Organic Gardener Magazine Australia. By: Peter Cundall | May 30, 2017 To be honest, some of us really do talk to plants and we’re not necessarily behaving foolishly.
After all, we are usually watering, feeding or checking their health at the same time. But even if the plants can’t talk back, they can certainly communicate any troubles via visual-distress signals such as leaves changing colour, foliage wilting or a sudden flush of tiny fruit. Learning to quickly interpret these signals means we can correct problems before they become serious. All plants are subject to attacks from living organisms, especially common parasitic pests and diseases. Well-established organic gardens have few nutritional problems because the soils are nourished with natural fertilisers, especially animal manures from organic sources, good composts and biochar, most of which contain a balance of major and minor nutrients. Nutrient problem solver Well-established organic gardens have few nutritional problems but if they occur, here’s what to do. Soil Recipe-2: Jeevamrut means one solution and many benefits. Pic: Hariram P S It’s hard to come across an organic gardener who has not heard of Jeevamrut.
The ingredients needed for this are easy to source and it’s easy to prepare, too. The following recipe is being republished verbatim from Soil Recipes authored by Goa-based organic farmer Isa Alvares and published by The Organic Farming Association of India. Ingredients: Preparation: Add 10 kg cow dung, 5 lts. of cow urine, 1 kg black jaggery, 1kg lentil powder, handful of soil in 200 lts. of water. Keep the solution for 2 to 7 days in the shade or fermentation. During the fermentation, the solution is stirred daily. Application: For a liquid foliar spray. Spray during dawn or dusk on any crop, for promoting growth, flowering and yield increase. Please note: Soil Recipes is a useful how-to-do-it manual of soil nutrition and maintenance authored by Goa-based organic farmer ISA ALVARES and published by The Organic Farming Association of India (OFAI). Like this: Like Loading... Related In "Endlessly Green"
Soil Recipe-1: Amudham solution, a catalyst for plant growth. War, pestilence, even climate change, are trifles by comparison.
Destroy the soil and we all starve. – George Monbiot. This is the International Year of Soils. What better way to help the soil heal than going organic and shunning chemical fertilisers and pesticides?