Secrets of soil health promise rich rewards

The significance of soil health was the key takeaway from the recent Market Garden workshop facilitated by Natural Resource Management (NRM) South. 

Held at Gardners Bay Farm, the event drew around 25 attendees including seasoned market gardeners, new marker gardeners and enthusiastic home gardeners looking to deepen their knowledge.

Gardners Bay Farm, managed by Phil O’Donnell and Jimmy Zerella, served as the backdrop for the workshop and participants were taken on a tour of the market garden to see the practical application of soil health techniques after a presentation by soil scientist and guest speaker Declan McDonald.

The workshop was the first of a two-part soil health series organised by NRM South as part of their Soil Extension Project with the second session scheduled in November for the viticulture community.

The workshops are supported by the Tas Innovation Hub and funded by the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund. 

NRM South Soil Extension Officer Jacinta Leys who helped put the programs together said their aim is to support communities in addressing soil issues and enhance soil resilience.

“Building healthy and resilient soils leads to resilient systems and down the track if a drought occurs, we’ll have more resilient systems in place and that is a key aspect of this project,” Miss Leys said.

She highlighted that market gardening has become very popular in the Huon Valley and  the soil extension program has meant NRM can work with larger-scale operations like viticulturists as well as helping the smaller-scale market gardeners.

These two sectors have been identified by NRM as being priority sectors in the southern region.

Miss Leys said it has been great to work with the owners of Gardners bay farm Phil and Jimmy because of their extensive on-ground experience with building healthy soils.

“To have people come along to a venue like this is quite special because people can move away from the presentation and look around the property and see these soils.”

The farm’s co-owners have many years of combined expertise in farming and the culinary world, as Jimmy was a chef for many years at high-end restaurants around the world and has a passion for growing quality produce, and Phil has had years of experience in farming including with irrigation, animals and most recently organic soils.

Their background gives them  unique perspective.

Their farm, which is known for producing spray-free fruit and veg, offers vegetable boxes to chefs and locals while hosting workshops and tours.

They shared with the group their background experience, their interest in biology in soil, micro-organisms and understanding what the inputs are into soils rather than what’s already in the soil.

The theoretical component of the workshop featured guest speaker Declan McDonald, a principal soil and agricultural scientist from Victoria.

Mr McDonald is the co-author of the project “Soils Alive: Understanding and Managing Soil Biology on Tasmanian Farms.”

He said this was a project that was carried out over 10 months that sampled a small range of land uses on the rich red soils of northern Tasmania. 

In his presentation he spoke all about his knowledge of Tasmanian soil and how to use soil science to improve the quality of produce grown. 

He highlighted the importance of soil coverage, minimising disturbance, maximising crop diversity, integrating livestock, and maintaining living roots year-round as great regenerative farming practises.

Mr McDonald explained that healthy soil should have a structure similar to a sponge with numerous small holes, allowing rainwater to disperse evenly throughout.

After the presentations, Phil and Jimmy walked participants through a garden tour where they discussed the learnings, mistakes and successes they’ve had with their market garden and provided practical advice for a similar business.

The workshop group was impressed by the insights shared during the farm tour including seeing how aerated and “sponge-like” their soils were after applying the techniques spoken about by Mr Mcdonald.

“Being able to bring in experts like Mr Mcdonald to share his knowledge is great for us in Tassie because if we have a deeper understanding of soil, I think we will appreciate and look after our soil more,” Miss Leys said.

Miss Leys said it was great to see people motivated by the concept of producing nutrient rich soils and healthy foods to deliver it to customers that are close by.

“It’s about people knowing where their food is coming from especially with people having more concern around food miles, it’s a selling point to be able to say this is a locally produced product.”

“People really value having that community and that connection with where their food is coming from, including the producers, and there’s a lot of people who may have lost that connection.”

There was plenty of knowledge shared on the day and the organisers hoped attendees left with a renewed appreciation for soil health and practical strategies to enhance their gardening practices.

See Gallery below for more photos from the day