Permaculture Design/Soil

=Soil is made up of=
 * Water and Air 50%
 * Minerals 40%
 * Biology 5%

=Things to consider above the soil=
 * Sun
 * Water
 * Temperature (Right plant for conditions or build micro climates)
 * Shelter design (you should be able to see through your shelter belt)
 * Soil compaction
 * Breakages (human and animal movement, incorrect pruning, wind fall)
 * Competition and companion plants
 * Diversity
 * Pests and predators

=Things to consider below the soil=
 * Balance the mineral content (Physical, clay, sand, salt and all elements)
 * Ensure correct soil biology organisms
 * Feed soil biology

=Observing soil=

Colour

 * Colourless/white: high silica content
 * Light/white: lack of oxygen; leached; high calcium; alkaline ph
 * Yellow: lack of oxygen; high clay content; aluminium & iron
 * Red: iron oxide
 * Red/brown: volcanic basalt origin; iron & magnesium
 * Black: rich in organic matter & nutrients; holds moisture

Vegetation

 * Azalea, dandelion: acid soils; usually leached; often compacted.
 * Berries, conifers, dock: Poor drainage
 * Saltbush, spinifex: alkaline; saline; dry soils
 * clovers, vetch, nettles: excess nitrogen; low humus content; low micr-organism content
 * blackberries: open disturbed soil, possibly acid
 * bracken: recent fire; general decline in soil fertility.
 * buttercup: poor drainage, acid.
 * thistles: low calcium & iron content; hard soils.
 * chicory, chickweed: good fertility

Parent Material
Eg soils derived from:


 * Sandstone: sandy, high silica.
 * Shale: clay; high silica & iron.
 * Basalt: high iron & magnesium.

Smell

 * Sour: Lacks oxygen, acidic, sulphur dioxide
 * Sweet & earthy: high oxygen, good soil life & OM
 * Garlic: arsenic in soil (or maybe theres some onion weed nearby!)

Taste

 * Smooth & slippery: acidic, soil water lathers easily
 * Weak soda: alkaline/mineral; won’t lather easily

Life

 * Worms: good moisture, OM, low pesticide residues
 * Ants: drier, sandy
 * Slugs & snails: damp, decomposing plant & animal material.
 * Skinks & lizards: warm sunny, dry spots, good insect populations

Water

 * Run –off: is increased by bare ground, compaction, steep slopes
 * Repels water: compacted, eroded, excessive use of dolomite, very little OM, sandy & allowed to dry out & has formed a moisture resistant barrier
 * Shrinks & swells: high clay, holds water, cracks.
 * Fast draining ( hole filled with water, drains within 10mins: erodes easily, collapses easily, few fungal diseases, good movement of water & soil life. Not good for dams.

History

 * Bare ground: agricultural or industrial contamination.
 * Growth in poor soils: previous structures, compaction, old poultry or animal pen site
 * No topsoil: quarry or fill site, erosion.
 * Bad cracks & rubbish: old tip or landfill site

Plants and soil minerals
Often plants which grow in deficient soils have the ability to concentrate those missing elements in their structure.


 * Potassium present: marshmallow, knapweed, wormwood, opium poppy, fumitory, tansy & borage.
 * Deficient: red clover. Celery & leek like potassium. Chicory is pot. rich.
 * Calcium: buckwheat grown as a green manure or composted adds. Melon leaves are a source of it & oak bark is especially rich all thistles & willow. Dandelion “mines” it . Peas, beans, brassicas & turnips need it.
 * Phosphorous: bracken indicates a lack of & accumulates it. Burn it & spread the ashes. Valerian & comfrey are rich sources. Whitefly indicates a deficiency along with magnesium. Brassicas need it to head well.
 * Iron: blackberry is a rich source.
 * Magnesium & sulphur: broom, salad burnett, plantain, & sheep sorrel (for magnesium)
 * Ragwort: copper
 * Thistles: nitrogen, copper & silicon.

=How do we balance the minerals of soil?=
 * Look for indicator plants which will tell things about Nitrogen Phosphorus and Potasium
 * Look at leaves for signs of deficiencies or excesses (Permaculture Designers Manual has a simple key to follow)
 * Get a soil test done
 * Book - The Soul of Soil
 * DCC Website has soil analysis maps
 * Talk to people
 * Don't rely on simple 'acid' or 'alkaline' measures. The treatment for these can be too simplistic and might not balance the soil.

= Dynamic Accumulators of Nutrients for Composting =

=Some Ways to Improve Your Soils=
 * Plant mulch making plants ~ comfrey, tree lucerne, grasses for hay, weeds such as dandelion, plantain, nettles, borage, deciduous trees.
 * Use small prunings as part of the mulch around your trees. Place them over soil that you need to add organic matter to & put grass clippings, weeds, & manure on top & let nature do the rest. Once its reasonably broken down sow seeds/plant. Good way to establish an orchard/food forest.
 * Harvest local resources ~ bracken & chicory are high in potassium, add it to your compost, burn it & use the ashes around plants such as, celery & leeks. The brassicas (cabbage, cauli, brocoli) need phosphorous to head up well, comfrey & bracken supply it. Ragwort concentrates copper. Broom is high in magnesium & sulphur, lupins in nitrogen & calcium. Seaweed has many of the essential trace elements that plants need. Food scraps from cafes & super markets.
 * Plant wind breaks to filter air-born pollution
 * Plant trees & shrubs to take up ground water pollution e.g alongside a road, runoff from your neighbour who uses chemicals.
 * Create wet lands planted with macrophytes ( reeds & rushes) to take up the above pollution.
 * Use raised beds for growing in.
 * Seaweed, compost & dolomite help to clean soils of pollutants such as heavy metals.
 * Allow weeds to grow ~ add OM, take up pollutants.
 * Spread rock dust to supply minerals ~ basalt, granite, dolomite.
 * Remember that the more conditions you create for soil life to thrive the better your soils will be. Create diversity.

=Notes on soil=


 * Soil food web


 * Feed the soil and land base and you will indirectly feed your plants
 * Arden Anderson = Soil sciences writer and speaker
 * Why is it that plants that are healthy tend not to be attacked by pests and diseases? Their defense system is intact. A plant that is unhealthy or stressed will be full of simple carbohydrates - which attract pests and diseases. Healthy plants have complex carbohydrates which humans require. Therefore, nature has a way to clean up weak systems.
 * Arden Anderson started to observe a relationship between human disease and crop diseases, because of our industrial productions methods that prevent natures way of cleaning out weak species - and so we are interrupting our access to complex carbohydrates.
 * How then do we ensure healthy plants?

Things to do

 * Compost and spread or inoculate areas during planting 30g per m2
 * Site specific compost made of the materials of the plants being nurtured
 * Biodynamics
 * Apply seaweed and fish 300g per m2
 * 3 comfry plants per fruit tree
 * For some pests consider using micro organisms from [Bokashi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokashi] to out compete pests