This is one hungry little bin and unless you’re prepared to feed it it won’t thrive. If you have surplus food for it however it will repay you by feeding the soil’s insatiable appetite for organic matter. Continue reading
Up In Smoke – a documentary by Adam Wakeling Alley cropping This film isn’t the Cheech and Chong version but documents poor Mike Hands a soil scientist from the UK who has spent his working life trying to convince others … Continue reading
You may already know that biodynamic gardening is ‘something to do with planting by the moon’ or even that it involves stuffing cow horns with manure. Sounds odd doesn’t it but can this method of farming and gardening brought forth … Continue reading
Are compost thermometers a necessary piece of kit or just a bit of fun? Any detailed information about composting will sooner or later talk about ‘hot’ compost and that inevitable leads to a discussion of temperatures. Owning a compost thermometer … Continue reading
Compost aerators on Amazon. Compost Aerators are useful tools to ‘agitate’ your compost heap. Agitating helps add air and mixes the new and already decomposing materials. This is recommended for two reasons: food mixed with earth and decomposing microfauna is … Continue reading
Beehive composters on the market: Brightgreenlive’s (via Amazon) small beehive composter in untreated, unpainted natural pine. Self assembly is required and they recommend treating somehow. Pine is a soft wood so this will not last for many years but the … Continue reading
There’s no doubt that The Biochar Solution is well researched and contains some fascinating information. However, as the Foreword by Dr Vandana Shiva warns, “we need to remember that calcium and magnesium, iron and copper, the Mychorrizae and earthworms are also part of the soil’s life not just carbon. Above all we need to remember that carbon is fixed by the chlorophyll molecule in the green leaf of plants, not during the pyrolysis used to produce biochar.” Continue reading