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I just read an article in the magazine "Grow It!" (They didn't have Grow Your Own) that discusses the benefits of not digging in fertiliser (in particular manure) as it harms the natural dynamics of the soil. The principle is that if you dig in this nutrients it will destroy worm tracks, kill various do-gooders and in fact aerate the soil too much which could allow for excessive leaching. Whereas, leaving a layer of fertiliser on the top of the soil allowed for worms to create tracks to the surface for drainage and naturally incorporated the nutrients from the manure into the soil without disturbing the existing soil ecosystems!
The author compared beds that were prepared at the same time; two that were turned over with manure and two that were covered in the same amount of manure on top of the soil. The dug bed had a spurt of growth in late spring that brought the plants growth on par with the un-dug bed, where the un-dug bed had been growing steadily. The author hypothesised that this was because it took time for the soil to recover form the disruption of being turned over with manure.
The final results with the vegetables was that they were of similar size and quality. The soil remained nutrient rich but of good quality - not cracking when it was dry weather, no leaching and the drainage being better.
Has anyone used this method and noticed a difference? I feel compelled to turn in manure and rake up the soil under the pretence that the roots will go deeper (yay bigger carrots
), receive more nutrients and that the fertiliser will be spread throughout the soil. This article I feel, is telling me to be lazy and just chuck it on top and let the worms do all the graft...
what do you think?
The author compared beds that were prepared at the same time; two that were turned over with manure and two that were covered in the same amount of manure on top of the soil. The dug bed had a spurt of growth in late spring that brought the plants growth on par with the un-dug bed, where the un-dug bed had been growing steadily. The author hypothesised that this was because it took time for the soil to recover form the disruption of being turned over with manure.
The final results with the vegetables was that they were of similar size and quality. The soil remained nutrient rich but of good quality - not cracking when it was dry weather, no leaching and the drainage being better.
Has anyone used this method and noticed a difference? I feel compelled to turn in manure and rake up the soil under the pretence that the roots will go deeper (yay bigger carrots
), receive more nutrients and that the fertiliser will be spread throughout the soil. This article I feel, is telling me to be lazy and just chuck it on top and let the worms do all the graft...what do you think?
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