You’ll probably hate me for saying this, but I think it’s true…
“Stuff you do in the garden” is only 20% of a rich harvest. The other 80% is fixing your soil..
Because even the most inexperienced gardens can grow an abundance of healthy veggies with almost no effort – when they have super-quality soil.
But the world’s greenest thumb cannot make a vegetable survive in soil that is bad for it.
This line of thinking is an application of the Pareto Principle: the idea that 80% of effects come from 20% of the actions taken.
So the question is: what 20% of the actions are the most important ones, the ones that cause the vast majority of effects in growing vegetables successfully? And therefore what are the 20% of actions that we as gardeners need to focus our energy on?
The answer is: fixing our soil.
I have seen from my experience (both in my backyard garden and in my 7-acre farm) that soil health is the key metric to focus on if you wish to double, triple, or quadruple the output you get for your gardening efforts.
Next question: HOW do you fix your soil?
Applying the Pareto Principle once more: 80% of soil health will come from 20% of the actions taken.
So WHICH 20% of the actions are the most important ones, the ones that cause the vast majority of effects in our soil health and fertility?
When it comes to the subject of soil, John Kempf is the wisest person I know.
For a long time, I’ve been a dedicated proponent of Elaine Ingham’s method. But her claims that microbiology can fix any deficiency regardless of the soil’s mineral composition didn’t sit right with me. I am a geologist by trade, so I was like, “How can microbiology make minerals not present in the soil or the parent rock underneath?” It just didn’t make sense.
John has a more holistic perspective on everything. He starts “fixing” the soil by first doing a geological assay to see what minerals could potentially be released by microbiology, and he also puts the emphasis on plants instead of just on microbiology.
In our recent correspondence he said something that I found quite fascinating:
“Without the carbon contribution of plants (photosynthesis) there is no “soil” only decomposed rock particles.
Without the contribution of plants there is no soil biology, because there is no food source.”
Speaking of which…
I recently read John’s series on regenerating garden soils, and I wanted to bring it to your attention as I think you’ll find enormous value in it.
In the series, John outlines six principles for soil regeneration:
1. Create the right physical environment that soil biology need to thrive
To maintain healthy soil biology, treat the topsoil like a laboratory petri dish – ie: manage it actively so that it has the most abundant and active microbial populations possible: keep it constantly covered to regulate temperature, manage moisture levels, and ensure proper drainage through techniques like shallow drain tiling.
2. Add biology that has been lost
There are 3 ways to add biology: high-quality compost (particularly vermicompost and Johnson-Su), compost teas, and purchased microbial inoculants.
3. Feed biology with mulch or cover crops
You must feed soil biology daily through either mulch or cover crops — with cover crops being the preferred method as they continuously provide sugars through their roots and promote faster soil aggregation.
4. Provide balanced mineral nutrition
Biology “feeds” your garden by releasing nutrients from the soil and making them available to plants. But biology cannot supply nutrients that aren’t there to begin with – that is: minerals that are not present in your geology. Therefore: (a) find out what minerals your soil lacks (which you can assess through geological assays and CEC soil tests) and (b) add them.
5. Use foliar nutrition to speed up the system
The way to maximise our garden’s performance is to maximise photosynthesis. Plants that are photosynthesizing better produce excess sugars, which they feed out through their roots to the soil biology.
To increase plant photosynthesis, we provide the minerals they need to build chlorophyll molecules. One of the quickest ways to get these nutrients into plants is through foliar sprays (ie nutrient applications directly onto the leaves).
Most effective foliar sprays use synergistic stacks of ingredients (each enhancing the function of the others). An example stack: compost tea + microbial inoculants + seaweed + plant nutrients + trace minerals.
6. Avoid excess nutrients
You should avoid manure-based compost in your garden as it can lead to excessive NPK (Nitrogen-Phosphorous-Potassium) levels that cause insect and disease problems*, while plant-based compost is less likely to create nutrient excesses. *(The majority of insect and disease problems, including flea beetles and aphids, are the result of nutrient excesses rather than nutrient deficiencies.)
You know what?
I’ve been challenged with garden soil improvement for years, and have never seen someone so succinctly explain/simplify what to do to restore it as John did here with his principles.
That said, my mind immediately goes to:
‘Principles are nice but how do I apply this on my site and in what steps?’
Because until insight becomes a to-do list, and that list is DONE, nothing actually changes in the garden…
So I extracted what John recommends to do and put it in the right order for someone growing a vegetable garden.
I’ve been looking for this type of info for years, so just knowing this and seeing this is gold. For someone struggling with soil fertility this cuts through the noise and explains exactly what to do. If someone had done that for me years ago it would have been extremely helpful!
Anyway, long story short, to make this actionable for myself and my audience, I’ve created a Kempf Garden Regeneration Protocol, which outlines all the practical steps you need to take and in what order when managing your garden.
Here’s the protocol:
So, assuming that your garden has proper drainage and you can irrigate as required (Principle 1: Create the right physical environment):
- You first do a soil analysis to see where you are at with the minerals in the soil (Site Survey)
- Then you add what’s lacking (Principle 4) in the form of ground rocks and soil amendments (Initial Soil Works)
- After that, you add the biology (Principle 2) via compost, compost tea, and microbial inoculants (Inoculation Works)
- Finally, as you grow your veggies, you keep topping your beds with mulch, sow cover crops when beds are not in use (Principle 3), and provide nutrition via foliar sprays (Fertility Works) (Principle 5)
One thing that may not be immediately obvious:
The order of the workflow (that is: the actual order in which you “do” stuff in the garden) is different than the ordering of the principles.
For example, you add minerals (Principle 4) BEFORE you add biology with compost teas (Principle 2).
And that’s part of the value-add of reading today’s post 😉
I am not sure if I can convey properly how important this information is for someone who is struggling with soil fertility but doesn’t know what to do…
Just knowing this—what to do—is hugely valuable in itself, and on top of that, ordering the work into stages reduces overwhelm when managing the garden.
Hopefully, that was insightful, and you’ll find a way to apply it in your garden to have bountiful harvests with less effort!
While we are on this gardening theme, I have a super important announcement to make:
I recently created a Vegetable Database to help you with all of this. The VegDB is the system I use to plan my garden more effortlessly, and ensure that I’m growing specific types of veggies that will help me improve my health.
In short, it’s a quick reference guide for all of your vegetable-growing questions. Your garden will be easier to handle, and there will be less work due to fewer mistakes.
Tying all this back to what you’ve just read in today’s article:
- 80% of successful gardening is fixing the soil — and the Veg DB tells you what kind of soil each veg needs and exactly what you need to do for soil prep.
- But you still have to do the other 20% – ie you can have the best soil, but if you plant it wrong, and water it wrong, and put the wrong companions around it, you’ll still kill the crop. VDB will show you everything you need to do for that 20% too.
Here is exactly how the Vegetable Database works:
Click the video above to take a guided “VIP Tour” of the database
You can purchase my Vegetable Database for USD47 here.
Pay once, and use it forever! Enjoy lifetime access, occasional updates, and no subscription fees.
All right, I’ll talk to you soon,
– William
