Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Art Corbit" <art_c@cox.net>]

Hi Paul,

Growing cover crops and then plowing them under is very desirable but very
badly misunderstood even by farmers that do it all time. This practice does
not add nutrients to the soil. A plant growing in soil cannot put more
nutrients back into the soil than it took from the soil in its growing
process. It does improve the condition of the soil by loosing it up where
water can soak into it better and allowing more Oxygen to get into the soil.
This allows plants to grow a much better root base that goes deeper into the
soil and this allows the plant to take up more water and nutrients from the
soil. The deeper roots can go the more likely they are to get into soil that
isn't so badly depleted of it nutrients. This does increase the food value a
little but anything you harvest off the land removes nutrients that must be
replace.

The only way to increase the nutrients in your soil is to use compost that
is collected outside your garden plot. You can add Nitrogen to your garden
plot by simply composting your yard clippings but to actually add anything
to your soil it must be imported from outside the area. Below is a link to a
page on composting I ran onto and also a link to a page on miners in soil.

If we are to ever be able to increase the food value of the things we grow
we must practice soil management. The comment you made below "Its soil
ecology", is exactly correct. Its a bunch of little things working together
and allowing Mother Nature to do her thing. I heard someone make the comment
that farmer consistently work against nature. Here in the US this is exactly
correct. It doesn't have to be this way though. Some of the best land I ever
saw was in Italy and Germany in the early 60's. The farmers put a lot of
work into their soil and it paid off big time. They grew vegetables you
wouldn't believe. I saw cabbage heads you couldn't put in a bushel basket.
The farmers simply worked with Mother Nature instead of against her. We can
do the very same here but it is not going to be easy.

Art

http://www.compostguide.com/

http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/agdex789?opendocume
nt

----- Original Message -----
From: "TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>
To: <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 01, 2006 9:58 PM
Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Rock minerals and cover crops


>
> I think this is excellent, because everything in the soil is connected and
> nothing takes place in isolation. Understanding how these seemingly
> separate processes work together is important. It's soil ecology.
>
> paul tradingpost@lobo.net
>
> Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes.
> --Henry David Thoreau
> *********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********