permaculture

[stephan leimroth <slimerote@yahoo.com>]

hey, graham,

to your list of ten, add the gelisols and andisols. 
both  were recently added to Soil Taxonomy, the
american USDA (dept. of agriculture) system of soil
classification.  the former being frozen soil, the
latter volcanic in origin.  the 2 zonal types you
mentioned are from the old russian classification
system.  podzols are typically acidic and found in
forests--not particularly fertile--and i think
corresponds to Spodosols.  'brown earth' soils
probably refers to Mollisols, usually found in
grasslands.  these have lots of topsoil and are very
fertile, less acidic.  (we--in the US--owe much of our
success to the great prairie soils; they have suffered
a lot of abuse at the hands of farmers, but their deep
topsoil is forgiving and still very productive.)

check out a university library for a soil survey of
your area. (or some gov't agency?)  more than likely
you have several soil types around.  don't feel
ignorant: soil taxonomy is complicated and not very
friendly, even to a soil scientist. but a soil survey
can be very informative (and a good thing to look at
before buying land..).

another great book about soil is DIRT; i can't
remember the author.  it has some neat alternative
ideas about the soil.

regards,
stephan leimroth

central california

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