1. Know and improve your soil | 40 mins
Improving your soil
As we have seen, adding organic matter to your soil is the best way to improve its structure and replace the valuable nutrients that are consumed by the plants we grow.
Compost is your number one source of organic matter as an organic grower as it is cheap, easy to make, and significantly reduces the transport emissions and waste packaging generated by shop bought composts.
By simply adding compost to your growing beds year-after-year and minimising digging, you will improve your soil health, increase the biodiversity of your growing space, and produce healthier plants and vegetables.
There are many other organic soil improvers, each with their own characteristics to consider. Dead plants and leaves, compost and manures are all forms of bulky organic matter. This organic matter gets mixed up with the mineral components of the soil, improving drainage on heavy soils, helping light soils to hold water and reducing erosion. It is best to aim to maintain or increase levels of organic matter in the soil using a combination of materials.