I like to experiment when gardening. My husband probably thinks I am crazy, but he is also willing to help once in a while with my untraditional horticulture attempts.
Like when I was carrying buckets of ground hay from our cow’s hay pile to the garden, he kindly used the feed wagon to unload a strip for me to easily spread. (Bonus: three newborn kittens tumbled out the auger unharmed, too!)
Or the time he drilled holes in five-gallon buckets for upside-down tomato plants. The plants grew, until the Nebraska wind twisted and snapped their stems.
This growing season, I am really hoping for an extra hand. I signed up for a soil health study through a partnership between the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). I was placed in the 4X group: cover crop mixture + no-till + compost + biochar.
Sounds like a lot of work … or maybe it will save time and labor. After reading the instructions, I was relieved to learn that these practicesshould naturally help control weeds, retain moisture and improve soil quality. That means less time weeding, watering and fertilizing.
The Nebraska Urban Soil Health Initiative introduces soil health management practices, including no-till and cover crops, that are typically used on large-scale operations to gardeners and small-scale horticulturalists.
“I think that a lot of backyard gardeners and urban farmers are hearing about the excitement of cover crops but aren’t sure how that fits into their system,” said Sam Wortman, associate professor at the UNL department of agronomy and horticulture for seven years. His focus is specialty crop production, as well as urban agriculture and regional food systems.
NRCS is funding the study. Wortman had presented the idea for the Nebraska Urban Soil Health Initiative in response to a call for proposals to increase access to NRCS technical resources and funding programs.
“The NRCS wants to increase awareness amongst small-scale growers that tey can qualify for NRCS programs,” Wortman said.
Another goal of the study is to encourage people to try cover crops and other soil health management practices.
Nebraskan’s excitement was apparent by the overwhelming interest in this study. The advertisement called for 200 participants, but over 500 people responded to become “citizen scientists.”
Enough funding was secured to include all who registered. Wortman said 60% of the addresses are from Lincoln or Omaha. Clusters of participants are in Norfolk, North Platte, Kearney, Grand Island and Scottsbluff, with one or two participants spread out amongst small towns.
“It is fun to look at the map and see we have almost every county in the state represented in this study,” Wortman said.
Participants were divided evenly into seven groups:
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• Cover crop mixture (CC)
• No-ill with geotextile fabric (NT)
• Compost soil amendment (COM)
• Biochar soil amendment (CHAR)
• Cover crop mixtures + no-till (2X)
• Cover crop mixtures + no-till + compost (3X)
• Cover crop mixtures + no-till + compost + biochar (4X)
This spring, each participant will take a soil sample from their 100-square-foot plot and send it to UNL. Samples will be tested on campus for traditional soil health measures, then a commercial lab will analyze texture, fertility and microbial activity, said Wortman.
Since the soil sample will be taken before any soil amendments or changes in gardening habits, it will provide a control group. Wortman said he recognizes participants are not full-time researchers and wants to make the study as simple as possible. A paired trial will be conducted simultaneously on campus with a control plot.
Soil sampling will be repeated at the end of year one and again at year two to observe lasting effects of the soil health management practices.
“I am curious bout what the benefits might be,” Wortman said. “This is a really unique opportunity to have people from across the state help us collect data while they are benefitting from trying a new practice at little to no cost to them.”
Participants will complete surveys about their perceptions of soil health and soil health management practices. They will also be asked to periodically track observations about plant health, earthworms and pollinators.
Preliminary results from the first soil sampling will be posted on their website at https://agronomy.unl.edu ebraska-urban-soil-health-initiative.
I will also be giving updates throughout the gardening season. We will see if I am able to successfully terminate a cover crop and keep a weed-free test plot with the geotextile fabric.
With all my free time not having to pull weeds, who knows what other crazy gardening ideas I might try. I read once about growing a potato tower in a feed sack …