And now improve your soil biology

Tasmanians Steve Solomon and Letetia Ware have a lot of expertise in soil biology and creating healthy soils. They have different approaches to it, but we can learn a lot from both. In this blog post I compare their approaches and come to the conclusion that they are really part of one and the same soil biology triangle.

About Steve Solomon:

Steve Solomon is widely known in Tasmania and prior to that, in the USA for his books on food gardening and soil management. Since coming to Tasmania in 1998, Steve has turned his hand to producing vegetables all year round in Northern Tasmania. For more info about Steve see his page Soil & Health Library.

About Letetia Ware:

Letitia Ware runs a farm in the Channel area and has dedicated the last 20 years to growing award-winning garlic and producing microbial and biological products. You can read more about this in Clove Encounters with Glorious Garlic here.

How do their approaches to soil biology and soil management compare?

I found the following (Point 1 of Steve relates to Point 1 of Letetia and so on):

Steve Solomon advises that

1. If your original soil and the manures, composts and mulches you add all lack in certain chemical elements then your crops will not contain them, no matter how much you add, and as result your produce will also lack those chemical elements.
2. Test a soil for the presence or lack of chemical elements and then correct imbalances by applying a tailored mix of organic fertilisers based on analysis of the test results.
3. Add those organic fertilisers directly to the soil or to your compost heap.
4. If you practice sound organic methods and focus on achieving chemical balance in your soil by means of complete organic fertilisers, your produce will become nutrient-rich.

Letetia Ware advises that

1. The biological organisms in your soil convert minerals and organic matter so plants can digest them.  If your soil-biology is unhealthy or non-existent plants will not be able to use chemical elements present in your soil, no matter how much fertiliser you add, and as a result your produce will also lack those chemical elements.
2. Test a soil for the presence or lack of microbial activity and then correct imbalances by introducing or encouraging a tailored mix of useful bacteria, fungi, protozoa and beneficial nematodes.
3. Add those to your compost heap and then apply the resulting micro-biology-rich compost to your soil.
4. If you practice sound organic methods and focus on achieving healthy soil organisms in your soil with compost as your main tool, your produce will become nutrient-rich.

Letetia provided a clue as to how these two approaches fit together when she showed this diagram:

As I understand it, Steve's and Letitia's approaches are just different corners of the one soil-health triangle.  Letetia Ware focuses on the top corner (Soil Biology).  Steve Solomon focuses on the left-bottom corner (Minerals).

Letetia always works via compost because she believes that soil microbes could be harmed or killed if substances (including for instance Blood and Bone) are applied directly to soils.  Steve found results to be excellent if a complete organic fertiliser mix is added to soils directly.

Steve Solomon recommends a standard complete organic fertiliser if the gardener does not have the money or the means to have their soil tested.  However, where possible he recommends that soil is tested in a lab and a tailored complete organic fertiliser mix is applied that is based on the test results.

Letetia Ware uses a tool called a refractometer to test biological activity in soils.  The methods she uses are discussed in a number of books.  Teeming with Microbes by Jeff Lowenfels and Wayne Lewis is the best book to start with if you are new to the subject.

A complete soil-test would test all three corners of the triangle: soil biology, minerals and organic matter.

In summary

You need minerals to get nutrient rich soil.  You need microbes to encourage the uptake of those minerals.  To grow healthy, nutritious food you need to combine these with healthy organic matter in your compost.

Soil - you never stop learning!