"Billy Rose" wrote in message
news:rosefam-6F2565.12481122062007@c-61-68-245-


The plastic clay underneath acts like a freaking huge sponge, it means
my pasture grows for months after rain as the clay slowly gives up the
water it absorbs during rain.
Well, not so much a sponge as a stopper. We call it hardpan. The water
can't go anywhere. Also makes it hard for trees to set tap roots and
find water, which then require watering.

This is not what I observe. The tree roots go right into it and once
established become much more drought proof. I also observe the sponge
behavour as do my neighbours who have been farming here for
generations.

Once again not necesarily. If you have sand-based soil you spend
you
life building it up with organic material to stop this happening but
with clay-based soil you don't, they hold most nutrients well.

So what your saying is that you've created an agricultural pot, the
sides and bottom of which is clay and that the nutrients that you put in
the pot, stay in the pot because the clay isn't permeable. RIght?


No. My amended gardens are all on top of the solid clay, I try to
never
bring it to the surface. The reason the amended soils hold nutrients
so we
is the colloids from the humus and the clay mixed into them.


Fertilizers are salts; they suck the water out of the
bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and_ nematodes in the soil.

In excess yes.

And I think that is what we are talking about. Excess. If you give the
micro-organisms the organic nutrients they need they will convert them
into the materials needed to create a web of life that supports the soil
and your plants. Where a large and diverse population of
micro-organisms can protect against non-benevolent micro-organisms.
I realize that you don't just use chem ferts but none of them support
the diverse population of organisms that make your soil fertile.
Otherwise you may as well go hydroponic.

We aren't trying to make a goose from Toulouse here, where you "cram" it
full of nutrient so that you can eat its' liver.

The ideal is to create a biome. Ideally with crop rotation and green
(plant) manures we can create sustainable (or nearly sustainable)
agriculture.


Agreed.

David