Enhancing Your Soil

Soil Conditioning
Organic matter in the soil tends improve structure of heavy soils (by allowing water and air in) and helps in holding moisture in the soil. Furthermore it provides food for beneficial soil-borne creatures (for instance, earthworms) which would further aerate the soil. Such examples of these organic matters are garden compost and mushroom compost.

Forking
The soil should be roughly turned and placed back in the same position using a garden fork. You may incorporate the said organic matters as you are doing this. Be sure to remove weeds or any other debris by hand

Digging
I’d like to explain a few main methods of digging your garden : simple digging, single dinging and double digging .

Simple Digging
As its name suggests thus is the least complicated to do. This method is particularly useful for removing weeds and to roughly cultivate your soil. Your spade should be forced vertically into the soil (be sure to the full depth of the blade!) and the handle is eased back to lever the earth up. Then, the spade is turned and the soil deposited in the same place, though inverted. You may remove weeds or other debris by hand and break clods of soil with sharp jabs of the spade.


Single digging
Single digging is exercised on heavier soil and it is also a great technique for mixing organic matter into the upper layer of the soil. Though its process is very similar to simple digging, however for this method you may need to reserve a trench of about 30cm wide across the plot and the soil deposited on one side. A layer of well-rotted garden compost is placed in the bottom of the trench. Mowing 15cm back, the next row is dug, but the excavated soil is thrown forward to fill the first trench. After two passes across the plot the first trench will have been filled and a second trench created. This process is repeated until the entire plot has been dug. The excavated soil from the first trench is moved to the other end of the plot to fill the last trench.



Double Digging
This method of digging is to break up compacted soil or to prepare deep beds. After excavating each trench, use a garden fork to loosen the subsoil at the bottom of the trench and mix in well rotted organic matter or grit to improve the drainage if required. Then follow the procedure for single digging. Be sure to not mix the soils from each layer.

Making Your Own COMPOST

An economical way to beautify your garden is to make your own compost. It is apparently also an easy way to get rid of waste. Furthermore, making your own compost also would mean to lend Mother Nature a hand as composting recycles material that would otherwise find its way to landfill sites.

Equipment for Making your Compost
To compost successfully and efficiently, you would need the right equipment and also to have a basic understanding of the principles of the decomposition process. Although you can compost organic waste perfectly well in a loose heap, it may appear untidy and would tend to decompose unevenly unless carefully managed. In most gardens, having a compost bin to develop your compost is a far better option.

Making a Compost Bin
Ideally a bin should contain at least 1 cubic meter (about 30 cubic feet) of waste to allow it to heat up adequately and compost material quickly. The bin can be a simple structure made from old pallets nailed together to form a box or a neater home-made version fashioned from second-hand, tantalized fencing timber. However, avoid using untreated timber because it will rot along with the contents.

What to Compost
Almost all organic waste materials from the garden and household can be recycled, but to decompose quickly and form the perfect texture - a crumbly, sweet smelling fibrous texture - the right ingredients must be combined. Ideally, add dry material such as dry leaves (high in carbon), with equal quantities of green, wet organic waste, such as grass clippings (high in nitrogen). Before adding to the compost heap, make sure that dry and woody material is chopped finely. And, a note of advise - do not add meat, fish, fat or other cooked foods to the compost bin because they will attract rats and snakes. Also throw away perennial weed roots and that are setting seed because these may survive the composting process.

Mix up the material before adding it to the compost bin or add the material in layers no more than ½ feet (6 in) deep.



Speeding up Composting
There are several actions you can take to minimize the time for the composting process to be completed. Give the decomposition process a kick-start by adding a proprietary compost activator such as Effective Microorganism (EM) solution which is easily available. This will provide extra nitrogen and introduce the necessary micro-organisms needed for decomposition. Fill the bin with all the material and make sure they are moist enough when added. Check after a few weeks to see if it has dried out and water if necessary.

To ensure that the material does not get too wet, cover it with a lid or a sheet of plastic. If the compost does get too wet, turn out the bin and mix in more dry material before refilling the bin. Be sure to mix the decomposing organic matter a few times a day. This will introduce air and produce more uniform compost at the end of the process. After about two months the compost should be ready to be used.