It's All About the Soil

“So why is the condition of your garden soil so darn important when it comes to growing stuff? Hey, aren’t all soils basically nothing more than weathered, decomposed rock and mineral fragments mixed with air and water?”

Yes, that’s a good definition of sterile soil alright. However, fertile soil (the kind you must have to grow stuff) contains a whole slew of nutrients that are in a readily available form which plants require to flourish. The roots of a plant act as little miners moving through the soil and bringing needed minerals into the plant roots. However, by themselves the roots are not able to transport the nutrients through their cell walls. They require a number of environmental factors be present in order for everything to work. Chief among these factors is the soil pH which is a measure of acidity and alkalinity. The closer the soil is to a neutral pH (about 7.0), the better the uptake of minerals for plant growth will be all things considered. Other factors that need to be presence in a proper balance are; air, humus (organic matter), water and microbes. The clay and sand particles supply what is know as ‘crumb’ structure which supplies tiny spaces that allow for the containment of air and water in close proximity to the humus organic matter. If all these factors are ‘in balance’ you have a soil that will be able to ‘feed’ your plants and a healthy garden will result.

However, please remember that if things get out of balance, the plant will suffer. For example, one of the things that can go wrong in the garden is soil that becomes too compacted either by foot traffic or improper tillage. This action removes those tiny spaces which decrease the amount of air and water the soil can hold. So tread lightly.

Another common problem is caused when improper soil amendments are added which may change the pH to either too acid or too alkaline. If the pH is not close to neutral, the nutrients which are in the form of anions (negatively charged particles) or cations (positively charged particles) become tied up and therefore not available to the plant roots. Still other things that can go wrong involve the use of so-called fertilizers that contain high amount of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium (NPK). In high concentrations, they can also upset the overall balance you are trying to achieve. In addition to this, they tend to leach quickly from the soil, after a rain, to go on and pollute waters downstream.

It is far better to use natural compost in your garden as this material acts as both a nutrient buffer and reservoir for the plants to draw substance from as they need them. If you do not have a compost pile already, you should go ahead and start one today. They are easy to setup and more importantly you can supply them with all of your vegetable peelings and leftovers (anything but meats which tend to attract animals) rather than throwing them into the trash where they will end up in some landfill.