Why build soil? Well for me, it's a love affair. Healthy living soil makes healthy plants, and healthy plants make healthy people. Not to mention soil is the foundation of life.
The fact that there are more microorganisms in a teaspoon of healthy soil (1 gram) than there are people in the world blows my mind. There is a divine symbiosis between carbon, nitrogen, minerals, bacteria, mycorrhizal fungi, protozoa, and scores of nematodes and worms. Microorganisms are attracted to the area around the roots called the rhizosphere. Plants have extensive nets of very fine root hairs that take up nutrients from microorganisms and fungi. Plants exchange carbohydrates and sugars in exchange for minerals and micronutrients. Essentially making cake for them. In return the mycorrhizal fungi dissolves rock minerals into soluble nutrients for the plants. Fare share, the beauty of symbiosis. Mycorrhizal fungi acts kind of like the earths inner internet, delivering nutrients and information.
Now let's build some healthy living soil.
Soil Building Blocks
Healthy Soil building starts with life's building block "Carbon". Lasagna Gardening aka Sheet Mulching is a great way to get carbon material into the soil.
STEP 1: Solarize Your Lawn
Put down 6 to 10 sheets of newspaper so that it completely covers the area you want to plant. Smothering your lawn with newspaper or cardboard (solarizing grass) saves you time and energy allowing the carbon in the soil to stay where it belongs in the earth. It turns out every time we till the earth we allow large amounts of co2 in the soil to evaporate into the atmosphere (accelerating global warning). Not to mention tilling also destroys the habitat needed to foster living microorganisms in the soil. No bueno!!!!! If you use newspaper, don't us the glossy ad pages. The inks may be harmful to the environment.
STEP 2: Layer Green and Brown Organic Matter like a Lasagna
Add in 2 to 3 inch layer of nitrogen rich material (green matter). Cow, poultry, pig manure, grass clippings, coffee grounds and finished compost all are great sources of green matter. Next layer add 4 to 5 inches of carbon rich items (brown matter). Leaves, straw, and shredded newspaper work well. Add yet another layer of nitrogen and finish it with a straw mulch layer. When you are done, your lasagna garden will be about 1 foot high from the ground. As the materials break down the mound will shrink and absorbed by the soil. If your in an desert region I suggest digging the bed a foot down and build the soil up from there.
STEP 3: Add Organic Amendments For a Nutrient Dense Garden
Most amendments are added to improve the structure of the soil. The lasagna garden will be rich in nitrogen with all the green matter added. What the garden will need is phosphorus and potassium for plants. Add wood ash for phosphorus (potash). Compost made primarily from food products is an excellent source of potassium. Particularly banana peels and red bell peppers are high in potassium. Adding biochar, rock dust, calcium, iron, and seaweed to your compost will allow minerals to be more soluble. The spring and fall time is are are the best times to add compost to your garden. Just way to much heat for the plants in the summer, use actively aerated compost tea instead.
STEP 4: PLUG AND PLAY
Get Transplants and seeds into your lasagna garden and water as needed. Continue building healthy soil and have fun!!!
OTHER WAYS TO SEQUESTER CARBON.
Hugelkultur
http://inhabitat.com/diy-hugelkultur-how-build-raised-permaculture-garden-beds/
Cover crops
http://www.rodalesorganiclife.com/garden/cover-crop-basics
Biochar
http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/making-biochar-improve-soil-zmaz09fmzraw.aspx
Forest_gardening
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_gardening
Compost Tea
