Organic Gardening Helps
Prevent Climate Change

The quest to find better methods of organic gardening has been something that Clive Blazey at the Diggers Club and I have been concerned for some time. However, we have also been keen to also do this in the most sustainable and environmentally responsible manner possible. After several lengthy conversations, we concluded that the best way to begin was to use soil testing as a basis for proper decision making.

The problem was in finding a test that was suitable for gardens - most are set up only for use by farmers who grow one or two plant types and talk in acres and tons rather than square metres and kilograms. So we went out to find a laboratory that could do the testing for us and developed our own system for interpreting the results in a way that was suitable for organic gardening. This worked so well, that the Diggers Club has now made the test available to members and others (but more about that in a minute).

Having good soil test information then allowed for the more moderate application of organic fertilizer - according to the needs of specific plants types - proper soil pH correction and effective management of soil carbon levels. Together this provides a far more sustainable method of gardening that will protect the environment and keep gardens flourishing with minimal inputs.

One important aspect of this is the ability to manage soil carbon levels. Soil is one of the major carbon sinks that naturally helps to control the atmospheric carbon dioxide level. So much so that a number of scientists have concluded that only a small percentage loss of soil carbon (Globally) could have a greater potential for generating climate change than all the fossil fuels combined!

Of course, this also means that anything we can do to store carbon in the soil could have just as dramatic an effect - in reverse. Conceivably, the gardeners of the World (if they all worked together) could turn Climate Change around.

Naturally, this sounds good, but what can any one gardener do? The answer may be "Not much", but none of us are really alone. Every gardener who takes the time and effort to do the right thing will simply add to a growing total. Individually we may never know what the contribution of organic gardening may be to climate change, but we can be certain that others will follow and so the effect will grow - it just takes time.

Soil Tests Now Available

With the launch of The Diggers Club Soil Test, gardeners can now make use of the latest research in soil science for more sustainable organic gardening. The test gives you a complete set of recommendations for improving your soil and you have Free ongoing support from this website and our Dirtdoctor - Peter Brown - to help you get the very best results.

To see exactly what is included, why not can print an Example Report.

We will be adding more information here soon, but to get you started, here is a page of instruction on collecting your soil sample.

Useful Links

Building a Garden from Scratch
If you are just getting started this is a really good page full of information about building a new garden.

Organic Gardening with Compost
This website has some straightforward information on marking organic compost for the garden and even an E-Book that describes the biodynamic method of making the very best quality compost.

Another good way to keep in touch with new developments is to subscribe to our Free E-zine: