How to bring dirt back to life?

[Shadwaa]

Hi Mark
We have just bought 5 acres of what was a wheat field until last month. Knowing that the land has been subjected to god knows what chemicals for goodness knows how long, how can we bring our little patch of dirt back to life? We want to bring native trees and life back to our property.
We have 6 to 12 months to plan our forever home as we can not access the land until a road and infrastructure are built. We would love to hear any dos and don'ts of setting up a property (we have already got 100 native trees and plants on order as my sister owns a native nursery)

Thank you all for your time and expert advice. Have a great day.

Sean and Rebecca

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

I have no personal experience on this subject sadly, but I would recomment checking out this thread

New Project - Could send me to the insane asylum

So, after some herbicide drift onto our orchard a year or two ago, I was a little grumpy with the farmer around our property. Following my journey this year toward more plant based food, particularly spray-free, as well as regenerative agriculture, we decided to take back some of our property...

www.selfsufficientculture.com

They are working on a large area as well. Possibly you can find some information in other threads they have shared as well.

My personal guess would be that I'd try things out in a small patch, possibly even check the PH level of the soil and do some other tests (Bunnings sells those tests, though you can also buy them online).

Looking up what the common chemicals are can also help you adjust.

https://croplife.org/wp-content/uploads/pdf_files/Herbicides-are-key-for-wheat-farming-in-Australia.pdf

Glyphosate

www.foodstandards.gov.au

 

[HelenCate]

Not sure where you are, but you can't go wrong broadcasting a cover crop over the whole lot. As long as you have some sort of vehicle access.

 

[AndrewB]

A cover crop & rotation of animals to mow it & return nutrients to the soil. A cow or 2, followed by chickens a week later will work well. Use temporary electric fencing to move the areas regularly so they don't get overgrazed.

Daikon radish are great for opening up the soil & fixing compaction that is often an issue on monocropped land.

 

[HelenCate]

Further to what Andrew said, I would soil test Phosphorus levels in the areas that you want to plant the Natives and consider keeping the animals/manure out of that zone as too much Phosphate will kill the Natives.

 

[Kasalia]

All of the above, but having Co-ordinated a 1 acre Community Garden, I would first plan what you want to do with the land, especially where the trees are going. As these are on order this would be a good place to start, and preparing where they will grow if possible, and knowledge of how they will be watered in the beginning. Will it be a hundred holes or a bed., hand dug or machinery.
Next if you are planning Veg gardens, I recommend raised beds, and this will eliminate some of your problems., so work on that area as well. Are you fencing off Paddocks for animals. etc. having Water tanks or will water be connected. Will you have a ride on mower, and sheds?
Can you get an idea how the sun direction will be, for placing the house and gardens.
I wouldn't worry too much at this stage, of preparing land, the rain and weather will be working on it to start with, but getting a plan in your head of how you are going to use it, and what sort of time frame for each section, would be better. Then Small bites of the plan, when you do get to work it.
Of course a financial plan would help as well, to pay for it all.

Exciting times, good luck.

 

[DThille]

I would think that ideally you may want to rest the land with a cover crop mix…this will ensure living roots in the soil and shading the soil.

One method is touted by Dr Elaine Ingham’s Soil Food Web School - they have a webinar upcoming this Saturday, but it’s in North America so timing may be an issue. At any rate, they advocate a method of generating compost that has good microorganisms that can then be applied to soil to rapidly regenerate the biology within the soil.

Good luck.

 

[HelenCate]

@DThille The Berkley/hot composting method?

 

[DThille]

@DThille The Berkley/hot composting method?

I’m not familiar with the Berkeley method, so can’t really confirm.

They’ve trademarked the term “BioComplete Compost” - in part, you ideally have a bit of soil from a local forest floor that acts as an inoculant of microorganisms that are native to your area to help build the “good” biology for the soil and make compost extracts and teas which are applied to the soil / crops (I struggle to recall which is foliage and which is a ground application). They are big on using a microscope to determine a mix of the biology in the compost and soil.