Infertile Soils

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23333, 29 April 1939, Page 10 (Supplement)

Infertile Soils

Correcting Faulty rit i J exture It is very necessary to keep the soil in the garden :nveet. Some ground becomes sour and unproductive as a result of digging in quantities of rotting vegetable matter year after year. Jn other cases sourness is the result of defective drainage. Adding manure is of no benefit to a soil which is in this unhealthy state. A liberal dressing of lime will do far more good but, of course, this alone cannot effect a cure where the drainage is deficient. Ridging Wet Soil Rough digging—exposing as much of the soil as possible to the action of the air—will go far to restoring sour soil to a wholesome state. If the land lies low and holds much moisture, it will improve matters to ridge it instead of levelling the surface. The simplest method of doing this is to work on strips a yard wide. First turn over the middle portion of such a strip, then throw the soil from left to right on top of that first loosened. Do not break up the lumps, but leave them rough and loose. By early spring the lumps will crumble down of their own .accord, and in the meantime fresh air will have done much toward reviving the activities of sluggish and tired soil bacteria. Stiff clay will become more friable and fertile if liberally dressed with sharp sand. Wood ashes become sticky and pasty when wet, and on that account are more likely to be of value in a loose, light soil than in clay. Leafmould, when available, will provide the humus which stubborn, heavy soil lacks, but very few gardeners are able to obtain leaf-mould in quantity for digging in. The majority have to make the most of the vegetable refuse from the garden. Green manuring is as good for sandy soils as for those of clay.