Keeping Soil Healthy
By Sintilia Miecevole, Fri Dec 9th
Soil is a composition of weather-beaten rock, minerals, decayedplant materials and other organic ingredients. All this takes along time to develop, but can be damaged by our action orneglect in a single season.
Plants can obtain nutrients from the soil using their roots andchange them to usable materials to grow new roots, leaves andflowers.
All gardeners are to be custodians of the soil, taking the timeto replace food and other elements as they are used. We need totreat it like we want to be treated, not like dirt.
Healthy soil should contain a mix of air, water, nutrients andorganic matter. We can protect this mixture by:
Adding organic matter on a regular basis is probably one of themost important things we can do. Adding compost, cover crops andanimal manure can do many things:
+ increases the soil's capability to hold nutrients. + makesfood available to plants over a longer period of time. + lessenthe amount of nutrients lost by erosion or leaching. + providesmicro-nutrients that are needed by plants in small amounts. +release nutrients already in the soil by increasing the actionof beneficial microorganisms. + increases the water-holdingcapacity for sandy soils. + increase the drainage of clay soils.+ saves money.
Do not apply fertilizer to lawns until we get a good soakingrain, and for the best, safest, long-lasting results use organicfertilizers. The wet soil puts the nutrients into a solution andhelps distribute the nutrients to the plant roots to be absorbed.
The ability of soil to drain water is important. But when youread phrases like "plant in a well-drained soil" or "does notlike wet feet", they are talking about the plant's need for air.The roots of plants require oxygen and any soil that iswaterlogged will be lacking oxygen.
Many plants will put up with high moisture-conditions during thegrowing season, but when the plants are dormant the sameconditions may kill them. By improving the drainage the plantwill have a better growing environment.
Another problem is soil becoming compacted by
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