Smallholders Insurance from Greenlands

Author Topic: Fertilizer for Wet Climates  (Read 5187 times)

naturelovingfarmer

  • Joined May 2021
  • Ohio River Valley
Fertilizer for Wet Climates
« on: May 06, 2021, 01:51:14 am »
Tomorrow, I'm planning (weather permitting), to make up some fertilizer for my vegetable garden. I hear that the UK is a very wet place. Where I live is also very wet and foggy. We kind of have a secret to growing here. We go around and find all the dead wood we can, and make charcoal from it, and then take that charcoal and break it up and soak it in well or rain water with whatever the soil needs. In my case it's going to be chicken manure, molasses, humic acid, and a bit of sourdough starter for the lactic acid bacteria. I might also throw in some stale corn meal and some fungusy bits of wood. The idea is that the charcoal will bond with the colonies of bacteria and fungi which will eat all the starchy or sugary stuff you put in and will ferment the lot of it into an optimal fertilizer which will then be available in your soil for a really long time, because charcoal doesn't break down in soil. It's a slow release fertilizer. That's important really, especially for areas with lots of rain. The charcoal gives the soil bacteria a place to inhabit so that they can convert the stuff in the soil and your additives into something plants can use, without it being washed out.
Turn your problem into a solution. Learn new things. Adapt as you go. Plans should be fluid and subject to change. I start planning for things years in advance and by the time I do them they have usually changed radically.

"Fall down 7 times, stand up 8" ~Bodhidharma

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: Fertilizer for Wet Climates
« Reply #1 on: May 06, 2021, 01:04:15 pm »
That's fascinating.  We like pics on TAS so do send us some of your special concoction.


Where we live is also wet, but we have success with a mixture of animal manures, mulches and keeping the ground covered each alternate year.  I had wondered about biochar but I know nothing about it.
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

naturelovingfarmer

  • Joined May 2021
  • Ohio River Valley
Re: Fertilizer for Wet Climates
« Reply #2 on: May 07, 2021, 06:53:36 pm »
I didn't have the ability to take a picture when I first saw your reply last night, but will go take one right now and you can see the charcoal. But it's not going to be spectacular or anything. It's just bits of black and brown stuff floating in dark liquid.
Turn your problem into a solution. Learn new things. Adapt as you go. Plans should be fluid and subject to change. I start planning for things years in advance and by the time I do them they have usually changed radically.

"Fall down 7 times, stand up 8" ~Bodhidharma

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: Fertilizer for Wet Climates
« Reply #3 on: May 07, 2021, 11:23:06 pm »
I didn't have the ability to take a picture when I first saw your reply last night, but will go take one right now and you can see the charcoal. But it's not going to be spectacular or anything. It's just bits of black and brown stuff floating in dark liquid.

Maybe a pic of a coywolf then?  And of your vegetable garden?  It's all different to us  8)
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

naturelovingfarmer

  • Joined May 2021
  • Ohio River Valley
Re: Fertilizer for Wet Climates
« Reply #4 on: May 09, 2021, 07:02:42 pm »
I've tried to add pictures like 3x, and it's saying the file is too big. So I have to just make a collage in ms paint. It's been a long time since I was on a small machines forum. I kind of forgot how I used to post pictures because I got so used to MeWe and Reddit.
Turn your problem into a solution. Learn new things. Adapt as you go. Plans should be fluid and subject to change. I start planning for things years in advance and by the time I do them they have usually changed radically.

"Fall down 7 times, stand up 8" ~Bodhidharma

 

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