Soil - Regenerative Practices
Good soil health isn’t just about getting healthy crops, it’s about tackling climate change, capturing carbon, building life and saving time. Kirsty Thomas, community gardener at The Florrie discusses how to build regenerative practices into your own growing project.
Like most gardeners the time I spend indoors is often spent researching the next thing to do outside. Regenerative agriculture, no-dig or no-till are keywords that any grower will find hard to avoid right now. Double digging is a thing of the past (thankfully) and we now know that there is scientific evidence to suggest that for healthy soil and a healthy planet we should leave the spade in the garden shed.
But how do we prepare our land for growing without disturbing the incredible organisms, microbes, fungal networks and structure that lies beneath our boots? Below I have shared my top ten thoughts and tips on no-dig and regenerative practice and some amazing links so you can learn lots more.
Regenerative practice is about adding to the soil rather than taking away. It focusses on topsoil regeneration, increasing biodiversity, enhancing ecosystems, capturing carbon, and increasing resilience to climate change. How do we do this?
If you are starting from scratch, making no-dig beds couldn’t be easier and it can be done over existing lawns or weedy soils. Add 1-2 layers of thick cardboard (no tape or staples) to your plot overlapping the edges so there are no gaps. Add 5-15cm of compost on top of the cardboard to make your growing bed.
Your cardboard layer will starve lawn and weeds of light, killing them naturally without disturbing the soil structure beneath.
You can use wooden batons to provide a temporary edge to your beds but long-term they are best avoided as rotting wood attracts slugs and woodlice (which we don’t often want near our crops).
Creating paths between your beds can also be done using no-dig. Lay a layer of cardboard and mulch paths with wood chip - not only is this usually free, it is organic and will help to build the vital mycelium networks within your soil.
If the compost on your new beds is soft and even, you can sow or plant straightaway. Otherwise it works well to make beds a month before starting to sow or plant, so that a little weathering can happen and perhaps a first flush of weeds can be hoed off or hand weeded.
Compost! Ideally make your own - we have a great composting guide here. There is nothing more satisfying than turning kitchen and garden waste into “black gold” and a constant supply is essential for no-dig and building soil health. Compost keeps the soil alive and healthy, as well as adding essential nutrients. All the soil fauna and fungi that are not damaged by digging can become more abundant and help plants to grow more healthily.
Each year in late Autumn or Winter add a 2.5cm layer of compost to your beds in preparation for the next growing season. This can be added around any plants that you might still have in the ground.
When sowing crops, disturb your soil as little as possible. Create small drills for sowing direct or use a dibber to plant bulbs or plug plants.
When harvesting you can cut the plant at ground level and leave the roots in the ground to rot. This continues to feed the soil without disturbing its structure. If harvesting crops like onions or garlic, pull gently and push any disturbed soil back into place.
There are lots of amazing resources out there to explore but if you want one go-to recommendation check out Charles Dowding. He has an amazing YouTube channel, a number of books and also runs inspiring courses at his Somerset market garden.