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Om, Om and Om



“Om” (short for Organic material) is one of the things which stuck deeply into my mind from the soil4life workshop in October – and that soil can never have enough of it to create some nice humus! Even though this wasn’t a completely new information after having taken a PDC in summer, I now remember it even more as one of the most important, easiest and best ways to obtain and/or conserve a healthy soil.
While traditionally we are often used to clean our gardens from most kinds of ‘unpretty’ stuff such as weeds, old plants, leaves etc., the first thing I did coming home, was to actually put exactly this ‘stuff’ – shredded old plants (to make it a little easier to de-compost) and leaves – into my mums garden, especially on blank and thus unprotected patches. Now I’m curious if and how it will look like after the winter when the time comes to prepare the gardens soil for the new growing season!
However, all in all, the seminar did not only inspire me to put more “Om” into the garden, but to actually start putting things into practice in a garden – thus, take moving back to the countryside as a chance and take over parts of my mums’ vegetable plot. I am motivated to try and experiment (and fail, too) and possibly re-think and re-plan it’s structure. As not too much outdoor work is done during winter, the following month are reserved for the thinking and planning, while the real practical work (at least the one that involves me) will start next spring!

By Freya Rixen, Soil4Life participant  (Germany)

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Shredded plants, put on bare patches in the garden

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After one month
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Leaves as natural soil cover

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