the back and does not require bending over as far. This
method requires 3 motions at once:
- a slight up-and-down motion with the left hand.
- a twist back and forth holding onto the D-handled spading fork with the right hand.
- a slight pushing in and out of the handle through the left hand with the right hand.
Develop this skill by practicing. Do not rake the bed to smooth it out after sifting in
fertilizers, as this usually creates irregular concentrations of fertilizers that were
previously spread evenly.
- “Grow” your own fertilizer by raising plants that
produce good amounts of compost material, which
concentrates the nutrients required in a form that
plants can use. For beginning information on plants to
use, see Ecology Action’s Growing and Gathering Your
Own Fertilizers (see Appendix 3), Bargyla and Gylver
Rateaver’s Organic Method Primer^4 and Ehrenfreid
Pfeiffer’s Weeds and What They Tell.^5 If everyone
were to use organic fertilizers, there would be a
worldwide shortage; eventually the key will be
growing our own and recycling all wastes. The deep
roots of alfalfa (as long as 125 feet) and comfrey (as
long as 8 feet) also help bring up leached-out and
newly released nutrients from the soil strata and rocks
below.
- Maintain at least 4% to 6% organic matter by weight in
at least the upper 6 inches of soil in temperate regions
and 3% organic matter in tropical ones. This will
encourage microbial life growth, which can keep
nutrients from leaching out of the soil.
