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Greetings to our Black Diamond Vermicompost family! Cool air and cloudy skies are upon us, and we are ready for Fall. We are thankful that it was a mild and pleasant summer, but nonetheless, it would be nice to see some green painted on the hillsides again. We did already have our first rain and hopefully much more in store as the calendar year wanes away. Here in Paso Robles, wine grapes are beginning to come off the vine, and folks are beginning to prep their properties for the offseason. When your garden is dormant, or as a farmer you don’t have a cash crop in the ground, its certainly nice to get some rest and relaxation. Before you kick your feet up, please consider the following information that is so vital to ecologically-sound cultivation. Soil biology never takes a vacation. It is true that cold soil temperatures moderate the vigor of these unsung heroes, but microbes wish to never stop working. What an opportunity that is for us. This means that if we apply biology to the soil matrix and provide those microbes with an adequate food source and shelter, then the factory stays open while you pour yourself an eggnog. Why is this important? Well, in the vineyard, a vine goes dormant and does not photosynthesize from December through March. This is nearly four months that soil biology could be fixing nitrogen, unlocking Calcium, Phosphorous, and Potassium that is chemically bound, and secreting enzymes, vitamins, growth hormones and more, without the major resource pull of a cash crop. All of these goodies can be wrapped in a bow as stable organic substances, sitting in the root zone awaiting your Spring garden transplants or for your perennial plants to wake up. Also, biology is supremely important and responsible for soil structure via the molecular glues and carbonic substances they produce as a byproduct of living. Better soil structure means enhanced water infiltration and storage (prepare your fields for rain anyone?). Rainfall is free, well water is not. Maximize the efficacy of precipitation. Your biology sourcing is easy, Black Diamond Vermicompost. There is no biotech company on this earth, nor will there ever be, that can replicate the complete diversity and functionality of the mighty worm’s microbiome via petri dish replication and sell you it to you on the jug. Why would we want to go through such an industrial process anyways when we can use nature itself to produce this biology right here in San Luis Obispo county. So going into the fall, please reach out for Vermicompost (“dry”) or Vermicompost Extract (liquid). Now, to feed these little buggers, remember that microbes use carbon for fuel. What are examples of readily available carbon inputs for the home gardener or commercial producer? Sugar, molasses, seaweed, fish/crab/shrimp hydrolysates, humic/fulvic substances, etc. If we don’t pack a lunch for our little workers, we are not going to get the quality of work that we would hope. There is carbon and organic matter in the soil for biology to feed on, but we do not want to take any chances with getting the populations started in the first place. Once they are off on the right foot, things should sail smoothly. Another way to keep them fed, and also sheltered, are cover crops. If you have never heard of a cover crop, it literally means a crop grown to cover - to cover soil that is. When rain comes down, those droplets can actually break down soil particulates from larger particle sizes into finer particles (clay particles) that can then wash away as erosion or create a hardened crust over the topsoil (leaving the microbes without oxygen). This is ultimately undesirable as it reduces the quality and quantity of our topsoil - you know, the top 0-6 inches of soil that which is supposed to wholly produce the sustenance for mankind’s physical existence. The living canopy of a cover crop can brunt the impact of raindrops instead, and provide root exudates to hungry microbes as the same time. Those same roots, also contribute to a fluffy, well aggregated topsoil as well. Nature abhors bare soil. We can observe this via the objective evidence that a “weed” (subjective term…) germinates anytime the soil is left uncovered, unless the soil has been UV-sterilized altogether. So please plant a cover crop in your garden or field before the rain season really picks up. And if that is not an option for your context, please consider mulching your any bare soil - a practice that is always encouraged regardless of the season. Between now and Thanksgiving, apply biology with a food source and protect/nurture the soil matrix with a living cover crop or mulch! Its too early to hang Christmas lights anyways… What are you people doing! Haha, looking at my wife Jess :) If all of this is unfamiliar to you, or if you could use some technical guidance, please call, text, or email us! We are hear to teach and mentor you. Be a lifetime student! -Tucker Robertson, Certified Crop Advisor tucker@blackdiamondvermicompost.com 805-791-8871
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