, medium-heavy soil. And over four hundred of them can live and work in one cubic meter of healthy soil.

Excellent coal

Charcoal can significantly support the formation of humus. It holds water, food and oxygen, which soil animals also need for their work. Indispensable microorganisms like to settle directly on pieces of coal, which are porous and provide an excellent refuge.

When aerating excessively heavy soils, charcoal replaces sand, which has a number of advantages over it. You can add it to the soil in an amount of up to two kilograms per square meter. Even a smaller amount will benefit the beds. Thicker charcoal can also be tried as an interesting and very durable mulch layer.

Biochar can be made from materials other than wood – charcoal is a subset of it, although still by far the most widespread. A variety of dry materials will be used, such as nut shells, fruit stones, dry plant residues such as straws, leaves, pine cones. They can also be made in the garden in imitation of milers, there are also boilers that are used for pyrolysis, i.e. for turning wood or other organic waste into natural coal. Biochar is also starting to be produced in some composting plants.

About the author

Jana Bucharová studied biology at the University of Applied Sciences, UK, and has been gratefully using the gifts of nature and breeders in her garden for twenty years. They believe that the more colorful a garden is, the more joy and benefit it will bring to all animals, including humans.

You could find this article in the magazine Recipe No. 02/26.