Holiest Pants Competition
SBV holds Competition to see who has the Healthiest Soil in The Parish!
Last summer (2022) the series writers of The Archers included a Holey Pants competition in that well-known radio drama. Having checked out that this competition was based on scientific research, which it was, the SBV decided to raise awareness of soil fertility by holding a similar competition, The Holiest Pants Competition, at the SMB Flower Show 2023.
What does burying your cotton pants in the ground and digging them up again 6 weeks to 2 months later show about the fertility of your soil?
- There are millions of soil microorganisms that live amongst the roots of our plants.
- If the soil is healthy these microorganisms will devour the cotton in the pants leaving just the elastic
So, if after your six weeks are up, the pants are still wearable and will protect your modesty then your soil needs attention. If they are ragged and rotting then you’ve lost a pair of pants, but can rest assured that at least your soil is alive and well. You should have good healthy flowers and vegetables. Apparently, the optimum season to try this experiment is in the summer months when the soil’s biology is more active.
If your experiment reveals less than healthy soil, there are a few things that you can do.
- Stop using pesticides and chemicals; their effects underground might not be obvious at first, but in time they might be having the opposite effect to the one intended and be destroying your garden.
- Minimise digging to avoid disturbing the complex structure of the soil
- Add peat-free – or better still your own – garden compost and other well-rotted organic matter on the top, and just let the worms bring this down into the soil.
Why is it important to have healthy soil?
- The microbes found in soil can have a big impact on the nutritional content of our food.
- The plants we eat and the dirt we encounter fortify our own gut microbiomes.
- It improves the ability of the soil to absorb rainwater, which helps to alleviate flooding.
THE RESULTS OF THE SMB HOLIEST PANTS COMPETITION 2023
The winner of SMB Holiest Pants Competition 2023 whose pants showed that she had the healthiest soil out of all the entrants was Harriet Dickinson. Her prize was a recycled engraved spade. The person whose pants were still wearable was Lulu Vallings so she received a bag (made of recycled material) with alpacaca poo to help improve the quality of the soil in her garden.
SBV intends to run this competition for the 2024 SMB Flower Show, so get going now by making and adding your compost to your soil.
