I hope you'll forgive that pun but our forbears had far more respect for the soil than we have today.  Researching methods of restoring soil to fertility has naturally always been one of my pet subjects as I started here 38 years ago on the most appallingly degraded and lifeless soil, polluted by agrichemicals.  Many people take soil for granted and think of it as just so much 'dirt' - something which simply anchors crops while we pour on the chemicals! But the more chemicals we pollute soil with the less it works as Nature designed it to, and it's now increasingly unable to regulate the climate properly, by absorbing and storing atmospheric carbon - which is one of the jobs it evolved to do. Evolved - some might say? Yes - evolved - because soil is actually a living, breathing community of organisms all working together as they have done since life began. It's not just do much lifeless mineral dust under our feet! Some scientists decided back in the mid 20th century that chemicals were a better and more profitable (for them!) way of growing our food than the way Nature has evolved to over countless millennia! How wrong they were when you look at the amount of ill-health, destruction of biodiversity and climate change which those carbon-releasing farming methods have caused. You can't grow healthy food for humans, farm animals or biodiversity if you don't have a healthy living soil to start with - as I said at the beginning of this month's polytunnel diary. 

 

 

As I'd been invited to talk about soil at the launch of the European 'People4Soil' campaign at our National Botanic Gardens 3 years ago - I was looking back through my treasured collection of old Soil Association mags which I was given by some very kind friends many years ago, whose parents had been among the earliest members of the Soil Association. I was looking for some fresh inspiration in order to motivate people to value soil more highly. The collection starts from the very first ones back in the 1930's. Even then, so many people all around the world were warning even then of the dire consequences of using synthetic pesticides and other man-made chemicals - but their warnings weren't heeded. 

 

 

Of course, there is far more money to be made out of patenting chemicals than there is out of encouraging Nature - but the fact that we ignore it at our peril is now becoming abundantly clear!  Multinationals can't make massive profits from that! So farmers and gardeners trust in Nature was deliberately undermined and they were encouraged to believe that it wasn't possible to grow crops without chemicals! 

 

 

The health of the planet's soils has declined just as sharply as the profits of the multinationals have risen - the health of our crops has also declined and there is now the biggest epidemic of NCDs - or non-communicable - or 'lifestyle-disease' diseases (as diabetes, cancer, dementia are known) - in human history. The consequences of this greed and blind ignorance are now coming back to haunt us in the shape of antibiotic resistance, an exponential rise in the incidence so called 'modern lifestyle diseases' and also in the global destruction of soils to the point where a great deal of land is no longer capable of growing vital crops, and soils are devoid of any humus and carbon to hold them together, are washing away into rivers and creating 'dead zones' in the seas - where the nutrients running off from farmland eventually make their way to the coast killing off marine life. In some parts of the world, it would take nature many hundreds of years to restore soils to proper fertility again. All this in a world with a rapidly increasing population! Even on our country roads here in Ireland we can see soil pouring out of gateways onto roads after heavy rains - and flooding in winter is now a regular occurrence. There's no humus or carbon left in that soil to hold it together any more or give it any resilience against extremes of climate - and this is something which will be happening more in the future with climate change. That's because over the last 40 or 50 years in particular, farmers have been literally mining all of the carbon and humus that has built up over millennia - pouring chemicals onto it and putting nothing back in the form of composts and manures to hold the soil together. 

 

 

 

  

People who think that peak oil is the major problem facing us are so wrong. Peak soil is our real problem! We could do without oil - but we can't survive without the soil, despite what some proponents of hydroponics would have you believe. - and neither can the planet!  A healthy, living soil doesn't just grow things - it traps and sequesters huge quantities of carbon - more than anything else on the planet. An unhealthy, dying soil that has been destroyed by chemicals does exactly the opposite, releasing carbon rapidly into the atmosphere as it degrades - adding massively to climate change. Most people don't appreciate the complex biological processes that are going on right under their feet! 

 

 

The health of the soil that feeds us is vital to our own health, as well as the health of the planet. Hydroponics can't grow healthy crops - feeding plants with the chemicals or even organic nutrients that WE think they need can never produce the same healthy plants that nature does. There's an awful lot going on in soil that despite all our modern technology - we still haven't actually discovered yet. We are only just beginning to understand that there is a hugely complex web of billions of organisms in a healthy soil which are all dependent on each other in able to be able to do their job. The plants then in turn depend on this web of life to produce the compounds to keep them healthy - the soil is quite literally their immune system. We need to understand this interdependent food web better fast - if we are to to restore resilience to our soils!  

 

 

 

We can each make a change to our own small little corner of the planet - indeed we each have a responsibility to do so - every one of us.  It's vital to do it now - not in 10 or 20 years time when it affects each one of us personally in richer countries - because by then it will be far too late! Our little bit may not seem much in the greater scheme of things - but it can make a difference if we all do something. One of he ways we can do this is by growing as much of our own food as possible - in a low carbon, non-polluting, peat-free and organic way that enhances - not destroys nature! If we can't grow food ourselves - then we should try to support regenerative organic agriculture as much as we can by buying organic if possible. Organic is the only truly sustainable agriculture - the way that Nature does it!  The soil gave us life - and if we destroy it we no know that there is no hope of our children and their descendants living on a planet which can support life as we now know it - it's that serious!  Climate change is like a snowball rolling downhill - the more energy it gathers the faster it goes. The outcome of the recent talks were almost a one day wonder on social media - then the general focus moved back again to Brexit! I really despair sometimes. Despite the warnings of such respected commentators as Dir David Attenborough, so many people are still not taking it seriously!  Surely anyone who has children must think about their future and worry about the mess we're leaving for them to clear up - unless they're entirely selfish?  

 

Using compost, green manures, cover crops, mulching, not digging deeply which disturbs fragile fungal systems, and never leaving bare soil uncovered and open to the elements, are all ways we can rebuild soil.  By using compost I don't mean dumping tons of manure or compost and leaving it open to the weather either - that just runs off, pollutes groundwater and emits greenhouse gases into the atmosphere as I mentioned last month. Biochar is an interesting and increasingly popular way to restore carbon to soil and hold on to fertility too. Biochar is basically charcoal that has been made by burning wood by a method known as pyrolysis - or in other words in the absence of oxygen, just as the woodsmen charcoal makers still do. This was used by some Amazonian Indian civilisations in the past to make their soil more fertile and help it to hold onto nutrients. I've always used shredded woody prunings and wood chips to introduce more carbon and humus into my compost heap ever since I've been gardening, and it's always worked extremely well. Next year I'm going to have a shot at making my own biochar too - from the biomass willows which I planted 25 years ago in the 'wet woodland' habitat at the bottom of the wildlife meadow. I also have some Miscanthus or elephant grass which I'm planting around the hen runs to use up the nitrogen in their nitrogen-rich droppings. It's another of the plants which is recommended for making biochar - but basically any woody prunings will do.

When I'm giving talks, compost is the one thing people seem to get really hung up about - and it's really easy - nature does it without any help from us quite naturally!  But just as with everything else - Nature does it more slowly. It's only when us impatient humans intervene and want instant results that problems always seem to happen!  Tidy up any dead or diseased plant material and bury it well in the compost heap. The exception to this is potatoes. Never put any 'blighty' potatoes or foliage in there as I saw recommended recently - unless your heap is huge and gets hot enough to fry eggs! The other no-no which I don't put into my compost heap is any peelings from shop-bought onions which could possibly carry onion white rot if you're unlucky. That's a disease  you don't want to import into your garden as it can last for 20 years and spread everywhere on tools and boots!  As always when making compost - just make sure there's a good mix of soft and fibrous material, cover it to prevent the rain getting in or heat and nitrous oxide vapours escaping (a potent greenhouse gas), and you'll be OK..  It's mostly common sense, so if you're new to doing it, don't get in a state and think it has to be perfect - just do it!  And cover it! Nature will do the rest. If you just throw any plant remains in a heap somewhere eventually they would rot down, but if you organise it a bit better, by putting it in a bin or a neat heap and covering it to keep the weather out - it will happen a lot more quickly and you won't lose all the nutrients out of it. It's a bit like making a cake really - and the results smell almost as delicious! At the Botanic Gardens last year got a lot of laughs when I admitted to being a serial compost sniffer! Seriously though - there are microorganisms in healthy soils and good compost that can actually relieve stress when inhaled - that's one of the reasons why gardening and being in nature are so relaxing. So go ahead and try it - happy sniffing!!

 

  

Is there much to do outside now?

 

 

Just as in November, DON'T dig ground and leave it uncovered because you will cause nutrient leaching and carbon loss. I'm astonished at the number of  'experts' who still tell you to smother all vacant ground with manure or compost, or dig it in and just leave it open to the elements for the winter!  It appears to me that a lot of their advice is just taken straight out of old fashioned, out of date books!  Never leave empty ground uncovered all winter. A cover crop or green manure cover is best - but if I need a patch early in spring then on my heavy clay I find covering securely with black plastic or something else waterproof and light-excluding to stop weed seeds germinating and stop nutrients leaching works well. Then I just uncover it occasionally on fine days to let the birds deal with any pests, slug eggs etc. they can find. The robins in the garden follow me and watch - flying down the minute I uncover anything, to be first to grab the goodies!  If the bed is for early carrots or other fine seed, then in mid January I replace the cover with a clear plastic cover (usually cut from left over tunnel polythene) this warms up the soil and encourages any lurking weed seeds near the surface to germinate. I then uncover just before sowing in late Feb. or March and pass over it lightly with the flame weeder, this kills off any weed seedlings on the surface and creates a clean, so called 'stale' seedbed to sow the carrots into. That gives them a head start without competition and weedy hiding places for slugs!  It also barbecues slugs nicely - nasty person!
 

 

 

 

If you haven't done so already (see Nov.) - it helps so much when you're ordering seeds - especially if like me, you tend to get carried away and order far too much!  The catalogues all look so tempting. And as I advised in the 'What to Sow now' section - do get your seeds ordered before the good varieties run out. Stick to varieties you know will do well in your garden, trying one or two new ones each year. If you're new to gardening - ask an experienced gardening neighbour - this is where local GIY or other gardening groups are useful. They may have meetings once a month in many areas where you can meet other local gardeners. This is really helpful as climates and soils differ so much all over Ireland and the UK. When I'm ordering seeds, I like to try one a few new varieties each year, because a lot of research is being carried out into disease resistance etc., which is all good news for organic growing. The one thing many proponents of only growing so-called 'Heritage' varieties seem to forget is - that our climate is changing and we need plant breeding to continue producing suitable varieties for the future - as well as retaining the best from the past - if we want to be self-sufficient in food in the future.

 

Order your seed potatoes as soon as you can if you haven't already. At the end of the month or during January you could plant a few 'extra-earlies' in pots to be ready at Easter if you've got your own sprouted seed saved from your earlies this year.  You can also still plant garlic in pots, if the soil is wet, to plant out later.

If you're thinking of making raised beds, and you have somewhere dry to work like a garage or shed, then you could be painting the planks for the sides with a good organic wood stain/preservative, to give it time really soak in. I made my beds from 7"x 2" new rough timber, and put on 3 coats of 'Donnos' wood stain/preservative as recommended by Manfred Wandel of Fruit Hill Farm - it looks good and also seems quite water resistant. I used metal brackets on the end corners of the beds. The sides are secured with several 2ft lengths of  1/2" approx steel 'rebars', from my local builders suppliers, driven into the ground until the top is just below the top of the planks to avoid them catching on things. These won't rot and are neater than wood. The total cost worked out at roughly 1 euro per foot, which I think is pretty good. Recycled timber is fine as long as it hasn't been treated with anything nasty, but will still need a few coats of preservative. (Pressure treated decking planks, which I saw one 'expert' recommending recently, are full of toxic chemicals which can leach out into the soil when wet! Nice!!)

 

I then needed a lot of topsoil, which was a major problem. I am gradually replacing all the raised beds in the kitchen garden with a new higher edging, they were originally minimum-dig 'deep beds' 30 years ago, but now need to be a lot higher as my back needs to bend a lot less! I priced topsoil on the internet a few years ago - at anything between 99-150 euros a ton it would have cost around 6,500 euros, added to which, it would most definitely not be organic (although they'd probably tell you anything - a bit like horse dealers!) Then I had a brainwave! I could get my own topsoil by digging out the large wildlife pond I had always wanted, in the wet spot at the bottom of the field which was full of brambles and scrub. In June 2010 - my local builder, who loves to do anything a bit different, came along with his digger and I stood waving a flag (no this way...that way) and feeling very powerful! I then lined it with old polytunnel covers I had been hoarding for years, waiting for an opportunity to recycle them. The whole thing cost roughly 1/6th of what the topsoil alone would have cost, gave me a very neat solution to three different problems - and endless joy!  I've since spent many happy hours watching dragonflies and bats hunting over the pond, and even watched as a female dragonfly laid her eggs on the edge. They moved in incredibly quickly, within 3 days of it filling with rainwater, probably because I have a smaller pond elsewhere in the garden and it seemed a much better and  bigger 'des-res.'!  It's such a peaceful place to sit on a summer evening - listening to the breeze gently rustling the surrounding birch and willow trees.

 

But most importantly - don't forget you can grow in almost anything - as long as it will hold soil or compost deep enough for roots and has some drainage. Don't wait until you have the perfect garden - start in a container or two now. Even a broken bucket could grow a patch of salad leaves - and they're far less likely to be eaten by slugs when up out of their reach a bit. So just do it - and worry about any cosmetic issues later! Picking some of your own fresh and healthy food is the important thing - however small your plot or pot!  A friend of mine is now partially disabled, and her son, who works in the building trade, has collected some old baths that were being thrown out of buildings that were being re-furbished and they make fantastic raised beds in her small garden. Next year she is planning to put low fencing around them and grow flowers in front to hide them!  - Where there's a will there's a way as the old saying goes!

 

 

 

 

The ground outside in the vegetable garden is so wet now - that the very short days don't give it any chance to dry up at all. There's nothing you can usefully do so you're better staying off soil to avoid damaging it's structure.  You can keep busy just tidying up, building compost heaps, sorting pots and maintaining tools. Don't worry - there will be more that enough proper gardening to be done again soon! For now we can read seed catalogues, good books and just dream. I always think that gardening is a lot about looking forward and dreaming of the next year's plans too - and that's so important! Whether it's vegetables, flowers, trees or neatly clipped box you most dream about - they're all beautiful dreams! It's the winter solstice very soon - all around me I can already see early spring flowers like hellebores and primroses in bud and gearing up for next year too! Even the early daffodils are poking their noses above ground. Spring is only just around the corner! Nature's eternal optimism never fails to lift the gardener's spirits.

 

 

 

This is something I forgot to put at the end of the polytunnel diary for this month. If you have polytunnels - make sure you have a roll of tunnel tape - the wider the better - ready for mending it if the worst happens! I'm always worried about flying branches with polytunnels - and whenever there's a storm - which seems to be happening more frequently now, I almost hold my breath until the wind stops!  I've had a lot of sleepless nights over the last couple of months - listening for that unmistakable sound of flapping and ripping polythene - which once you've heard you never forget!  It is possible to mend them if they're not too bad but the best thing to do if your tunnel starts to get badly ripped - unless the weather suddenly calms and you get a chance to fix it - is to just take a knife, cut it all the way round and just let it go. That way you may save the frame - and that's the expensive bit.  It takes courage - but I know from experience that if you don't get the chance to do that - then the frame can become so badly distorted that it's beyond repair! Given the wild extremes of weather that we seem to be experiencing more and more with climate change - in the future self-sufficient food production may depend on polytunnels and raised beds in many locations. I certainly couldn't grow crops on the flat here any more, and we live on a hill!.  

 

 

 

 

 

If you have any hens - then make sure you keep them as warm and dry as possible at this time of year. Remember - happy hens are healthy hens - and happy, healthy hens lay more eggs - even through the winter!  Take out any droppings every day so that they don't get any respiratory problems which can happen quickly if they're breathing in stale, ammonia-filled air. Also make sure they have fresh shavings or hay in their nest boxes. Don't forget they're in their house for longer when the days are shorter, so any muck builds up more quickly. My system of 'spokes of a wheel' pattern runs which I change around frequently works well despite the wet weather. I love to see the girls rush out in the mornings to investigate a new patch! They'll tend to slow up a bit on the egg production now for a few weeks - but in mid Jan. they'll start to get back to normal as long as you've looked after them really well. I grow a couple of rows of chard and sugar loaf chicory specifically for them every winter in the tunnel where it's very productive. I give them a bunch of leaves every day as well as any other bits of waste from the garden like outside cabbage leaves etc.- they adore them and clear up every scrap. I think it makes a huge difference to their health - and you can certainly notice it in their eggs too - they have really rich orange yolks. 

 

 

If you have a little space in your tunnel you could even be really kind and give them a winter 'mini-break' by penning them in there for a couple of weeks if you have a suitable small house for them - mine always love the warmth and dryness in the polytunnel and have a fabulous time dust bathing in the dry soil! The only problem then could be keeping away the foxes which may try to eat through the side of the tunnel trying to get at them - something which actually happened to me many years ago, when rearing broilers in a polytunnel!  Last year I reared chicks in one of my polytunnels - and they were very well-protected inside two interlinking, super-size, metal dog cages covered with two layers of small mesh chicken wire. Not even a mouse was able to get through that to steal food!  When they were old enough - they then ranged on the tunnel bed pecking at all the greens and worms in it, until they were hardy and well-feathered enough to go into their house outside, where they are now.