How long does it take for the soil to replenish itself?

[nao57]

So I wanted to post this question here, to try to get information on it;

How long does it take for the soil to replenish the carbon lost in it?

To give you an idea, I've been gardening for years. Probably this will be my 9th or 10th year gardening. I wasn't very good at it at the start. But then I realized about halfway through that experience that part of why I wasn't doing very good was that the carbon was stripped from the soil in our backyard. We didn't have a lot of land. I found out you could you know, put aged steer manure and other things to fix it. But that by itself can be a battle if you are with other family members that don't understand and try to interfere.

Anyway... people have the idea of crop rotation... but... can the carbon really replenish itself without actually putting down aged steer manure or other things? Will it heal just naturally? (I don't see how that would work... although I guess there are small bugs and microbes in the soil...?) And also it would seem like there would be 2 different rates of change for how long the soil would take to heal itself of stripped resources; 1 rate should be the rate to heal without help from you yourself the farmer or gardener. And the 2nd rate would be with steer manure or whatever... ?

Anyway this has me so curious to ask. I mean... I think I should have asked this a long time ago. I kind of have an idea that... I can get it to work if I plant stuff with steer manure around it that's properly aged and has the bacteria burned out. So I've got some things to work. But it always seems like there's just 1 more thing to learn you know? There's always new things to research. And part of that is exciting that you can wake up and find something to research and learn and that it can be fun too.

I think a lot of people need the ideas around this concept of how to replenish the soil. Especially yards in the city are more likely to have lost nutrients for plants since people in the city don't know a lot about that kind of stuff and have small yards. But also the food systems and the problems in this country and in other developed countries are so amazingly huge that people really have no clue what's going on. And I hope more people decide to get into gardening, for their own sake.

 

[Debbie292d]

We're surrounded by farmland so what I forgot about growing up on one, I can see every season what they do. It becomes a science of sorts for them to choose what crops to rotate, what crops are going to need fertilizing, etc. In our garden, all we worry about is things like green beans and peas which "fix" the soil get rotated where we plant those.

Perhaps you should try to get to know a crop farmer or see if there's maybe a crop farmers's group on Facebook for your state. I bet they'd be a wealth of knowledge on this!

 

[nao57]

We're surrounded by farmland so what I forgot about growing up on one, I can see every season what they do. It becomes a science of sorts for them to choose what crops to rotate, what crops are going to need fertilizing, etc. In our garden, all we worry about is things like green beans and peas which "fix" the soil get rotated where we plant those.

Perhaps you should try to get to know a crop farmer or see if there's maybe a crop farmers's group on Facebook for your state. I bet they'd be a wealth of knowledge on this!

Wow.

Yeah I should have remembered that it would go faster with peas, and beans as nitrogen fixers. Not sure why I spaced out on that. Clover too.

All of that stuff is amazing.

One of the things I had studied though; some of the regenerative agriculture documentaries had quoted that in the midwest growing states they used to have like over 12% carbin in the soil back in the day after the buffalo... and that they'd brought it up so much. But that now its probably around 2 or 3 %.

Thank you for your reply!

 

[NatJ]

can the carbon really replenish itself without actually putting down aged steer manure or other things? Will it heal just naturally? (I don't see how that would work... although I guess there are small bugs and microbes in the soil...?)

Plant roots are one source of carbon.

If you grow plants, and later their roots stay in the ground and rot, that will provide a bit of carbon. I can't say how long it will take to replenish the carbon in the soil, just pointing out that plant roots are one thing that can be involved.

I found out you could you know, put aged steer manure and other things to fix it. But that by itself can be a battle if you are with other family members that don't understand and try to interfere.

I assume you already tried explaining, and that didn't work.

Sometimes no explanation will convince people, but sometimes it works if you give them a partly-true explanation that makes more sense to them. (I do not recommend giving them a completely false explanation, just focus on whatever aspect of the truth you think will make the most sense to them.)

For example: "I read this great idea to smother weeds. You put down the steer manure, and then you cover it with newspapers or cardboard, and then you put some rocks on top so it doesn't blow away. A few months later, you can pick up the rocks and plant your plants. You don't even have to move the steer manure and the newspaper, because they rotted away after they killed the weeds!"

Or, "Piling this around the base of the plants will help keep the soil more moist, so we don't have to water the garden as often."

Or, "I can bury those vegetable peelings in the garden, and then you won't have to take out the trash as often, because it will not fill up as fast."

All of those involve putting something in the garden that can improve the soil, but the other benefits are real as well. If they think the other benefit is more valuable, you might be able to improve the soil without them objecting.

(I have no clue if this kind of idea will work or not. Some people just say, "We've always done it this way and we aren't going to change," and nothing will change their mind. If you are in a situation like that, please just ignore all my ideas.)

 

[Sally PB]

IMO, you probably can't go wrong adding aged manure of any kind. Ditto with other compostable things. Adding plant matter (leaves, wood) to the soil is how forests maintain their soil.

 

[Perris]

you might find this useful @nao57
https://www.permaculturenews.org/2015/10/13/how-soil-and-carbon-are-related/

 

[Tahai]

Cover crops are a good way to build up your soil. Winter rye is great. You plant it in your garden in the fall after everything is done producing. It grows slowly all fall, winter and early spring, then you till it into the soil a couple weeks before spring planting.

White clover is a good cover crop for the spring and summer. You undersow your garden plants with clover, and till the clover in atvthe end of the growing season.

Hugelkultur and lasagna gardens are fantastic ways to create carbon rich raised beds. Google both.

Happy gardening.

 

[McChooky]

Exodus 23:11 but in the seventh year you must let it rest and lie fallow, so that the poor among your people may eat from the field and the wild animals may consume what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and olive grove.