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Edmonton, Alberta

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Phone: 780-447-9600

Email: info@voicesofthesoil.org

Website: www.voicesofthesoil.org

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Building Better Soils

Today, intensive food production occurs in many backyards and gardens.  Gardeners are growing plants closer together, utilizing the empty spaces between plant rows to grow more and weed less.  There is a drawback to intensive systems however.  If not managed properly, the soil can become exhausted faster than a garden planted using the conventional row method. 

 

A Biointensive System grows and maintains a living, healthy soil so that you will be rewarded with health giving food and lots of it!  You will weed less, use less water, and less space to produce the equivalent yield using a row method.  According to John Jeavons of Ecology Action, a biointensive prepared garden bed with closely spaced plants, can produce up to four times more than the equivalent area prepared less deeply and planted in rows. The biointensive system will consume as little as 1/8 the water, require ½ or less the purchased fertilizer, and uses 100 times less energy.

 

The basic principals of a Biointensive System:

 

¨  Working the soil deeply, 24” to 36”

¨ Adding compost

¨ Close plant spacing

¨ Plant Diversity/Companion planting principals

¨ Growing carbon crops

¨ Growing and eating foods more harmonious with the soil’s needs

¨ Use of open pollinated seeds

¨ Whole system awareness

 

Working the soil deeply:  Biointensive prepared garden beds are also called lazy beds.  In a lazy bed there is less work for the gardener as it uses only one-quarter the area  it would take to produce the same yield by other methods.  Instead of several rows separated by wide spaces, plants are planted in groups in a bed that is about 4’ to 5’ wide.  The bed is prepared to a depth of 2’ using the double digging method. In a double dug bed, water can pass through easily and moisture is evenly distributed, making it easier for plant roots to provide a steady stream of nutrients to the stem and leaves.

 

Adding compost:  Composting is nature’s way of recycling nutrients and organic matter back into the soil for new and growing plants to use. Dead plants and animal carcasses are consumed by micro organisms, the organic matter is broken down into smaller and smaller components and eventually turns it into ‘humus’.