Is there a lazy approach to improving my soil?

I am "going permie" in my suburban yard an garden and want to start a soil thread to solicit some input.

Some background on where I am in my journey here:  https://permies.com/t/173125/transition-Conventional-Permaculture-Organic-Practices#1359070

Im doing lots of reading on how to improve soil in my lawn and garden.    So far:
- Stopped all conventional/synthetic lawn/garden practices.
- No Till:  I used to till my main veg bed every year to add amendments and keep the soil loose.  
- Increasing my compost production:  Lots of leaves on my lot and I have access to free combusted manure and free wood chips.
- Used to put all kitchen scraps in my compost but started a worm bin in Aug 2021.  So far so good.  Still have more scraps than I can process in my bin.  Have not harvested any worm castings yet.  Initially, my plan is to use castings in planting holes for veg in the spring.  Hoping I can also use to fertilize other plants/trees on my lot.  Not sure how much I can produce and still working to find balance in my fermi compost system  
- "building soil" using the lasagna and hugel bed methods.  Started this in Fall 2020 and doubled down Fall 2021/
  -- Noticable increase in worm population so I am moving in the right direction.

I am enjoying reading and learning about soil and wondering how much is good enough?  I have limited time (less than I like - but will retire someday!) and want to get to a managable "putter in the garden" approach with a heavy lift in the fall to build compost and add layers to beds to over winter.

Can I expect my soil to continuously improve over time without having to do routine soil tests, add amendments of all sorts, (other than as mentioned above), figure out microscope inspections, etc etc etc?  While this all sounds like fun, I am hoping to find a sweet spot where I can enjoy the process, grow better quality, nutrient dense edibles,  and not overload myself with more and more chores, processes etc.

I was getting excited about getting a system together to make compost tea as a means to stimulate more organisms in my soil.  But, this would be a bit of a chore, and since I have such a noticeable increase in worm activity, is compost tea really something I need to do?  Mixed reviews on the net.

Can I expect what I am doing to be enough over time?

Would appreciate thoughts from those that may have started with a "Sterile" lawn from years of conventional fertilizer use.  


My question here
-

Hi Mark,
It sounds like you are doing all the right things and are going in the right direction. The key almost anywhere, to good soil will be the addition of organic materials. The other magic ingredient is time!
As regards "will it get easier" I would say 'yes' . That for me is one of the whole points of permaculture over other system designs. I sometimes refer to it as 'lazy gardening'. If it doesn't get easier over time you are doing something wrong! I'm tending more to mulching in situ - chop and drop and wind harvesting features that slow the wind and capture leaves and debris from my own and neighbouring properties. Unfortunately it can end up looking a bit messy which can be a problem I know in some neighbourhoods, either because of regulations or critter problems.
The only caveat is that with food production, especially with annual crops, the fact you are removing nutrients in the form of leaves, roots and fruit means that there is a loss over time of trace elements. This will need to be replaced or retained somehow for the system to continue indefinitely. Also the act of digging creates a bonfire of death in the soil, which feeds our annual plants, but also leads to depletion and reversion to dirt. Rest and mulch restore again as it would if we took no action.
For me something that changed my attitude and made me a bit more relaxed about having perfect growing soil, and understanding and controlling everything, was reading the one straw revolution about Masanobu Fukuoka. I wish I'd read it earlier in my life as it made me realise it is OK to not be in control of everything.
My climate and soil is too different to be of specific use to you, but I'm following with interest!

An easy way to deal with kitchen scraps is to put them directly in the garden. If you have deep enough mulch, you can just put them under the mulch. If your mulch isn't thick enough, you can dig a hole in the soil and cover them up that way. My sister in law digs a shallow trench parallel to one of her vegetable rows. Then puts her kitchen scraps in the trench, filling it in as she adds more material.

For others that are interested in improving soil:

List of Dr. RedHawk's Epic Soil Series Threads

https://permies.com/wiki/redhawk-soil

I feel there is not a lazy approach to improving the soil.  Though there are ways to make it easier.  It sounds like you are way ahead in getting the soil biology you might be seeking.  Here are a couple of threads that you might not have seen.

https://permies.com/t/76498/biology-soil

https://permies.com/t/86117/Bacteria-Fungi-Nematodes

My suggestions to add that I did not see would be compost tea and mushrooms.

With these two anyone would be putting their best step forward.

I am looking forward to hearing more about your adventures in soil building.

Hi Mark,
I would say the lazy approach to gardening plants is to improve your soil, so I think you are on the right track there :)

It has already been mentioned that you won't be able to do nothing later, as you will need to add some things back in. Having said that, when you have a healthy soil, there are more minerals and things available due to the increase in soil microbiology than there would be in a dead system. So that will certainly help over time. And I would expect you to have to add a lot less over the years than you did initially.

One really lazy option (though expensive) is to truck in good compost that someone else made... then you just spread it around and plant.

You mention the idea of a large job in the fall and less during the rest of the year. I just did this idea on one of my garden beds. The weeds had gotten a little out of hand by the end of the growing season. So I took my lawnmower and mowed it down short. I then sprinkled rotting straw that had been holding my compost pile together all over the top of the mowed weeds. I then sprinkled dried seaweed I had collected over top of that. Then I spread some chicken feed I had left over from when I had chickens. I then covered that with 4-5 inches of fall leaves. The last layer was 4-5 inches of woodchips to cover it over. It was a lot of work in the fall, but the microbes and worms and bugs are all working that stuff over and in whenever it is warm enough. Come spring, that is going to be some awesome soil. And after that big push, I won't have to do anything other than move a few wood chips aside and plant.

**EDIT - PS the compost tea is great, but if you compost in place (which is really what lasagna gardening is), then I personally don't think there is as much need for compost tea unless you want to.

It seems like you're doing all the right low-energy things. Maybe remember to also plant polycultures as much as possible to promote diverse soil microbiota.

As to your worm castings, and not having very much early on, to make it go farther, use it to treat your seeds before planting. Apparently mixing in even a pretty small amount of castings when planting increases the diversity of microbes available to the young plant fairly dramatically.

And finally, if I lived as close to the sea as you do, I'd go forage a trunk-load of seaweed once a year to add to my compost operation.

Nancy Reading wrote:Hi Mark,
It sounds like you are doing all the right things and are going in the right direction. The key almost anywhere, to good soil will be the addition of organic materials. The other magic ingredient is time!
As regards "will it get easier" I would say 'yes' . That for me is one of the whole points of permaculture over other system designs. I sometimes refer to it as 'lazy gardening'. If it doesn't get easier over time you are doing something wrong! I'm tending more to mulching in situ - chop and drop and wind harvesting features that slow the wind and capture leaves and debris from my own and neighbouring properties. Unfortunately it can end up looking a bit messy which can be a problem I know in some neighbourhoods, either because of regulations or critter problems.
The only caveat is that with food production, especially with annual crops, the fact you are removing nutrients in the form of leaves, roots and fruit means that there is a loss over time of trace elements. This will need to be replaced or retained somehow for the system to continue indefinitely. Also the act of digging creates a bonfire of death in the soil, which feeds our annual plants, but also leads to depletion and reversion to dirt. Rest and mulch restore again as it would if we took no action.
For me something that changed my attitude and made me a bit more relaxed about having perfect growing soil, and understanding and controlling everything, was reading the one straw revolution about Masanobu Fukuoka. I wish I'd read it earlier in my life as it made me realise it is OK to not be in control of everything.
My climate and soil is too different to be of specific use to you, but I'm following with interest!

Hi Nancy,

My "lazy approach..." title in this thread was a play on "Lazy gardening" which I do see as a theme as I "dig" (pun intended) around the permies site.  I think I have also seen "Lazy Lawn care" on the site - also of interest.  I just took a quick look at "One Straw Revolution" that you recommended, added it to my reading list, and also flagged the related u-tube videos to watch soon.  Just in this quick look - I can expand my interpretation of "lazy", to include doing only what needs to be done vs doing things (adding more chores) because they seem like a good thing to do - e.g. compost tea - which I was getting very geeked out about (a positive thing for me), but decided to hit pause while I see how my new planting areas settle in.  I have added a LOT of organic material via sheet mulching.    Like you imply above, I want to have a relaxed approach in my journey.  My former "conventional" approach was centered around a lot of tasks that I needed to get done but struggled to keep up with.  I still have a lot of to-do's and limited time, but my philosophical approach has shifted and this journey much more enjoyable - even when I can't get things done (I will get to it later, next year, etc.  I know the worms and soil critters are out their working for me 24/7 - I will do what I can to keep them happy!).  

Anne Miller wrote:For others that are interested in improving soil:

List of Dr. RedHawk's Epic Soil Series Threads

https://permies.com/wiki/redhawk-soil

I feel there is not a lazy approach to improving the soil.  Though there are ways to make it easier.  It sounds like you are way ahead in getting the soil biology you might be seeking.  Here are a couple of threads that you might not have seen.

https://permies.com/t/76498/biology-soil

https://permies.com/t/86117/Bacteria-Fungi-Nematodes

My suggestions to add that I did not see would be compost tea and mushrooms.

With these two anyone would be putting their best step forward.

I am looking forward to hearing more about your adventures in soil building.

Anne - I am looking at all of the things that you flag.  Thank you.  I also recently finished the "Build Your Soil" and "Teaming with Microbes" and am reading "Mycelium Running"  Right now.  I also stumbled across the Documentary "Fantastic Fungi" last weekend.    It is like a big light bulb went off in my head a few months back with all of this stuff - it is so easy, right?  (philosophically speaking).  I am delaying going down the compost tea path for now, but plan to add wine cap mushroom spawn to the deep wood chip mulch I have put in place for all of the pathways around my new raised beds.  

Jan White wrote:An easy way to deal with kitchen scraps is to put them directly in the garden. If you have deep enough mulch, you can just put them under the mulch. If your mulch isn't thick enough, you can dig a hole in the soil and cover them up that way. My sister in law digs a shallow trench parallel to one of her vegetable rows. Then puts her kitchen scraps in the trench, filling it in as she adds more material.

I do think this mulching in place is a good approach.  I have been using "worm tubes/towers" in my main raised bed for several years that I put my kitchen scraps into in the spring/summer months.  I relocate the tubes in the bed each season.  

Christopher Weeks wrote:It seems like you're doing all the right low-energy things. Maybe remember to also plant polycultures as much as possible to promote diverse soil microbiota.

As to your worm castings, and not having very much early on, to make it go farther, use it to treat your seeds before planting. Apparently mixing in even a pretty small amount of castings when planting increases the diversity of microbes available to the young plant fairly dramatically.

And finally, if I lived as close to the sea as you do, I'd go forage a trunk-load of seaweed once a year to add to my compost operation.

Good tip on making best use of my limited worm casting.  I had been thinking about vermi-composting for a couple of years and this past summer I scored a great deal ($10 I think) on a worm factory at a farmers market/flea market in rural New Hampshire!

I haven't harvested castings yet but will do so soon.

It is like a big light bulb went off in my head a few months back with all of this stuff - it is so easy, right?  (philosophically speaking).  I am delaying going down the compost tea path for now, but plan to add wine cap mushroom spawn to the deep wood chip mulch I have put in place for all of the pathways around my new raised beds.  

This!  Yes, compost tea can be a later learning experience.

Mushrooms are such marvelous things.  Mushrooms help build soil and can also give our bodies so many good nutrients.

I was working in my garden yesterday, so this was a timely thread for me.

Last year we fenced our veggie patch, expanding the area considerably to include areas that have been left to grass for decades.

I started tilling these areas in, to break up the grass roots and loosen the soil a bit. They will get topped with compost from the chicken coop eventually. I also lightly tilled some of the previous growing areas.

The soil in the two areas was remarkably different. Dark and rich in the old growing areas, light and crumbly in the grass areas. Our subsoil is chalk, so the white colour is a direct indication of soil with low organic content, and lower fertility.

The old growing area has been lightly tilled in previous years. Hand weeded/hoed through each growing season. The paths between beds gets topped with a deep layer of fresh woodchip to keep the weeds down. The beds themselves get topped composted woodchips, that have been enriched by the chickens in the deep litter system of their coop.

I consider this to be a "low effort" system compared to our previous years. I commit to a small amount of light tilling (top 4" or so) in the early spring, and in exchange I have MUCH less weeding to do through the growing season. Over two years or so of using woodchips/tilling/chicken mulch in this way the soil quality is amazing.

This isn't quite a "Back to Eden" approach, although I have tried it in the past. I found that in our climate the BTE strategy just turned into a slug paradise because they had too many places to hide in the coarse mulch.

Getting chickens was the best thing for improving our veggies.