Hello
Thanks for your questions🙂 I studied International Organic Agriculture, did research on root-soil interaction and am currently involved in PREPSOIL. According to my knowledge and experience:
Soil pH, nutrients (especially N, P, K), organic matter, structure and microbial activity are essential for testing soil health. Testing organic matter content and microbial activity is particularly important for organic farming, which heavily depends on biological activity to convert organic materials into plant-available nutrients. Testing regularly, not only the preparation period would help maintain the balance.
Commonly used organic soil amendments or fertilizers are compost, animal manure and cover crops for improving both soil structure and fertility. You can find some relevant videos here and explore more on our PREPSOIL website:
Cover crops (green manure) also helps in managing pests and diseases by improving soil health, reducing weed pressure to limit resource competition and make plants stronger against diseases.
Regarding your last question, it really depends on the background of your farm (location, climate, soil texture…). One of the experts in Aarhus University mentioned: 'In Denmark, the cover crop should function as "catch crop" to reduce the N leaching from autumn to Spring. I find the brassica family - mustard, oilseed radish are common here. The idea is the deep rooting nature of those brassica can capture (catch) the surplus N from the soil, and incorporated in its biomass, and then in Spring they are cultivated and incorporated into the soil to add the N. It is important for Organic management. Legume is rarely grown in Denmark as cover crop.'
I hope this helps and you get more advice from other experts. Good luck with your soil preparation🙂
