Mulching & Soil Maintenance

Thanks to El Nino, 2027 is meant to be even hotter than this year (buy your aircon early!).
https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/articles/c3ekg93vjz9o

There’s a few simple things you can do this year to set yourself up for success though.

1 – Cover the soil. An inch or two of mulch/compost/manure/bark chippings/straw all provide an armour to the soil, keeping it cool and holding moisture. Think of it like closing the curtains to keep the sun out of your house. It also breaks down to release nutrients into the soil.

2 – Build up soil organic matter. We have heavy clay soil, it holds water but dries out rock solid. Organic matter increases the capacity to retain water even more. A simple way is to leave the roots of your crops in the soil when you harvest (for instance cut sweetcorn off at the base instead of digging it up). Or adopt no/minimal dig methods, so you disturb what is in there as little as possible.

3 – Focus on building soil health before it gets too cold this year. Happy soil makes for happy plants, which might mean the difference between some and no crop next year.

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