Hello! My name is LaRue. I'm a 23yr old male from NW Florida. I grew up in a coastal town where the economy is based off tourism and military occupancy, making my first state-escape to Western North Carolina, where I met some interesting friends who taught me about permaculture! We learned grew and were doing really well until I had to move back to Florida for a few different reasons. They've kept momentum strong and last time I visited them I was impressed by their progress, but I've been stuck more to more hands-off learning due to my frequently changing living spaces. I'm currently in a semi-permanent housing situation with which I'm beginning to get more hands on with, to hopefully leave the soil, as well as my roommates (the owners') mind, imprinted upon in the name of permaculture and planetary healing. I hope to learn a lot and gain support and motivation from you all
If your soil is like other soil I've encountered elsewhere in FL or GA, chances are it's basically white sand, perhaps with a thin organic layer on top, or not. These soils are hard to work with. They're acid, they dry out quickly, and they don't retain nutrients. The standard answers of mulch and manure and organic matter will work, but will trap you into a never-ending search for more organic matter to continuously import. You can lay a mulch six inches deep, and, in a wet season at least, it will be essentially gone in six months! Moving toward a system of perennials and trees, including some rank groundcovers (sweet potato is a prime contender) will produce much of it's own mulch. The other key possibility is biochar. Charring organic matter makes it much more resistant to breaking down, and it will stay in the soil for longer and perform it's functions of retaining moisture and nutrients much longer. It's a good use for woody organic matter which, directly applied, can lead to problems with nitrogen sequestration. If the soil happens to be a heavy clay, all of the above notes still hold true, although the main problems may be excessive sogginess in wet seasons and the organic matter breakdown might be a bit slower. Remember to plant trees into unamended clay, adding any amendments above ground as mulch......if you loosen and amend soil in a planting hole in clay, water will collect in the pore spaces and drown the roots.....very sensitive species like figs often benefit from planting on mounds in heavy clay soils.....
Thank for for the info! I'm working primarily on creating soil right now. Lawton's described 17 day, 3 cubic m compost piles as well as sheet mulching, soon to be ground covered until there enough organic matter down to start implementing legume trees.