Stream Corner

Before spend money on expensive pipe drainage bear mind that too efficient a system will povcrish your soil as the plant nutrient will be leached out very easily. Try one several natural corrective methods first.

Many waste materials can go on to the compost heap, from kitchen waste such as lettuce leaves and vegetable peelings to grass cuttings, dead leaves and straw- but diseased plant roots, perennial weeds or woody stems should always be burnt. The successful decomposition of this waste material depends on air, water and the action of bacteria. The bacteria depend on nitrogen for food and the rate of decay can be accelerated by sprinkling the heap with a nitrogenous fertilizer such as sulphate of ammonia or by spreading a layer of farmyard manure over it.

Each 300 mm (1 ft) layer of waste should be trodden or pressed down firmly to get rid of air pockets, and then watered. The compacted mass can be covered with a layer of soil, about 25 mm (1 in) thick, and then the farmyard manure or sulphate of ammonia if you arc using it. Alternate layers can be covered with hydrated lime (unless your soil is naturally limy) instead. When the heap is the height you require, cover it with one more layer of soil and give it a watering. Decomposition will be speeded up if the heap is turned about every six weeks, moving waste matter from the outside into the centre and watering any dry patches. In the absence of rain, water should be sprinkled on the heap periodically-about every two weeks during a dry summer. Too much rain, however, will wash away the nutrients in the compost; during a period of heavy rainfall, a temporary cover could be placed on top.

Compost can be regarded as sufficiently decayed when the individual components can no longer be distinguished. It should be a crumbly, manure-like mass, dark in colour; if the texture is slimy the heap has not been made up correctly. In warm weather, and given the right conditions, the waste will take only about two to three months to decay but in winter you can expect it to take about four to six months. Artificial or inorganic fertilizers are concentrated chemical salts from natural underground deposits. They are available in liquid or powder form and supply essential foods direct to the plants, acting quickly when applied to moist soils; it is important to use the exact quantity stated and to distribute it as evenly as possible, as overdoses can be harmful. Fertilizers are available containing individual chemi- cals or you can buy a general one which combines the three main nutrients: nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K).

While the application of artificial fertilizers helps to stimulate plant growth it does nothing to improve the physical qualities of the soil. In fact over-application of these materials can cause soil deterioration by destroying bacteria. Soil texture can be improved by the addition of sterilized peat (moist, decomposing plant matter) but this has no mineral or food content at all. The fertility of a soil is an extremely complex balance between its physiology, its humus content and its mineral content (shown by its pH value). Once a gardener understands how each factor in the balance works, he has control over his plot, over what will grow and where. A well drained soil is essential not for successful plant growth but also paths and walls are to he built. It is therefore important to consider the draink your whole plot, not simply with regal the growing areas.

Few plants like a lot of water ar their roots and in a soil which is consta wet the plant roots will remain near surface or will start to rot. Wet soils also cold, which retards plant gro When drainage is inadequate, not on air blocked from the plant roots but general lack of air in the soil means bacteria cannot live and the bacteria ai vital part of healthy soil.