Preparing outdoor Soil for Cultivation

As well as work going on in the tunnels (hoeing, weeding and harvesting), we are starting to prepare outside beds and work with Sári (ló) to start loosening the soil in a few areas where we plan some later sowings and plantings.

Our method of cultivation is to work with small machinery and equipment, hand tools, and with horse-drawn equipment to bit-by-bit prepare areas. This is different to the common approach of using a tractor to quickly complete a cultivation job. Our aim is to be gentle on the soil, to avoid heavy compaction of the easily-compacted soils we have, and to work together with nature, to let the microbiology of the soil do a lot of the work for us. By opening up the soil, letting in a bit of air, and surface loosening, we bring air and warmth into the soil to encourage the soil biology to wake up and move into action.

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