Ten years ago when the new garden was started I wanted crops in the first season. The soil was very heavy clay and the ground had not been cultivated for a long time. Conventional wisdom said that it would take a couple of years to get the soil ready for planting. At about the same I came across report about the decrease of the mineral content of fruit and vegetables. An idea was born!
For many years two government scientists, R.A. McCance and E.M. Widdowson, collected information about the nutrient content of food. The data was processed by David Thomas and presented as a report; ‘A study on the mineral depletion of the foods available to us as a nation over the period 1940 to 1991′.
This looked like the ideal time to do something different, to create a more or less instant garden and, more importantly, to remineralise a tired and neglected soil.
Sourcing ‘rock dust’ was not easy and initially I found a quarry some miles away who would virtually give me what they considered to be a waste product. The only expense was the transport. After finding a local supply of municipal compost there was suddenly two large piles of material that was used to make soil. You can read more about the project HERE.
It is generally thought that rock dust should be applied to soil every five years so it is time to remineralise again. Now it is easier to source the right product as the Seer Centre supply 20Kg bags of dust. I used this in 2008 and am more than happy to use it again. The usual disclaimer applies, I have no commercial interest in this product and have not been asked to endorse it. The reason I use it is because I believe it works. The soil at the garden is now very healthy and produces phenomenal yields. In 2011 the usual potato bed (in a five course rotation) produced 130lbs (~60Kg) from 19 tubers, last year it was down to 100lbs (~45Kg) due to the bad weather and many people did not get a crop at all so I think we did well.
Using rock dust is just one component of a healthy soil but I really do believe that healthy soils grow healthy plants which leads to healthy people. Yes, there is a lot more to it than that but getting minerals back into food is important and something I will continue to do for as long as I grow food.
You have heard all the hype about Monsanto wanting to ‘feed the world’ well here is the reality, they want to own the world by taking out patents on common vegetables. That means that every time you grew one of their patented veg you would pay them for the privilege. Too outlandish to be true? Definitely not, just look at their track record; they have prosecuted farmers for accidentally growing GM plants where the seed has been self propagated i.e. the wind has blown it onto their land.