Hospital equipment amnesty

Do you have any Nelson or Wairau Hospital equipment that you are no longer needing? A shower stool in your back shed? A raised toilet seat in a hall cupboard? Or even something in the garage - perhaps a walking frame that’s now home to a spider?

If hospital equipment has served its purpose in helping you or a loved one, please return it so the equipment can go on helping more people. On average, 350 items leave the Nelson Hospital store every week, so getting items back that are no longer in use is very important.

You can identify equipment as belonging to the hospital if it has a grey barcode sticker with hospital identification on it.

Monday to Friday, drop it by: Nelson

The Allied Health Store, Motueka Street, next to Taylor’s Laundry

8 am to 4:30pm

Ta kaka

Gol den Bay Community Health, 10 Central Takaka Road

8 : 3 0 am to 5pm

Mo tueka

Motueka Health Centre,

15 C ourtney Street

8am to 4:30pm

Bl enheim

Taylor Pass Road, southern entrance to the hospital via the service entrance

8am to 2:30pm

We’ll clean it, check it for health and safety criteria, and reissue it to another patient in need.

We really appreciate your assistance in helping us help others.

Many thanks from the Occupational Therapists and the Physiotherapists of Te Whatu Ora Nelson Marlborough.

Protecting from

Whooping Cough is highly contagious and can cause serious harm to newborn babies.

Getting your whooping cough vaccine, during pregnancy, protects your pēpi when they are born.

You can get a FREE vaccine from a participating pharmacy, your GP or a local community vaccination centre.

Ask Sol

Each month Sol will answer your questions on a specific topic through his regular column.

To take part, submit your questions via email with the subject heading “Ask Sol” to: admin@gbweekly.co.nz

This month’s subject: How to compost waste

Deadline for questions:

12pm on Wednesday 19 April

DOWN TO EARTH: Green manures

SOL MORGAN, GROWISE CONSULTANCY

Green manures (or green crops) are select agricultural crops that are grown to improve the soil.

They do this by accumulating organic matter, which when incorporated into the soil, feeds soil organisms. Organic matter consumed by soil creatures benefits the soil in several ways. Some of the soil organic matter fraction is converted into humus (soil carbon), which combined with soil mineral fraction (sand, silt, clay) creates a well-structured soil that breathes and drains better, as well as holds moisture. Through the action of soil organisms, nutrients are transferred along the soil food web, feeding each trophic level, which translates to improved soil fertility. Crop plants subsequently grown will benefit by having soil that has better structure and fertility.

JI Rodale states in his book How to Grow Fruits and Vegetables by the Organic Method, that “green manure plants are one of the best soil conditioners ever discovered”. My experience using green manure crops confirms this too.

Another benefit is green crops grow fast and can outcompete some annual weeds. They also cover bare soil, which reduces nutrient leaching.

Some good examples:

• Members of the Fabaceae (formally Leguminosae) family, eg lupin, vetch, clovers (red, crimson), tick beans (small broad bean), and field pea. These all add nitrogen to the soil through their nitrogen fixation ability, with associated rhizobia bacteria attached to root nodules. Most of these crops are cool-tolerant species that grow well over the winter, but can be sown in spring too.

Cereals such as rye, corn, oats, forage barley. These annual grain crops provide a large amount of additional organic matter to the soil.

• Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) is another grain crop grown over the warmer spring-summer months, as it is frost sensitive. It can grow in poor soil with the added benefit of accumulating phosphorus from the soil, making it more readily available to following crops as it decomposes. Their white flowers also attract bees and other beneficial insects.

• Phacelia (Phacelia tanacetifolia) can be sown in spring or autumn to improve soil structure, encourage mycorrhizal fungi, and when purple flowers are out – supply nectar to a variety of beneficial insects, especially in the spring (autumn sown).

• Members of the Brassica family, in particular broadleaf mustard (Brassica juncea) and daikon radish (Raphanus sativus), do well to improve poor, compacted soil with their strong tap roots, and are cool tolerant too. Mustard is known to deter soil pests. Daikon is known to soften soil and is a favourite of Japanese natural farming legend Masanobu Fukuoka. Brassica flowers also attract beneficial insects.

You can grow a single species or try a mix of several species, which offers multiple benefits as they support a more diverse soil life. Kings Seeds offer various mixes and there are some local suppliers too.

Green manure crops can be sown following the removal of a previous crop, or undersown at the end of a crop’s life. Light tilling may be required to connect the seed with the soil. Use a grubber or hoe to chip off any persistent plants, weeds, or crop residues. Sow by hand at the recommended rate. If you have minerals to add to the soil like lime or dolomite, now is a great time to add them. They will be much more integrated into the soil in combination with growing green crops. Use a rake to “chomp” the seed bed to help incorporate the seed into the soil.

Green crops are generally sown either in the spring or autumn, to be incorporated for autumn or spring planting. Best to get autumn mixes in before it gets too cold. Cloching would help if late. If different mixes are used, then the timing of chopping down should coincide with when most are flowering, or two-three weeks before the following food crop is to be sown/planted.

Chopping green crops down can be done with a hand sickle, garden shark, or brush cutter. The residue can either be left to decompose as it is or can be mulched with black plastic or black weed mat to speed decomposition. Residues can also be incorporated faster by using a rotary hoe or tractor-mounted rotary tiller in larger areas, but disturbs soil more.

Green crops can be used to generally improve the soil and take much less effort and resources than sheet mulching. They can also precede a heavy feeder or high demanding crop. Examples include spring-planted sweetcorn/pumpkin, kūmara, potatoes, capsicum, and tomatoes. Autumn crops like Brassicas and garlic benefit by following a green crop. Some gardeners have two main patches: one is sown in green crop while the other is cropped with vegetables. Use of green crops doesn't have to be limited to the vegetable garden. Annual green crops can be used in the orchard for the benefit of surrounding fruit. Some vegetable crops could then be grown under fruits, like rambling pumpkins or potatoes, following green manuring. Orchard understory plants are also a type of green crop; they are typically perennial such as alfalfa/lucerne, white clover, comfrey, cow parsley, and angelica.