Soil layers

Soil food web

Healthy soil cycles

Is your soil healthy?

• Soil testing: your Extension Office can test soil for little cost, but little detail.

Midwestern Bio-Ag does a complete soil analysis report, showing percentage of organic material, level of micronutrients, etc. 608 437-4994

Visual soil analysis

• Observe what plants are growing—let the weeds speak to you!

• Color, texture, taste all contribute to understanding your soil.

How it feels

What it grows

What helps the soil

Composting

Creating bulk compost

Growing Power compost on asphalt

Compost warms greenhouses

Recycled gardens

Benefits of cover crops

Cover crop options

• Do you need to add biomass, or suppress weeds?

• Do you need to fix nitrogen, or break up clay soil?

• No matter your scale of food production, cover crops will improve your site. Naked soil does not.

• Organic cover crop seeds available at The Feed Barn, West Chester.

Add biomass

Use of buckwheat

• For a summer green manure, till in after blossoms have been enjoyed by the bees. For grain, sow 3 months before fall frost, harvest after killing frost and let decompose during the winter. Till in during the spring.

Use of hairy vetch—prevent weeds in squash beds

Use of winter radishes

Use of winter wheat

Use of rye

Winter mix—rye, hairy vetch, crimson clover

Green manure mix for fall

• This can often include winter rye, oats, clover, field peas, and hairy vetch. The peas, oats and clover die at frost, providing biomass and soil cover. The hairy vetch and winter rye regrow in the spring to provide nutrients for new crops.

Beautifully useful—clover & batchelor’s buttons

No-tillage

Chisel plow

Weed suppression/organic decomposition