Quote:
Originally Posted by Nik
What about soil types? Any advice on that field (no pun intended)? I mean what sort of soil to look out for, mix, 'clean', etc... Some people may be in areas that different substantially in terms of the soil that they have around them (I'm talking German forest areas vs. South American jungle!  ) |
Other than virgin prairie soil in the upper Midwest USA, the chances of anyone anywhere on the planet having excellent soil with all of the nutrients in balance are not good. Compost and organic matter are NOT the answer in most places; soil fertility is determined by its content and balance of minerals, not by the amount of organic matter. Anyone seriously thinking of feeding themselves and their animals needs to have the soil tested and to learn about soil minerals. Big beautiful vegetables are easy enough to grow; the question is do they have the minerals needed for health? In most cases the answer is no. You do not want your teeth getting loose and your bones weak because your soil lacks the Calcium and Phosphorus teeth and bones are made from. Lack of any of the essential minerals will wreak havoc with health.
I've put together this web site,
http://www.soilminerals.com to address the seemingly total lack of good info on soil minerals on the web. If you are serious about growing food to live on, you need to educate yourself; apologies to all the true believers, but compost is not the answer to a mineral deficiency.