Soil health is key to the long-term sustainability of our garden and vineyard, but this should be achieved with natural approaches that do not require industrial fertilisers to balance the chemistry. We plan to manage this by creating compost teas from our own home-made compost, and spraying these onto the plants to provide the general components of a health soil, including nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (commonly referred to as NPK fertiliser). In addition to this, specific compost teas and brews will be used to supply key trace elements that are missing from our soil, such as using dandelion leaf tea to increase boron levels. Watch this space as we learn to create these teas and rejuvenate our soil.

Costs: around £300 for a full compost tea unit, with aerator and with back pack sprayers with correct nozzles for an organic compost tea.