Ep. 103: Fall Soil Health for Flower Farmers with Matt Powers

Fall is the season most of us treat as cleanup. Pull the spent plants, rake the beds, stop thinking about the ground until spring. Matt Powers makes the case that those months are the most important soil window you get all year, and the one most growers hand back without realizing it. In this episode he walks through what to actually do with your beds between frost and spring planting. Why bare ground costs you. What the sun and the wind pull out of compost you leave uncovered. Why leaves beat wood chips. How to treat a compost pile before you spread it so the nutrients stay where you put them. What a cover crop can still do for you this late in the season. And what soil microbes have to do with how long a cut flower holds in the vase. Much of what he recommends costs very little. Some of it is free and already sitting in your yard. What you'll hear in this episode: - Why covering bare ground is the first thing to change this fall, and the cheapest way to do it - The case for leaves over wood chips, and why leaves are still feeding your soil four years later - How to treat compost before you spread it so you keep what you paid for - What's happening underground that decides how long your flowers hold in the vase - Whether you farm twenty acres or tend one raised bed in the backyard, there is something here you can do this week. **About our guest** Matt Powers has written more than twenty books about soil and regenerative growing. They include The Permaculture Student, a classroom curriculum he gives away free to anyone who cannot pay, and Regenerative Soil. He was a touring bass player in New York and then a high school English teacher in the Sierra foothills of California before any of this, and he came to soil looking for the healthiest food he could grow for his family. Today he teaches soil science and soil microscopy to growers around the world. **Where to find Matt** - https://regenerativesoil.com - https://regenerativesoilscience.com - https://www.thepermaculturestudent.com - https://www.instagram.com/mattpowerssoil - https://www.youtube.com/@MattPowersSoil **Stay Connected With The Podcast** - Web: https://thefloweringfarmhouse.com/the-backyard-bouquet-podcast/ - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebackyardbouquetpodcast - Newsletter: https://thefloweringfarmhouse.myflodesk.com/backyardbouquetpodcast