My Garden

Empower your soil

BY BRENDA WEBB

Nutrient-dense fruit, vegetables and beautiful blooms need healthy soil. British-based Land Gardeners Bridget Elworthy and Henrietta Courtauld told their packed sessions at November’s Raupara Springs Garden Marlborough that to have a successful garden you must first look at the basics.

Making sure the soil has the right nutrients in the form of compost, or a compost tea, is an easily achievable solution, they say. “If we heal the soil then we heal the planet – the answer is under our feet,” said Bridget, who is New Zealand-born and raised.

The couple run a successful florist and composting business in Britain but recently have become vocal in spreading

“If we heal the soil then we heal the planet – the answer is under our feet.”

the message that gardeners can become eco-warriors in their own gardens. They lament a lack of biodiversity and farming methods such as heavy tilling of the soil, the use of chemical sprays and burning crops, advocating a ‘no-dig’ method where the soil is covered and enriched with homemade compost.

Alternatively, intermediate crops could be dug in to enrich the soil. In their own gardens they only use organic fertiliser and homemade compost.

Harnessing ‘nature’s way’ Weeds are nature’s way of protecting the soil, say the two women, so they encouraged gardeners to replicate this by covering vegetable and flower beds with compost made by blending nitrogen (fresh manures, lawn clippings, coffee grounds, weeds and kitchen scraps) with carbon (straw, shredded paper and cardboard, young woodchips, dry clippings and leaves).

The key is adding clay to the mix as a slurry, plus a little of a previous compost to act as a starter.

“Compost improves the soil immensely,” Henrietta told her Garden Marlborough audience. “It is a hive of activity – full of nutrients, microbes, worms and all sorts of goodies.” The ingredients are layered – like a lasagne – and the clay slurry poured on top. The entire pile is watered and covered, (not with plastic that would cause it to overheat and turn rancid), then turned once the temperature reaches 60 degrees.

Gardeners can use a kitchen thermometer to check. Their compost will be usable in six weeks.

Compost should be regularly checked and should always smell sweet – if it smells putrid then it isn’t working properly. Introducing previous compost ensures there are plenty of microbes and worms to help aerate the mix and produce a rich brew.

Companion planting The couple also promote the use of seaweed – either whole or as a liquid to fertilise – and compost teas, which are made by soaking compost in water then using the tea on the garden and lawns.

Bridget and Henrietta supply flowers to select London clients and grow endless blooms in their Cotswold garden, heading out in the early morning to pick whatever takes their fancy.

They don’t follow trends, simply growing what they like. Vegetables happily flourish alongside blooms in their borders.