Gardeners' World
BBC Gardeners World came to film at our house in Whalley Lancashire. Here is 'the crew' with interviewer 'Nick' introducing the programme.
The filming took all day. It rained all morning so filmed in the garage (ie 'my lab'). Then in the garden in the afternoon.
All for a five minute sequence. They will show how to extract the soil animals, using the inexpensive gear,
Here is the piece that went out on BBC Gardeners World on October 6 (repeated twice), with a nice introduction by Monty. He was also impressed with the bit about black ground beetles - those seen here are Nebria brevicollis
If you missed the programme, here is the relevant bit!
Mind you, somebody complained I was not nice to soil animals
nice one Jeff!
The extraction equipment like this would cost £500. So I have developed this cheap gear. See DIY for more on HomeLab
I was asked while filming for them: "what relevance has all this for gardeners?" Some soil animal tips for Gardeners
.1 To get things going throw a lump of leaves. Woodlands have.most soil animals and they are.much the same species as in gardens.
2 Look out for ground beetles..good sign that there are creatures to live on. They vomit on their prey then wait and suck it back. I said to put out jam jars overnight and if 2-3 ground beetles, that tell you the soils is healthy with soil animals. Only trouble was I lost all the beetles I collected - until I found where they had escaped to.
3 Turn over your lawn into your beds. This will introduce the creatures that transfer the fungal spores to the roots - and thereby set up mycorhizal fungi, which have become so well known that they are sold as fertiliser. But without the little 'onychurids' to move the spores to the roots, it doesnt make much difference,
BEFORE
Preparing for Gardeners World Video Diary Day 1
AFTER
Gardeners World (@GWandShows tweeted photo saying'Dr Clutterbuck reckons that the next great kingdom to be explored is beneath our feet' got 74 likes and 15 retweets. @DuncanDucky said 'Give him a series' that @GreenJimll and Gardeners World liked. Use #soilanimals to continue debate on twitter.
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