Locking in the carbon

Ben Elms with raised beds in his garden enriched with compost. Photo: Si Williams
Ben Elms with raised beds in his garden enriched with compost. Photo: Si Williams
If you're thinking about reducing your carbon footprint, the garden's a good place to start, writes Ben Elms, aka Dr Compost. 

In a warming world we all want to do our bit.

When in doubt, get in the garden, take the gloves off, get your hands dirty and connect to the soil.

Our gardens grow carbon by the wheelbarrow load. And that's where we want carbon, where it will do some good. The more carbon we sequester into our soils, the more productive, lush and happy our garden space will become. We can keep carbon in our gardens and lift carbon levels in our soils by taking any or all of these steps:

1. No organic matter leaves your property. Think of your property as its own kingdom, with ever-improving fertility and lushness. It's amazing how much biomass our little and large blocks can produce to be used onsite.

2. Regenerative gardening techniques will make the most of your carbon harvest. Using balanced products in your garden, such as compost and manures, increases organic matter levels in the soil and its water-holding capacity. It also increases the biological diversity and a plant's ability to cope with random climatic events and fight off pests and disease.

3. Think hard before spraying chemicals, which affect human health and kill the biology in the soil. We can't tame nature, but we can work in harmony and explore new technologies, such as steaming weeds. With this comes a change in our perspective on how landscapes should look, maybe a return to the rambling cottage garden.

4. Make compost, lots of compost. Turn everything into compost. No-one has ever had too much compost.

5. Mulch everything and keep adding more. Remember, the soil doesn't like to be naked; a naked soil grows weeds, gets compacted from rainfall and leaches nutrients in rain events. Mulch feeds the microorganisms in the soil; improving soil fertility, water retention and organic matter levels.

6. Prunings. Get together with some neighbours and hire a wood chipper for the day to deal with all those prunings. Turn them into valuable wood chips to use in your compost or use as a mulch.

7. Prunings part 2. Instead of having a yearly burn in which everything disappears into smoke, turn your pile of prunings into biochar. Biochar is a type of charcoal that has been mixed with a nutrient source (manure slurry, comfrey or weed tea, or urine). Dig it into your garden beds for amazing benefits. Carbon in this form can stay in the soil for hundreds of years. Think of biochar as a superfood bar for bacteria and fungi in the soil. An old steel bath is a great low-tech kiln to use. Check online for more information and local workshops.

Biochar is a type of charcoal that has been mixed with a nutrient source (manure slurry, comfry...
Biochar is a type of charcoal that has been mixed with a nutrient source (manure slurry, comfry or weed tea, or urine). Dig it into your garden beds for amazing benefits. Photos: Supplied
8. Leave random piles of branches and twigs in corners of the garden. Tuck them away behind shrubs or under a tree to create friendly habitats for beneficial insects and skinks etc. We can get lost in our mission to compost, biochar and chip everything. Let's not forget our garden needs a diversity of insect helpers that need homes.

9. Pee in a bucket. OK, so this isn't a magical carbon-sequestering technique, but we just love the pee as free fertiliser. Dilute five to one and feed all your plants. With all that carbon you've been saving in the soil, your plants will go gangbusters.

10. All food scraps get composted. "If it has lived before it can live again". Everything from your kitchen needs to be composted. That can be as simple as trench composting; i.e., dig a hole and bury it. You can up the quality of the product by using bokashi buckets, worm farms or compost heaps. Remember though, it is better to eat food and compost only the scraps.

11. Grow more food. Garden lawns take up energy with fertilisers and lawn mowers. Expand your vege garden empire.

12. Put in some fruit trees and underplant them with edible herbs and berries. If you don't have time or the inclination for the vege garden, fruit trees are the next best thing.

13. Make leaf mould. Collect all your leaves, put in a compost bay or similar, cover and weight down. Leave for a year, then incorporate into your soils.

14. If you have a bare bed, sow a green manure crop. A common mix is lupins, oats and mustard seed. This is a great way of getting loads of organic matter incorporated into your soils. Collect any flowers that go to seed to use as a green manure next season. Poppies, phacelia, marigold and nasturtium all make great free green manures.

The slow gardening revolution is about growing your own food and sharing the surplus. Swap ideas, experiences and resources with other gardeners (nearly everybody is a budding gardener) and just remember to make the best use of all your carbon at home.

The Dr Compost project is funded by Queenstown Lakes District Council and delivered by Wanaka Wastebusters to reduce organic waste going into landfills.

Workshops 

Ben Elms (aka Dr Compost) is running free workshops in Wanaka next week and will have a stall at the Remarkables Market in Queenstown today and at the One Summit eco fair in Wanaka on Sunday, October 28.

Easy ways to compost - Monday October 29, 6.30pm-8.30pm

Grow your own veges - Wednesday October 31, 6.30pm-8.30pm

Venue for both workshops, St John rooms, 4 Link Way

Due to popularity of the workshops, people need to register at www.eventbrite.co.nz or through the Dr Compost Facebook page.

If you would like early notification by email of future Dr Compost workshops in Wanaka and Queenstown (or you have trouble registering), email gina@wastebusters.co.nz.
 

 

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